The Diamond Dogs Tour was a concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in North America in 1974 to promote the studio album Diamond Dogs, which was released the same year. The first leg of the tour utilized a rock opera-style stage show format with multiple sets, costume changes, and choreography. The third leg of the tour was alternatively known as The Soul Tour, which included some songs from the forthcoming album Young Americans (1975) and featured a revamped, stripped-down presentation and different backing band.

Tour preparation and details

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 per set, or about $ today). Originally the tour was planned to appear in a city for five nights before moving on to the next city, but that plan was abandoned early on. The tour started in June 1974 in Montreal, Quebec as the "Diamond Dogs Tour" (although producer Tony DeFries demanded the tour be referred to as "The Year of the Diamond Dogs" when speaking with the press). Bowie recorded radio and television commercials for the tour, which played in advance of the tour's arrival in each city. 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 extravagant theatrical set and re-branded the tour "The Soul Tour", which would continue through the end of the North American leg in December.

In 1987, Bowie recalled how difficult the tour was early on before changing it into the 'Soul Tour', saying "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.""David Bowie Opens Up – A Little" by Scott Isler, Musician Magazine, August 1987, pp 60-73

Set design

The set for the theatrical Diamond Dogs tour was designed by Mark Ravitz, who later did the set for Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider Tour. The set was built to resemble a city (called "Hunger City"), weighed 6 tons and incorporated over 20,000 moving parts including a variety of props (such as streetlamps, chairs and catwalks). The props themselves weren't ready for use until a mere 6 days before the show opened, which led to a variety of technical problems during the tour: a movable catwalk collapsed once during the tour with Bowie on it. The set was at least partially based on work by German artist George Grosz. The use of full-stage lighting for the tour was considered "revolutionary" and it was called the first time a rock star had hired a team of Broadway designers to light the whole stage.

In 1990, while preparing for his Sound+Vision Tour, Bowie recalled the difficulties faced by the show, saying it "was good fun and dangerous, with the equipment breaking down and the bridges falling apart on stage. I kept getting stuck out over the audience's heads, on the hydraulic cherry picker, after the finish of 'Space Oddity.'" Other props worked as expected: for the song "Big Brother", Bowie sang while atop a multi-mirrored glass "asylum", emerging during the next song ("Time") sitting in the palm of a giant hand covered in small light bulbs.

The show in Tampa, Florida, was performed without any of the stage props because the truck driver driving those components ended up in a highway ditch after being stung by a bee.

In 1987, while preparing for the Glass Spider Tour (which picked up theatrically where the Diamond Dogs tour left off and was also designed by Ravitz), Bowie recalled about the extraordinary nature of the set he used during this tour, saying "We had four skyscrapers on stage, with bridges that went backwards and forward and would go up and down. The whole thing 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."

Live recordings

MainMan, Bowie's management team, planned to cull a live album from the July 1974 performances at the Tower Theater just outside Philadelphia. When the band learned of this, they demanded to be paid a standard recording fee of $5000 per musician in addition to their normal pay or they would refuse to perform. They were given checks hours before show time, and the concert recording went on as planned. The resulting double album, titled David Live, became Bowie's first official live album.

A Portrait in Flesh, a bootleg of the 5 September 1974 show in Los Angeles was released in Australia. An official version of the 5 September 1974 show, mixed by Tony Visconti in 2016, was first released as Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74), a 3-LP set, for Record Store Day on 22 April 2017. The set was released in CD and digital formats in June 2017.

An official live album mostly recorded at the Michigan Palace, Detroit on 20 October 1974, during the last stage of the tour – known as The Soul Tour – was released for Record Store Day in August 2020. The 2-LP and 2-CD set is titled I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74). In September 2020, the album peaked at #16 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, #12 on the Billboard Top Alternative Albums chart and #18 on the OCC (UK) Official Albums Chart .

Band

June–July: David Bowie – vocals Michael Kamen – electric piano, Moog synthesizer, oboe, music director Earl Slick – guitar Mike Garson – piano, mellotron David Sanborn – alto saxophone, flute Richard Grando – baritone saxophone, flute Herbie Flowers – bass Tony Newman – drums Pablo Rosario – percussion Gui Andrisano – backing vocals Warren Peace – backing vocals

September: David Bowie – vocals Mike Garson – piano, mellotron Earl Slick – guitar Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar David Sanborn – alto saxophone, flute Richard Grando – baritone saxophone, flute Doug Rauch – bass Greg Errico – drums Pablo Rosario – percussion Gui Andrisano – backing vocals Warren Peace – backing vocals Ava Cherry – backing vocals Robin Clark – backing vocals Anthony Hinton – backing vocals Diane Sumler – backing vocals Luther Vandross – backing vocals

"The Soul/Philly Dogs Tour" – October–December: David Bowie – vocals Mike Garson – piano, mellotron, music director Earl Slick – lead guitar Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar David Sanborn – alto saxophone, flute Emir Ksasan – bass Dennis Davis – drums Pablo Rosario – percussion Warren Peace – backing vocals Ava Cherry – backing vocals Robin Clark – backing vocals Anthony Hinton – backing vocals Diane Sumler – backing vocals Luther Vandross – backing vocals

Tour dates Two concerts were performed on 16 June in Toronto.

DateCityCountryVenueNorth America (First Leg)14 June 1974MontrealCanadaMontreal Forum 15 June 1974OttawaOttawa Civic Centre 16 June 1974TorontoO'Keefe Centre 17 June 1974RochesterUnited StatesRochester Community War Memorial 18 June 1974ClevelandPublic Auditorium 19 June 197420 June 1974ToledoToledo Sports Arena 22 June 1974DetroitCobo Hall 23 June 197424 June 1974TrotwoodHara Arena 25 June 1974CincinnatiCincinnati Gardens26 June 1974PittsburghSyria Mosque 27 June 197428 June 1974CharlestonCharleston Civic Center 29 June 1974NashvilleNashville Municipal Auditorium 30 June 1974MemphisMid-South Coliseum 1 July 1974AtlantaFox Theatre 2 July 1974TampaCurtis Hixon Hall 3 July 1974CasselberryJai Alai5 July 1974CharlotteCharlotte Coliseum 6 July 1974GreensboroGreensboro Coliseum 7 July 1974NorfolkNorfolk Scope 8 July 1974Upper Darby TownshipTower Theater 9 July 197410 July 197411 July 197412 July 197413 July 197414 July 1974New HavenNew Haven Coliseum 16 July 1974BostonMusic Hall 19 July 1974New York CityMadison Square Garden 20 July 1974North America (Second Leg)2 September 1974Los AngelesUnited StatesUniversal Amphitheatre 3 September 19744 September 19745 September 19746 September 19747 September 19748 September 197411 September 1974San DiegoSan Diego Sports Arena 13 September 1974TucsonTucson Convention Center 14 September 1974PhoenixArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 15 September 1974AnaheimAnaheim Convention Center 16 September 1974North America (Third Leg)5 October 1974Saint PaulUnited StatesSaint Paul Civic Center 8 October 1974IndianapolisIndiana Convention Center 10 October 1974MadisonDane County Coliseum11 October 197413 October 1974MilwaukeeMECCA Arena 15 October 1974DetroitMichigan Palace Theater 16 October 197417 October 197418 October 197419 October 197420 October 197421 October 1974ChicagoArie Crown Theater22 October 197423 October 197428 October 1974New York CityRadio City Music Hall 29 October 197430 October 197431 October 19741 November 19742 November 19743 November 19746 November 1974ClevelandPublic Auditorium8 November 1974BuffaloWar Memorial Stadium 11 November 1974LandoverCapital Centre 14 November 1974BostonMusic Hall 15 November 197416 November 197418 November 1974PhiladelphiaThe Spectrum Theater 19 November 1974PittsburghCivic Arena 24 November 1974PhiladelphiaThe Spectrum Theater25 November 197428 November 1974MemphisMid-South Coliseum 30 November 1974NashvilleNashville Municipal Auditorium 1 December 1974AtlantaOmni Coliseum

Cancellations 17 July 1974Yarmouth, MassachusettsCape Cod ColiseumCancelled6 October 1974 Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul Civic CenterCancelled

Songs

From David Bowie "Space Oddity" "Memory of a Free Festival" From The Man Who Sold the World "The Width of a Circle" From Hunky Dory "Changes" From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars "Moonage Daydream" "Suffragette City" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" From Aladdin Sane "Watch That Man" "Aladdin Sane (1913–1938-197?)" "Drive-In Saturday" "Panic in Detroit" "Cracked Actor" "Time" "The Jean Genie" From Pin Ups "Sorrow" (originally by The McCoys in 1965 and made famous by The Merseys the following year; written by Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer)

From Diamond Dogs "Future Legend" "Diamond Dogs" "Sweet Thing" "Candidate" "Sweet Thing (Reprise)" "Rebel Rebel" "Rock 'n' Roll With Me" "1984" "Big Brother" "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" From Young Americans "Young Americans" "Win" "Somebody Up There Likes Me" "Can You Hear Me?" Other songs "All the Young Dudes" (from All the Young Dudes (1972) by Mott the Hoople; written by Bowie) "Footstompin'" (from "Foot Stomping” by The Flares (1961), written by Aaron Collins) "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" (from Observations in Time (1969) by the Ohio Players, written by Leroy Bonner, Joe Harris, Marshall "Rock" Jones, Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks, Dutch Robinson, Clarence "Satch" Satchell and Gary Webster) "It's Gonna Be Me" (outtake from Young Americans; released as a bonus track from the album's 1991 and 2007 reissues (the latter being an alternate version with strings)) "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" (a rearranged version of a non-album Bowie single first released in 1972/1973, a studio version of which was itself later released as a single in 1979) "Knock on Wood" (originally from Knock on Wood (1966) by Eddie Floyd; written by Floyd and Steve Cropper; later released as a single from David Live (1974))

Notes