I never got to see Bowie live. He was on my bucket list. A friend of mine who was a casual fan saw him live in his later years and loved it. With that being said, from the fans on this site who like Bowie, what are the best recommended live CDs for good performance (and good representation of his body of work-including well known hits) if I were to acquire one great starter record??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-05 20:49 by Sighunt.

‘Stage’ is his most famous live album. ‘David Live’ is less known but often regarded as his best live album.

A reality tour - 2010. Body of work indeed.

Among official releases the below titles stand out :

- A reality tour (2003) for a complete collection of his best songs live
- Glastonbury 2000 - outstanding performance
- Live at Nassau Coliseum (1976) - A personnal favorite of mine. The Station to station tour. It really rocks.
- Welcome to the black out and Stage (1978) for the Low and Heroes tour
- David live and Cracked actor (1974) - Haunted but good performances of the Diamond dogs tour
- Live at Santa Monica and Ziggy Stardust soundtrack for the Ziggy's years.

I saw him five times (1983, 1987, 1990, 2002 and 2003), six times if I include Tin Machine at the Olympia in Paris.

Great memories, particularly in 1983 and 2002/2003.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-05 21:14 by cimaz.

Serious Moonlight Tour is excellent as well. Great backing musicians!

Couple of '90s gigs now streaming with a third on the way...

Liveandwell.com - collection of tracks from '97
Ouvrez Le Chien - Live from Dallas '95

I was lucky to see Bowie in '90, '95 and in '04, some highlights of my career chasing gigs.

Truly an artist ahead of his times throughout his career...

Liveandwell and Ouvrez are great showcases of an underrated period. I happen to love Heart's Filthy Lesson due to its appearance in Se7en, and I'm Afraid of Americans.

I can mention some hard copy favourites of mine, i.e David Live, when he was on the cusp of the soul material. Likewise, John I'm Only Dancing Again, which is from the same period.

However, in my opinion, the best Bowie live is the Nassau Colosseum gig from 1976. I know he was in a bad way at the time, what with the cocaine, but it was a great gig.

+1 to all the mentions of Nassau. It rocks so hard. I’d say my favorites are
1. Nassau ‘76
2. A Reality Tour ‘03
3. Glastonbury 2000
4. Stage (2017 mix)

Stage us a bit weird because the songs available elsewhere are generally better elsewhere. But it has some kickass versions of What In The World/Beauty And The Beast/Breaking Glass/etc.

Quote
tommycharles
+1 to all the mentions of Nassau. It rocks so hard. I’d say my favorites are
1. Nassau ‘76
2. A Reality Tour ‘03
3. Glastonbury 2000
4. Stage (2017 mix)

Stage us a bit weird because the songs available elsewhere are generally better elsewhere. But it has some kickass versions of What In The World/Beauty And The Beast/Breaking Glass/etc.

Thanks.

Stage has a great version of Station to Station on it. Bowie mimed to it on the Christiane F Film in a red Harrington jacket, totally rocking.

Check out You Tube:

'David Bowie Montreaux The Complete Show July 18th 2002'

Tremendous show that runs for two-and-a-half hours with excellent audio...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-06 10:24 by FancyBluesMan.

As a Bowie 1970's fan I say Santa Monica '72, Nassau ‘76 and Stage saw him in '76 in Rotterdam great perfromance

__________________________

Thank you all for your great recommendations. I spent a lot of today hearing samples of your album recommendations and I have to say that the Nassau show from 76 is my top pick so far. It rocks! (David Live is coming in at a close 2nd!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-06 02:24 by Sighunt.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-06 14:54 by exilestones.

Santa Monica 72
Spiders From Mars Soundtrack

Both are killer...

David Live the restored running order 2002 Tony Visconti mix is fantastic, as is Stages from 1978, restored running orders change your known experience of the original release, but IMO RCA/Mainman made errors in the rearrangement of running orders.

Bit as with the 2 albums above, SM 72 & Spiders Soundtrack are outstanding fully restored, the 13+ minute Width Of A Circle on Spiders is amazing, Mick Ronson tearing it up

Bowie "Midnight Special" Special in 1973. not official though.
I still think Bowie sang the program's theme song (Midnight Special) with the Spiders.
Even now that song remain lodged in my ears.

Santa Monica for sure, it was even a great bootleg
Looking forward to a new ‘74 release on one of the Record Store dayS coming up
Saw him on ‘77/‘78 Stage tour...

