Happy Birthday David Bowie: Performing Live Through The Decades
By Andy Kahn Jan 8, 2017 • 12:02 pm PST
One year ago today David Bowie celebrated his 69th birthday by releasing his album ★ (“Blackstar”). His 28th studio LP turned out to be Bowie’s final LP, as just two days later news of his unexpected death rattled the music world. Sunday Cinema this week is a career retrospective of live David Bowie performances in each decade beginning in the 1960s through his final live appearance in 2006.
The man born David Jones on this date in 1947 began his career in the mid-1960s with an attempt at pop music while calling himself Davy Jones. In 1967 he reintroduced himself via his self-titled David Bowie debut album and subsequent 1969 follow-up Space Oddity (David Bowie).
The first video below is from 1969 and features Bowie performing what became one of this best known songs – “Space Oddity.” The black and white footage below comes from an appearance Bowie made on the German television program Hits A Go Go, watch here:
Perhaps the most recognizable of the many personas donned by Bowie during his eclectic career was the red-headed alien glam rocker Ziggy Stardust. The character drove Bowie’s acclaimed 1972 LP The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and firmly supplanted the singer-songwriter as an icon of rock ‘n’ roll. Below is officially released footage from the Ziggy Stardust film featuring The Spiders drummer Woody Woodmansey, bassist Trevor Bolder and guitarist Mick Ronson, with auxiliary players including pianist Mike Garson backing Bowie on “Ziggy Stardust.” Watch:
Bowie was among standout performances during the all-star Live Aid concert held at Wembley Stadium in London (and simultaneously at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia). He capped his four song set with his uplifting anthem “Heroes” to the welcoming roar of the more than 70,000 people assembled for the historic event. Watch “Heroes” from Live Aid below:
Another charity concert appearance made by Bowie occurred in 1996 when he was the guest of Neil Young’s at the annual Bridge School Benefit concerts at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. Bowie’s October 20 set worked in a rendition of “China Girl” from the Bowie-produced Iggy Pop LP The Idiot. Watch the partially acoustic performance of “China Girl” with Bowie seated and playing guitar here:
Another fundraising appearance ended up being Bowie’s final live performance. It came on on November 9, 2006 at The Black Ball gala thrown for the Keep A Child Alive charity which was hosted by Alicia Keys and Bowie’s wife Iman. Those at the Hammerstein Ballroom were witnesses to performances of “Wild Is The Wind” from 1976’s Station To Station, “Fantastic Voyage” from 1979’s Lodger and Keys joining for “Changes” which he first recorded for 1971’s Hunky Dory. The three song set was preserved in the lo-fi videos posted by Sssimone and presented below:
