Note: While I enjoy David Bowie’s music, I am not a major fan. I enjoy hearing it on the radio, but I’m not one to actively search it out on my own to listen to.
Introduction
In 1983, David Bowie released his fifteenth studio album “Let’s Dance”, and to put it mildly, it was a big success. Selling over ten and a half million copies over it’s lifetime, his best selling album to date. While it wasn’t a critical smash at first, only getting anywhere from 6–8 out of 10 stars, it was definitely a commercial success.
This tour was set to be his first tour in 5 years, not having toured since the “Isolar II” tour back in 1978. So it was understandably going to be huge, and that’s is a bit of an understatement. With Let’s Dance being very commercially successful, the tour was expected to be huge. And it was, every one of the 96 performances sold out.
The tour behind ‘Let’s Dance”, entitled “Serious Moonlight” (I don’t get it either), started a month after release. May 18, 1983 in Belgium, and did multi night stays in W. Germany and France. Made a little stop in San Bernardino, CA, playing to a staggering three hundred thousand people. Went back to Europe for another month or so, and eventually made his way here to the States.
By the time David and his Band got to the states for an extended stay, they were well warmed up for the American crowd. This is perfectly captured on Mike Millard’s recording of Bowie’s first night at the Forum in LA. Which was released by JEMS on June 6th 2020, as volume 34 of the “Lost and Found Mike the Microphone Tapes” series.
Mike Millard
Mike Millard was a concert taper, (and one of the best to do it). He was active from the mid seventies to the early 90’s, and recorded many major acts that rolled through LA. Mike is well known for his Led Zeppelin tapes, which rank up there with some of the best audience tapes around. But that’s not to discredit the many other acts he taped, which include: Pink Floyd, The Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and of course, David Bowie.
The Recording
Mike’s recording is of his usual quality, and shows why his tapes are held in such regard, he knew what he was doing, and how to do it best. As anyone who has ever went to a concert and recorded video on their phones can tell you, the resulting video is usually just “okay”. Maybe even good enough to actually watch after the concert. You record that video as a memory of the concert, so that once you leave the venue, you still have something tangible to remind you of the concert.
The resulting recording is outstanding, a high quality tape that honestly makes you feel like you are there. The vocals and the instruments are well captured on the recording, with just enough of the audience to provide ambiance to the recording. As is Mike’s standard, there is nice instrument separation, you can clearly pick out each instrument easily.
The Show
I am not well versed enough in Bowie’s music or touring to discuss this concert in comparison to others that he has done. So the following discussion will be about this concert as it’s own thing. Somewhat of an outsiders perspective as this is the first Bowie concert that I’ve listened to. And many of the songs I am hearing for the first time, so this is not meant to be comprehensive in any way.
Having taken 5 years off from touring, his live return was set to be exciting, and exciting it was.
The show begins with a short instrumental played by the band. A man steps up to the mic and (very excitedly) states: “FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS, DAVID BOWIE EVERYBODY!”. The audience roars in approval, and the band launches into the first song of the night, a shortened version of “Jean Genie” (to be reprised in full near the end of the show.)
There is definitely an electricity in the air all throughout the show, and David Bowie and the Band are firing on all cylinders. The show touches on songs from all of Bowie’s career, from “Space Oddity” to the title track of his newest album.
Some standouts include: “Life on Mars” (the lyric about the lawman beating up the wrong guy is particularly relevant at the time I write this). An absolutely sizzling performance of Lou Reed’s “White Light, White Heat”. Excellent versions of both “Young Americans” and “Space Oddity”.
But my favorite song of the night has to be “Modern Love”, the chugging guitar intro sounds much better live than the studio version. The guitar sounds a bit more slushy, whether that is an effect added for the concert, or simply it echoing off of the walls of the arena, it sounds awesome. “Modern Love” is also played faster than the original version, which I prefer. The horns also sound better live than they do in the studio.
Overall, I really enjoyed this concert. That might be helped that I went in blind with no expectations and a limited knowledge of Bowie. It was a very entertaining two hours, and I wish I could have seen Bowie live. But that’s just going to have to be another stop for when time machine’s are a thing. I am attaching the recording of “Modern Love” below. But the whole show can be found on Dimeadozen if you want the whole thing.
I might write more of these in the future, but don’t bet on it.
