Isolar – 1976 Tour

The Isolar – 1976 Tour^[1] was a concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, in support of the album Station to Station. It opened on 2 February 1976 at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on 18 May 1976. The tour is commonly referred to as Thin White Duke Tour,^[2] The Station to Station Tour,^[3] and The White Light Tour.^[4]

Isolar – 1976 Tour

Tour by David Bowie
Location	North America Europe
Associated album	Station to Station
Start date	2 February 1976
End date	18 May 1976
Legs	2
No. of shows	65 (66 scheduled)
David Bowie concert chronology

History

Bowie performs at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 26 February 1976.

The performances began without introduction with a showing of the 1928 surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, Un Chien Andalou, which includes a famous section of a razor blade cutting into a woman's eyeball.^[5] Bowie appeared on stage immediately as the film finished, while the audience was still disoriented. The visual element of the performances incorporated banks of fluorescent white light set against black backdrops creating a stark spectacle on a stage largely devoid of props or other visual distractions.

The Public Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio performance on 28 February 1976 was recorded by a concert-goer and released as the bootleg entitled NeoExpressionism on the TSP (The Swingin' Pig) label. It would be digitally re-mastered in 2007 and the entire set released on 2 CDs. The only song not done at this performance is "Sister Midnight."

The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, performance on 23 March 1976 was recorded by RCA Records with extracts broadcast by The King Biscuit Radio Network. Two songs from the performance were later included on the 1991 Rykodisc re-issue of the Station to Station album. The entire Nassau performance is available on the 2010 deluxe edition of Station to Station as well as the 2016 box set Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976). It was released separately on LP, CD and digitally in February 2017 as Live Nassau Coliseum '76.

Tour keyboardist Tony Kaye has soundboard recordings of the 26 March 1976 Madison Square Garden and 17-18 May Pavillon de Paris shows, and has expressed hope that they might eventually be released.^[6]

Bowie took friend and fellow musician Iggy Pop along as his companion on the tour. Following a March 21, 1976, show, Bowie and Pop were arrested together for marijuana possession in Rochester, New York, although charges were later dropped.^[7]

Title

The tour has been described under numerous different names. Although officially referred to as the Isolar tour, it has also been given the names the Thin White Duke tour, the Station to Station tour, and the White Light Tour. According to biographer Nicholas Pegg, the word "Isolar" is an anagram of "sailor", one of Bowie's favourite words. Isolar also derives from the company Bowie launched to handle music publishing after his acrimonious split with MainMan Publishing. Bowie himself later clarified: "Isola is Italian for island. Isolation plus Solar equals Isolar. If I remember correctly, I was stoned."^[2]

Set list

This set list is representative of the performance on 7 May 1976 in London, UK, at Empire Pool. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.

1. "Station to Station"
2. "Suffragette City"
3. "Fame"
4. "Word on a Wing"
5. "Stay"
6. "I'm Waiting for the Man"
7. "Queen Bitch"
8. "Life on Mars?
9. "Five Years"
10. "Panic in Detroit"
11. "Changes"
12. "TVC 15"
13. "Diamond Dogs"

Encore

14. "Rebel Rebel"
15. "The Jean Genie"

