| Diamond Dogs Tour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bowie performing at the Charlotte Park Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 5, 1974 |
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| Tour by David Bowie | ||||
| Associated album | Diamond Dogs | |||
| Start date | 14 June 1974 | |||
| End date | 2 December 1974 | |||
| Legs | 3 | |||
| Shows | 73 | |||
| David Bowie tour chronology | ||||
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The Diamond Dogs Tour was a concert tour by David Bowie in North America in 1974 to promote the studio album Diamond Dogs. The end of the tour was also called The Soul Tour, which included some songs from the forthcoming album Young Americans.
Bowie later recalled how he had gotten fed up with the theatricality of the tour early on (before changing it into the 'Soul Tour'): "I was in a bad state of mind to have attempted that. It was pretty exciting, but I was so blocked [laughs], so stoned during the entire thing that I'm amazed I lasted with it even that one trip across America before I ditched it."[1]
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Two months of rehearsals were required to get the tour ready, in part due to the elaborate set & props required for the show (reported to cost $275,000 in 1974 money). Originally the tour was planned to appear in a city for 5 nights before moving on, but that plan was abandoned early on. The tour started in June 1974 in Montreal, Canada as the "Diamond Dogs Tour." The tour took the month of August 1974 off, during which time Bowie began recording his follow-up studio album, Young Americans. On 10 October 1974, after the tour had resumed, Bowie abandoned the extravagent theatrical set and re-branded the tour "The Soul Tour," which would continue through the end of the North American leg in December.[2]
The set for the theatrical "Diamond Dogs" tour included a movable catwalk (which collapsed once during the tour with Bowie on it), streetlamps and elaborate props. For the song "Big Brother," Bowie sang from inside a multi-mirrored glass "asylum," only to emerge during the song "Time" from a giant hand. For "Space Oddity" Bowie climbed onto a cherry picker, which lifted him out and over the audience. The show in Tampa, FL, was performed without any of the stage props because the truck driver driving those components was delayed after being stung by a bee.[2]
In 1987, while preparing for the Glass Spider Tour (which picked up theatrically where the Diamond Dogs Tour left off), Bowie recalled about the extraordinary nature of the set he used during the Diamond Dogs tour:
| “ | We had four skyscrapers on stage, with bridges that went backwards and forward and would go up and down. The whole things was built on a city pretext. I had dancers working with me and it was choreographed and was a real fantastic musical event. I thoroughly enjoyed working like that.[3] | ” |
June–July:
September:
"The Soul/Philly Dogs Tour" - October–December:
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 June 1974 | Montreal, Quebec | Canada | Montreal Forum |
| 15 June 1974 | Ottawa, Ontario | Ottawa Civic Centre | |
| 16 June 1974 | Toronto, Ontario | O'Keefe Centre (Two shows) | |
| 17 June 1974 | Rochester, New York | United States | Rochester Community War Memorial |
| 18 June 1974 | Cleveland, Ohio | Public Auditorium | |
| 19 June 1974 | |||
| 20 June 1974 | Toledo, Ohio | Toledo Sports Arena | |
| 22 June 1974 | Detroit, Michigan | Cobo Hall | |
| 24 June 1974 | Dayton, Ohio | Hara Arena | |
| 26 June 1974 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Syria Mosque | |
| 27 June 1974 | |||
| 28 June 1974 | Charleston, West Virginia | Charleston Civic Center | |
| 29 June 1974 | Nashville, Tennessee | Municipal Auditorium | |
| 30 June 1974 | Memphis, Tennessee | Mid-South Coliseum | |
| 1 July 1974 | Atlanta, Georgia | Fox Theater | |
| 2 July 1974 | Tampa, Florida | Curtis Hixon Hall | |
| 3 July 1974 | Casselberry, Florida | Seminole Jai-Alai Fronton | |
| 5 July 1974 | Charlotte, North Carolina | Charlotte Park Center | |
| 6 July 1974 | Greensboro, North Carolina | Greensboro Coliseum | |
| 7 July 1974 | Norfolk, Virginia | Norfolk Scope | |
| 8 July 1974 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Tower Theater | |
| 9 July 1974 | |||
| 10 July 1974 | |||
| 11 July 1974 | |||
| 12 July 1974 | |||
| 13 July 1974 | |||
| 14 July 1974 | New Haven, Connecticut | New Haven Coliseum | |
| 16 July 1974 | Boston, Massachusetts | Music Hall | |
| 19 July 1974 | New York City, New York | Madison Square Garden | |
| 20 July 1974 | |||
| 2 September 1974 | Los Angeles, California | Universal Amphitheatre | |
| 3 September 1974 | |||
| 4 September 1974 | |||
| 5 September 1974 | |||
| 6 September 1974 | |||
| 7 September 1974 | |||
| 8 September 1974 | |||
| 11 September 1974 | San Diego, California | San Diego Sports Arena | |
| 13 September 1974 | Tucson, Arizona | Tucson Convention Center | |
| 14 September 1974 | Phoenix, Arizona | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum | |
| 15 September 1974 | Anaheim, California | Anaheim Convention Center | |
| 16 September 1974 | |||
| 5 October 1974 | Saint Paul, Minnesota | Saint Paul Civic Center | |
| 8 October 1974 | Indianapolis, Indiana | Indiana Convention Center | |
| 11 October 1974 | Madison, Wisconsin | Dane County Coliseum | |
| 13 October 1974 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | MECCA Arena | |
| 15 October 1974 | Detroit, Michigan | Michigan Palace Theater | |
| 16 October 1974 | |||
| 17 October 1974 | |||
| 19 October 1974 | |||
| 20 October 1974 | |||
| 22 October 1974 | Chicago, Illinois | Arie Crown Theater | |
| 23 October 1974 | |||
| 28 October 1974 | New York City, New York | Radio City Music Hall | |
| 29 October 1974 | |||
| 30 October 1974 | |||
| 31 October 1974 | |||
| 1 November 1974 | |||
| 2 November 1974 | |||
| 3 November 1974 | |||
| 6 November 1974 | Cleveland, Ohio | Public Auditorium | |
| 8 November 1974 | Buffalo, New York | War Memorial Auditorium | |
| 11 November 1974 | Washington D.C. | Capital Centre | |
| 14 November 1974 | Boston, Massachusetts | Music Hall | |
| 15 November 1974 | |||
| 16 November 1974 | |||
| 18 November 1974 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | The Spectrum | |
| 19 November 1974 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Civic Arena | |
| 25 November 1974 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | The Spectrum | |
| 28 November 1974 | Memphis, Tennessee | Mid-South Coliseum | |
| 30 November 1974 | Nashville, Tennessee | Municipal Auditorium | |
| 1 December 1974 | Atlanta, Georgia | The Omni |
From Space Oddity
From The Man Who Sold the World
From Hunky Dory
From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
From Aladdin Sane
From Pinups
From Diamond Dogs
From Young Americans
Other songs