Take a Bow:
ASTADIUM spectacular wowed music fans 35 years ago yesterday as one of the world’s biggest stars turned up on Wearside.
David Bowie performed at Roker Park, the old home of Sunderland AFC, on June 23, 1987 to massive acclaim.
It was a decade in which iconic performers graced the turf at our region’s two main football grounds.
Over on Tyneside, Newcastle United’s St James’ Park had already hosted the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Queen.
Bowie, in fact, might have performed at the same venue himself had a Chronicle story from March 1983 come to fruition. We reported how promoter Harvey Goldsmith was considering promoting a summer show at the ground following the success of the Stones a year earlier – but the plan was eventually scrapped.
It was four years later when the 40-year-old star would stop off on Wearside on his 100-city worldwide Glass Spider tour. Ticket sales were brisk, with a massive crowd expected and support acts Big Country and the Screaming Blue Messiahs in tow.
More than 36,000 fans descended on Roker Park for the show. Our selection of photographs of fans will spark memories for those who were there 35 years ago – and maybe there’ll even be a familiar face or two.
It was a day which began with bright sunshine, but would end with torrential rain – while the show itself would not be without its problems. With Bowie’s Boeing 747 aircraft temporarily grounded in London, The Chronicle later reported how the thousands of fans, most of whom were standing, in the ground “were blissfully unaware of last-minute delays”.
The start of the show also saw the singer address the crowd in a now notorious gaffe when he declared: “Good evening, Newcastle.” Oh dear!
Once the performance finally began, our reviewer was not overly impressed, noting: “Bowie descended from the arms of a giant glass spider looking like an ageing teddy boy. He took on the
role of a circus impresario in charge of a multi-national band and team of wild dancers. But the significance of a great deal of the show was lost on much of the crowd...”
Much of the music in the set also seemed to go over the heads of the huge audience who had come to party, but instead were faced with a sizeable chunk of the singer’s new and more obscure material.
Indeed as our reporter noted, “when the audience was treated to some of the star’s hits – Heroes, Fame, Absolute Beginners and China Girl – they went down a storm.”
Towards the end of the show, Bowie again put his foot in it, announcing: “You didn’t let it rain. It’s so nice not to play in the rain”. Cue a downpour which soaked the large outdoor crowd. It was late on when the show finally got up a head of steam as Bowie finally rocked out with Let’s Dance and Modern Love.
Our reviewer concluded: “The crowds danced and sang with gusto – and I got an impression of what a great night it could have been.”
Bowie would return to the region in the following years, gracing the much smaller Newcastle Mayfair in 1991 and Newcastle Riverside in 1997. In 1995, he was notably the first major artist to appear at the newly-opened Newcastle Arena.