Remembering when David Bowie entertained intimate crowds in Liverpool
The singer made several visits to the city over the years
David Bowie was no stranger to entertaining crowds made up of thousands of adoring fans throughout his ground-breaking career.
But when the influential musician set foot in Liverpool it was almost always a more intimate affair. In just over two months’ time, in June, Bowie’s story is set to return to Liverpool with the first ever World David Bowie Fan Convention taking place.
An array of special guests who played a role in Bowie’s career are set to make an appearance including guitarist and band leader for over 20 years, Carlos Alomar and long-standing bassist and vocalist, Gail Ann Dorsey.
Having toured the world, Bowie did what he did best in the city numerous times throughout his five-decade long career. Don’t believe us? Just take the word of some of those who had the honour of watching him perform live. In 2014, the ECHO asked its readers to tell us about the best gig they’d ever attended.
At the time, Simon Archer, originally from Walton, recalled being there when Bowie made an appearance at city centre nightclub, Top Rank Suite, in September 1972. He said: “I didn’t know much about David Bowie apart from Space Oddity and Starman and even less about the Ziggy Stardust tour. What a performance, though. Bowie, with his classic Spiders line-up of Mick Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder (bass) and Woody Woodmansey (drums) just blew us away.
“Straight after the show, I rang my mum to see if she could pick us up and she asked what group we had seen. At the time, she was managing a well- known women’s fashion store in Manchester and, when I told her it was David Bowie, she said ‘that’s a coincidence. He was in my shop today buying ladies jumpers. While you’re waiting, look out for a big black Mercedes because that’s what dropped him off and collected him.’
“Bernie and I walked to the back door of the Top Rank, a black Merc pulled up and, as Bowie got into the car, we shouted out to him. I can’t honestly remember what we said, but he beckoned us over and we sat in the car until the rest of the crew arrived. He couldn’t have been more friendly and was genuinely over the moon that we were so blown away with the concert. Even then, I figured he was going to be huge, but it worried me a bit about the jumpers, they were very different days.”
The next time Bowie was to set foot in Merseyside was nine months later when he had established himself as an iconic representative of 1970s culture. His Empire Theatre appearances earned a page three Liverpool ECHO review.
The ECHO’s reviewer said: “David Bowie arrived at the Empire before the first show wearing blue trousers and a dazzling silver jacket. As if that were not enough to recognise him by, his hair was bright orange. His fans too were sporting Bowie hair-styles and fashions, although no-one had gone as far as changing their hair colour to orange.”
It wasn’t until 1991 the Space Oddity singer would return to entertain a crowd in the city. Excited Bowie fans queued up to see the star perform a set at the Roe Street art deco theatre as part of his Earthling tour. The show opened with Quicksand from Hunky Dory and also featur fan favourites Fashion, Fame, Jean Genie and Under Pressure.
Bowie would return six years later, with his next choice of venue, at a time when he could easily pack out arenas of 20,000-plus capacity, being the intimate 2,000-seater Royal Court in August 1997.
The day before the much-anticipated show, which was Bowie’s last ever time performing in Liverpool, an ECHO journalist wrote: “The idea, those who know him suggest, is to reconnect him with his fans, with a real audience that he can see and interact with, rather than an ocean of faces. he likes eye contact, and that’s not really possible in an arena.”
One ECHO reviewer was lucky enough to be a part of the small crowd for the performance. They gave the show full marks before writing: “Just Bowie. Not a speck in the distance or a giant image on a video screen. But on stage close enough to touch his audience, plus his excellent, as always, musicians…Time may have changed Bowie but it hasn’t changed his brilliance as a musician and a performer.”