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
North America
2 February 1976	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum
3 February 1976	Seattle	United States	Seattle Center Coliseum
4 February 1976	Portland		Portland Memorial Coliseum
6 February 1976	Daly City		Cow Palace
8 February 1976	Inglewood		The Forum
9 February 1976
11 February 1976
13 February 1976	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
15 February 1976	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
16 February 1976	Albuquerque		Albuquerque Civic Auditorium
17 February 1976	Denver		McNichols Sports Arena
20 February 1976	Milwaukee		MECCA Arena
21 February 1976	Kalamazoo		Wings Stadium
22 February 1976	Evansville		Roberts Municipal Stadium
23 February 1976	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum
25 February 1976	Montreal	Canada	Montreal Forum
26 February 1976	Toronto		Maple Leaf Gardens
27 February 1976	Cleveland	United States	Public Auditorium
28 February 1976
29 February 1976	Detroit		Olympia Stadium
1 March 1976
3 March 1976	Chicago		International Amphitheatre
5 March 1976	St. Louis		Kiel Auditorium
6 March 1976	Memphis		Mid-South Coliseum	11,673	$85,015[8]
7 March 1976	Nashville		Nashville Municipal Auditorium	7,700	$51,000[8]
8 March 1976	Atlanta		Omni Coliseum
9 March 1976	Jacksonville		Jacksonville Coliseum
11 March 1976	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
12 March 1976	Norfolk		Norfolk Scope
13 March 1976	Landover		Capital Centre
14 March 1976
15 March 1976	Philadelphia		The Spectrum	36,000	$260,000[9]
16 March 1976
17 March 1976	Boston		Boston Garden
19 March 1976	Buffalo		Buffalo Memorial Auditorium	12,000	$87,235[9]
20 March 1976	Rochester		Rochester Community War Memorial	8,358	$58,720[9]
21 March 1976	Springfield		Springfield Civic Center	6,752	$46,572[9]
22 March 1976	New Haven		New Haven Coliseum
23 March 1976	Uniondale		Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
26 March 1976	New York City		Madison Square Garden
Europe
7 April 1976	Munich	West Germany	Olympiahalle
8 April 1976	Düsseldorf		Philipshalle
10 April 1976	West Berlin		Deutschlandhalle
11 April 1976	Hamburg		Congress Center Hamburg
12 April 1976
13 April 1976	Frankfurt		Festhalle Frankfurt
14 April 1976	Ludwigshafen		Friedrich-Ebert-Halle
17 April 1976	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion
24 April 1976	Helsinki	Finland	UKK Hall
26 April 1976	Stockholm	Sweden	Kungliga Tennishallen
27 April 1976
28 April 1976	Gothenburg		Scandinavium
29 April 1976	Copenhagen	Denmark	Falkonersalen
30 April 1976
3 May 1976	London	England	Empire Pool
4 May 1976
5 May 1976
6 May 1976
7 May 1976
8 May 1976
11 May 1976	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National
13 May 1976	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy
14 May 1976
17 May 1976	Paris	France	Pavillon de Paris
18 May 1976
Total

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

14 April 1976	Ludwigshafen, West Germany	Friedrich-Ebert-Halle	Cancelled.
17 April 1976	Bern, Switzerland	Festhalle Bea Bern Expo	Rescheduled to Hallenstadion in Zurich.
27 April 1976	Oslo, Norway	Ekeberghallen	Cancelled.
19 May 1976	Paris, France	Pavillon de Paris	Cancelled.

Songs

From Hunky Dory "Changes" "Life on Mars?" "Queen Bitch" From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars "Five Years" "Suffragette City" From Aladdin Sane "Panic in Detroit" "The Jean Genie" From Diamond Dogs "Diamond Dogs" "Rebel Rebel"

From Young Americans "Fame" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar) From Station to Station "Station to Station" "Golden Years" "Word on a Wing" "TVC 15" "Stay" Other songs "I'm Waiting for the Man" (originally from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by The Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed; outtake from various Bowie sessions 1966-72) "Sister Midnight" (from The Idiot by Iggy Pop; written by Pop, Bowie and Alomar)

Personnel

Band ("Raw Moon") David Bowie – Vocals, guitar, saxophone Carlos Alomar – Rhythm guitar, music director,[10] backing vocals Stacy Heydon – Lead guitar, backing vocals George Murray – Bass guitar, backing vocals Dennis Davis – Drums, percussion Tony Kaye – Keyboards

Crew Vern Moose Constan, Rob Joyce – Band technicians/personnel Lonnie McKenzie, Leroy Kerr, Lester Burton, Buddy Prewitt, Larry Sizemore – Lighting technicians/personnel Buford Jones, Scott Wadsworth – Sound technicians/personnel

References

1. Kevin Cann, David Bowie: A Chronology, Vermilion, 1983, ISBN 0-09-153831-9
2. Pegg 2016, p. 566.
3. Pimm Jal de la Parra, David Bowie: The Concert Tapes, P.J. Publishing, 1985, ISBN 90-900100-5-X
4. David Buckley, Strange Fascination: The Definitive Biography of David Bowie, Virgin Books, 1999, ISBN 1-85227-784-X
5. Christopher Sandford, Bowie: Loving the Alien, Warner Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7515-1924-3
6. Thodoris (20 September 2021). "Interview: Tony Kaye (solo, Yes, David Bowie, Badger)". Hit Channel. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
7. "When Rochester arrested David Bowie". Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
8. "Billboard Box Office 20/3/1976" (PDF).
9. "Billboard Box Office 3 April 1976" (PDF).
10. Jones, Dylan (2017), David Bowie: A Life, Crown/Archetype

Sources

• Pegg, Nicholas (2016). The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated ed.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0.