Isolar – Tour: 1976

The White Light Tour That Started February 2

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

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. 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.

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.

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."

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.

"Station to Station"

"Suffragette City"

"Fame"

"Word on a Wing"

"Stay"

"I'm Waiting for the Man"

"Queen Bitch"

"Life on Mars?"

"Five Years"

"Panic in Detroit"

"Changes"

"TVC 15"

"Diamond Dogs"

Encore

"Rebel Rebel"

"The Jean Genie"

Tour Dates

Tour Dates

North America

February 2, 1976 – Vancouver, Canada – Pacific Coliseum

February 3, 1976 – Seattle, United States – Seattle Center Coliseum

February 4, 1976 – Portland, United States – Portland Memorial Coliseum

February 6, 1976 – Daly City, United States – Cow Palace

February 8, 1976 – Inglewood, United States – The Forum

February 9, 1976

February 11, 1976

February 13, 1976 – San Diego, United States – San Diego Sports Arena

February 15, 1976 – Phoenix, United States – Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

February 16, 1976 – Albuquerque, United States – Albuquerque Civic Auditorium

February 17, 1976 – Denver, United States – McNichols Sports Arena

February 20, 1976 – Milwaukee, United States – MECCA Arena

February 21, 1976 – Kalamazoo, United States – Wings Stadium

February 22, 1976 – Evansville, United States – Roberts Municipal Stadium

February 23, 1976 – Cincinnati, United States – Riverfront Coliseum

February 25, 1976 – Montreal, Canada – Montreal Forum

February 26, 1976 – Toronto, Canada – Maple Leaf Gardens

February 27, 1976 – Cleveland, United States – Public Auditorium

February 28, 1976

February 29, 1976 – Detroit, United States – Olympia Stadium

March 1, 1976

March 3, 1976 – Chicago, United States – International Amphitheatre

March 5, 1976 – St. Louis, United States – Kiel Auditorium

March 6, 1976 – Memphis, United States – Mid-South Coliseum

March 7, 1976 – Nashville, United States – Nashville Municipal Auditorium

March 8, 1976 – Atlanta, United States – Omni Coliseum

March 9, 1976 – Jacksonville, United States – Jacksonville Coliseum

March 11, 1976 – Pittsburgh, United States – Civic Arena

March 12, 1976 – Norfolk, United States – Norfolk Scope

March 13, 1976 – Landover, United States – Capital Centre

March 14, 1976

March 15, 1976 – Philadelphia, United States – The Spectrum

March 16, 1976

March 17, 1976 – Boston, United States – Boston Garden

March 19, 1976 – Buffalo, United States – Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

March 20, 1976 – Rochester, United States – Rochester Community War Memorial

March 21, 1976 – Springfield, United States – Springfield Civic Center

March 22, 1976 – New Haven, United States – New Haven Coliseum

March 23, 1976 – Uniondale, United States – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

March 26, 1976 – New York City, United States – Madison Square Garden

Europe

April 7, 1976 – Munich, West Germany – Olympiahalle

April 8, 1976 – Düsseldorf, West Germany – Philipshalle

April 10, 1976 – West Berlin, West Germany – Deutschlandhalle

April 11, 1976 – Hamburg, West Germany – Congress Center Hamburg

April 12, 1976

April 13, 1976 – Frankfurt, West Germany – Festhalle Frankfurt

April 14, 1976 – Ludwigshafen, West Germany – Friedrich-Ebert-Halle

April 17, 1976 – Zürich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion

April 24, 1976 – Helsinki, Finland – UKK Hall

April 26, 1976 – Stockholm, Sweden – Kungliga Tennishallen

April 27, 1976

April 28, 1976 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Scandinavium

April 29, 1976 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Falkonersalen

April 30, 1976

May 3, 1976 – London, England – Empire Pool

May 4, 1976

May 5, 1976

May 6, 1976

May 7, 1976

May 8, 1976

May 11, 1976 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National

May 13, 1976 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Rotterdam Ahoy

May 14, 1976

May 17, 1976 – Paris, France – Pavillon de Paris

May 18, 1976

Did you see the Isolar tour ? Were you ready for the Thin White Duke?

Information is drawn from my personal knowledge and supplemented by web sources, including davidbowie.com, Discogs, 45cat, AllMusic, Rate Your Music, Wikipedia and BBC Official Charts Company