“For you’re dancing where the dogs decay”
After a break of almost three weeks away from the stage, on 5th of October 1974 David Bowie recommenced his The Year Of The Diamond Dogs tour of North America, which had kicked off in Montreal on the 14th of June.
By this point he had dispensed with the trappings of the theatrical spectacle that was Hunger City and had stripped back the show to a simpler presentation, for what became affectionately known as The Soul Tour or Philly Dogs Tour, a reference to the new setlist which included songs from the forthcoming Young Americans album, mostly recorded in Philadelphia during the August break from the tour.
As you can see from the flyer and ticket, the first show of this final 29-date* leg of the tour was at the 18.000-seater St. Paul Civic Centre Arena in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The musicians for these shows were: Mike Garson (piano, Mellotron), Carlos Alomar (guitar), Earl Slick (lead guitar), Emir Ksasan (bass guitar), Dennis Davis (drums), Pablo Rosario (percussion), David Sanborn (alto sax, flute), Richard Grando (baritone sax flute), Michael Kamen (electric piano, moog, oboe), Geoff McCormack, Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, Jean Fineberg, Anthony Hinton, Diane Sumler and Luther Vandross (backing vocals).
*Though it’s generally accepted to have been 29 shows, these statistics have changed over the years as new evidence of previously unknown and cancelled shows is uncovered.
FOOTNOTE: The accompanying photograph of Bowie in our montage was apparently taken by Tony De Nonno. We've not been able to find out which particular show it was shot at though.
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