PUMA ARGENTINA

GIG OF THE YEAR
DAVID BOWIE: STAFFORD BINGLEY HALL :: 24-06-78

As the rest of the planet was watching Copa Mundial ‘78, Bowie’s world tour reached the UK,with him slated to play three nights in the Staffordshire barn known as Bingley Hall. Not a gaff for either the faint-hearted or plastic-sandal wearer, it was a venue more akin to an Argentine military prison than a concert hall.

One big question for those that were prepared pay their £4.50 and risk dehydrating to death was whether Bowie could still deliver the goods live? 1977 had seen the release of the two Brian Eno-assisted, experimental Berlin albums Low and “Heroes”, both a massive deviation from the Philly soul-influences of Young Americans two years previously and via the grandeur and excesses of 1976s Station to Station. Was Bowie still that relevant? The man who had arguably been the original lid-opener of the Pandora’s musical box that punk had snarled, spat and kicked its way out of? Had he now been superseded by it all?

Touts asking for – and getting – four times face-value for spares outside was a big clue that perhaps suggested otherwise. In the queue, the mass pilgrimage of Ziggy, Aladdin Sane and Thin White Duke lookalikes was now heavily supplemented by what appeared to be an attendant National Hairdressing Federation’s Wedge of the Year competition who had got the wrong week at Bingley Hall. The influence of The Man Who Fell to Earth and the Low album cover was clearly there for all to see. Loads of lads with that side-parted bowl and fringe. This homage was taken to ultimate extremes by a couple of diehard scallies who were carried out still sporting duffel coats by the St Johns Ambulance Brigade even before Bowie took to the stage - in June.