Nov. 10, 1974 review: David Bowie at the Aud

 


November 1974 was one of those peak months for major rock concerts in Buffalo, beginning with this visit from the latest incarnation of David Bowie.

 

Nov. 10, 1974

A Subtle Elegance Marks New Bowie 

          The lines are too long at the Memorial Auditorium box office Friday night. Also too late, which is why one girl is in tears. She’s waited here three hours and David Bowie is sold out.

          A sell-out means every seat except those few thousand behind stage. The backdrop, that big white screen, would ruin the view.

          As for Bowie, the most intensely glamorous and artistic of all the British glitter rockers, it just wouldn’t do. Bowie has to be seen.

          Surprisingly, it’s not a glimmery crowd. A few satins and spangles, a lovely girl with green and blue hair, but otherwise these collegiates and high schoolers might well be out for Loggins & Messina.

* * *

YOU AWAIT the first dazzling flash of Bowie’s entrance impatiently during the upbeat set by his mostly Black orchestra – seven slick instrumentalists in a block composition of all-white equipment, six supple singers with Las Vegas moves.

          But the dapper Bowie who strolls out with cane to his Summer of Love refrain (“The star machine is coming down and we’re gonna have a party”) is not the freaky Bowie of the past.

          Here is a subtle elegance, a Maurice Chevalier fantasy. A quiet, stunning grey suit with baggy pants and a jacket ending at the waist. Dark shirt, bright tie, black handkerchief at the hip.

          The hair? Brilliant orange, a jutting sweep from the left temple that’s sculpted to a halt behind his right ear. The makeup? Just enough to accent his eyes and lips.

* * *

SUBTLE MUSICAL elegance too. The rock raunch of “Rebel Rebel” becomes a big smooth pulse. During “Changes” (“ch-ch-ch-ch-changes”), you think of how Bowie’s doing what Elvis did when he stopped shaking his pelvis and shed his leather.

          Bowie’s come to stylize his magic. He cools the anger of the glitter rebellion and brings out its basic affirmation – the right to self-realization and love in a world of digital readouts. It’s no longer 1984. It’s 2001.

          There are many new and unfamiliar tunes on this theme in Bowie’s hour and not enough of those rocking hits from his new live album beyond “Moonage Daydream” and “Suffragette City.” But the encore finally does it.

          Yes, Bowie in a baggy paratrooper jumpsuit and a red hat, rocking out “Diamond Dogs” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” and a splendid “Knock on Wood.” Like with Elvis, elegance goes best with a dash of old-fashioned funk.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: David Bowie in 1974.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: This concert from the final leg of the Diamond Dogs tour followed a week in Radio City Music Hall (where the New York critics received it … well, critically). This phase, which included songs from the upcoming “Young Americans” album, was dubbed the Soul Tour and the Philly Dogs tour. Like Bowie, it had evolved, and so had the lineup onstage. The band now was populated by musicians from the “Young Americans” recording sessions in Philadelphia, which had continued during a break in the itinerary.

David Sanborn was saxophonist. Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar were the guitarists. The backup singers included Luther Vandross, who at that time was unknown, and Ava Cherry.

For this date, setlist.fm’s recall is not so total. Missing are the songs this review noted in the encore:

Memory of a Free Festival

Rebel Rebel

John, I’m Only Dancing

Sorrow (McCoys cover)

Changes

Young Americans

1984

Footstompin’ (Flairs cover)

Rock ‘n Roll With Me

It’s Gonna Be Me

Jean Genie

Moonage Daydream

Can You Hear Me

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Suffragette City

Rock ‘n Roll Suicide

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