David Live is a killer. The songs, the arrangements, the band, Earl Slick on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone.
The 2009 Version of STAGE is also excellent.A real killer rhythm section (especially George Murray on bass).
A Reality Tour is very good, but for me 2 hours and 40 minutes is a bit too long. Also because there are a few fillers and the sound is a bit too compressed/brickwalled.

Quote
RockingLonestar
David Live is a killer. The songs, the arrangements, the band, Earl Slick on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone.
The 2009 Version of STAGE is also excellent.A real killer rhythm section (especially George Murray on bass).
A Reality Tour is very good, but for me 2 hours and 40 minutes is a bit too long. Also because there are a few fillers and the sound is a bit too compressed/brickwalled.

… and there is a killer bootleg from the 1983 tour from Montreal.The official release Serious Moonlight from Toronto misses 8 songs!

Montreal 1983 (full show) is on Spotify

For hits you can't go wrong with Glastonbury 2000. It served as kind of a comeback for him & he gives an astounding performance. Get the blu-ray. You really can't go wrong with any of the official releases. Even the much maligned Glass Spider tour has its moments & Peter Frampton contributes some great guitar. It all comes down to which Bowie you like. I'm a fan on the same level as I am with the Stones. I play Stage & Reality tour a lot. The new Alive & Well & Ouvrez Le Chien are both fantastic showcasing Reeves Gabrels on guitar. There are a ton of great bootlegs out there, too. Live at the Borgota, Atlantic City 2004 is a stunner if you come across that & the Montreux show mentioned earlier is worth getting too. Totally miss Bowie. I had never seen the BBC/HBO Last 5 years documentary until this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised to see some footage included of the band at a truck stop in Shelby Montana near the Canadian border. In the footage David is looking through the rack of music I had for sale in the store & he approved! I had seen a longer version years ago on his web site but I don't think it's there any more. Totally validates the 25+ years I spent in the music business. Also, I got to meet Bowie once on the farewell to the hits tour about 1990. A highlight for sure.

If you're feeling perverse there's a live stream of Tin Machine Live at La Cigalle in France available. Underrated band, and underrated era too.

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tomcasagranda
If you're feeling perverse there's a live stream of Tin Machine Live at La Cigalle in France available. Underrated band, and underrated era too.

Reeves Gabrels again. One of my favorite guitar players!

I never saw Bowie in concert, but I was one of the few who saw his last work: Lazarus. I was in the front row and Iman attended the Saturday matinee. I was super lucky as the next performance was cancelled as some performer was ill.
I drove from Chicago to NYC and only could make this performance.

A great memory.

Tokyo 1990
Milton Keynes 1990
Montreal 1990

Quote
Sighunt
Thank you all for your great recommendations. I spent a lot of today hearing samples of your album recommendations and I have to say that the Nassau show from 76 is my top pick so far. It rocks! (David Live is coming in at a close 2nd!)

Nassau is my personal favorite. I'm a huge Bowie fan (saw him almost 60 times) and that 3/17/76 show (a few days before) in Boston is my favorite show of all time.

Quote
cimaz
Among official releases the below titles stand out :

- A reality tour (2003) for a complete collection of his best songs live
- Glastonbury 2000 - outstanding performance
- Live at Nassau Coliseum (1976) - A personnal favorite of mine. The Station to station tour. It really rocks.
- Welcome to the black out and Stage (1978) for the Low and Heroes tour
- David live and Cracked actor (1974) - Haunted but good performances of the Diamond dogs tour
- Live at Santa Monica and Ziggy Stardust soundtrack for the Ziggy's years.

I saw him five times (1983, 1987, 1990, 2002 and 2003), six times if I include Tin Machine at the Olympia in Paris.

Great memories, particularly in 1983 and 2002/2003.

This morning I was looking at something and Glastonbury Let's Dance came up so that lead to a rabbit hole and it indeed is excellent.

havent heard any official releases but came across some great stuff on youtube, his live by request gig in 2002 was brilliant.

1990 UNC Chapel Hill- Glass Spider Tour iirc. Mostly greatest hits, think Changes I&II +. Adrian Belew on Guitar. Tony Levin Stick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-07-07 05:58 by KevinM.

The Spiders’ Santa Monica gig is the one for me.

Glastonbury is ace.

I am looking forward to the RSD i’monlydancing(thesoultour74) release.

Though unofficial Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at MSG is very good. Supreme performance. The grainy film of that concert is on YouTube. Highly recommend it.