This amazing concert was filmed in Vancouver over two nights, originally released on HBO and then parlayed into the home video market. If anybody wanted to see Bowie at his commercial peak (at the time he was signed to EMI with a whopping $3 mil contract--the highest ever to date for a rock act) this was the chance if you missed him on his whirlwind Europe/US/Oceania/Asian globetrot.
Hot on the heels of "Modern Love," "Let's Dance" and "China Girl", plus a few odds and ends recorded in between this tour and his previous 1979 fluorescent light cage-themed jaunt, this act was clearly made for a video-age audience. With "Blade-Runner" inspired floor-to-ceiling clear plastic light columns, the groundbreaking use of vari-lights, and the band in costumes reminiscent of a 1920's Hong Kong dockyard, you'd think that would be enough eye candy for a 90-minute show. But the video goes one further with an intro filmed at a Hong Kong dockyard with the band in their "silly suits", and a bevy of asian models paid to fill up the front two rows to add spice to the entire theme. For a tour of that nature to blow out Duran Duran, The Police and Michael Jackson's tours as the most attended of 1983, you gotta mean business.
And Bowie not only blew out the rock world with the staged theatrics, he rocked the house with his trademark sound, blending funk, soul, experimental synth and glam rock into one big gumbo pot. Who else back then would have cleverly utilized Chic's drummer and LaBelle's bassist, horns from the Tower of Power, vocalists from Harry Chapin's recording sessions, in addition to his longtime guitar sidemen from the Diamond Dogs days? You will see Bowie as you've never seen before, making all of his previous mutations pale in comparison (plus a few afterward). On top of that, he is smiling and enjoying himself throughout the entire night. Utter charisma.
Hot on the heels of "Modern Love," "Let's Dance" and "China Girl", plus a few odds and ends recorded in between this tour and his previous 1979 fluorescent light cage-themed jaunt, this act was clearly made for a video-age audience. With "Blade-Runner" inspired floor-to-ceiling clear plastic light columns, the groundbreaking use of vari-lights, and the band in costumes reminiscent of a 1920's Hong Kong dockyard, you'd think that would be enough eye candy for a 90-minute show. But the video goes one further with an intro filmed at a Hong Kong dockyard with the band in their "silly suits", and a bevy of asian models paid to fill up the front two rows to add spice to the entire theme. For a tour of that nature to blow out Duran Duran, The Police and Michael Jackson's tours as the most attended of 1983, you gotta mean business.
And Bowie not only blew out the rock world with the staged theatrics, he rocked the house with his trademark sound, blending funk, soul, experimental synth and glam rock into one big gumbo pot. Who else back then would have cleverly utilized Chic's drummer and LaBelle's bassist, horns from the Tower of Power, vocalists from Harry Chapin's recording sessions, in addition to his longtime guitar sidemen from the Diamond Dogs days? You will see Bowie as you've never seen before, making all of his previous mutations pale in comparison (plus a few afterward). On top of that, he is smiling and enjoying himself throughout the entire night. Utter charisma.
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