Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour

The Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour, more commonly known as The Low / Heroes World Tour or The Stage Tour, was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. The tour opened on 29 March 1978 at the San Diego Sports Arena continuing through North America, Europe and Australia before reaching a conclusion at the Nippon Budokan in Japan on 12 December 1978.

Tour development and song selection
Originally, Brian Eno planned to be a part of the tour band, but had to drop out for health reasons. The band only had two weeks to rehearse for the tour. Carlos Alomar was the tour's band leader and drove the rehearsals.

The set list for the performances consisted of material from the previous year's albums, Low and "Heroes", with the second half of each performance opening with a five-song sequence from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album. Bowie had the band learn the entirety of the Ziggy Stardust album in rehearsals, although most of the songs were never performed live on the tour. The instrumental track "Art Decade" typically followed the Ziggy Stardust tracks, a mellow track to follow the energy of the Ziggy Stardust material. Tracks from the 1976 album Station to Station were the closing numbers. In the late 1980s, Bowie regarded some of the songs he performed live on the tour as a bit "ponderous", referring specifically to some of the long instrumental performances such as "Warszawa."

A short intermission split a typical night's show into two parts, and for the second Bowie wore a snakeskin drapecoat and "huge baggy white pants."

Set design
The stark fluorescent tube lighting approach of the previous Isolar Tour was further developed and expanded to create a large cage of tube lighting, which enclosed the stage with the ability to pulsate moodily during the slower instrumental pieces and flash frantically during the faster songs.

Tour incidents
The show in Marseille was disrupted by a blown PA (coincidentally during the song "Blackout").

The Australian leg of the tour included Bowie's first concert performances in Australia and his first large-scale outdoor concerts. For the first two dates, keyboardist Dennis Garcia substituted for Roger Powell, who had a previous commitment with Utopia.

Live recordings
The performances at Providence Civic Center, Boston Garden and Philadelphia Spectrum were recorded for the live album Stage. Tour pianist Sean Mayes recalled that for the show that night, they slowed the tempo down (of most songs) for the recording, the only night such a change was made.

The performance on 10 April 1978 at the Dallas Convention Center was filmed for a television special titled "David Bowie on Stage", where six songs were broadcast: "What in the World", "Blackout", "Sense of Doubt", "Speed of Life", "Hang On to Yourself", and "Ziggy Stardust". The performances at Earls Court in London, England were filmed by David Hemmings, with extracts broadcast on a British TV programme, The London Weekend Show. The film has yet to be released. The performance at the NHK Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 12 December 1978 was filmed and broadcast on Japanese TV's The Young Music Show.

The final night of the Earls Court performance was recorded by the RCA mobile unit with the live performance premiere of the song, "Sound and Vision", later released on the 1995 compilation album, Rarestonebowie. The song was not performed live again until the Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.

Record Store Day on 21 April 2018 saw the release of Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78). It was recorded at Earls Court on 30 June and 1 July 1978.

The tour band remembered that "every show was taped" for Bowie's private use, and the tapes were carefully guarded by Alomar.

Setlist
This is the typical setlist for all tour dates except for some dates. Originally, the whole album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was set to be performed in the middle of the setlist. Encore:
 * 1) "Warszawa"
 * 2) ""Heroes""
 * 3) "What in the World"
 * 4) "Be My Wife"
 * 5) "The Jean Genie"
 * 6) "Blackout"
 * 7) "Sense of Doubt"
 * 8) "Speed of Life"
 * 9) "Breaking Glass"
 * 10) "Beauty and the Beast"
 * 11) "Fame"
 * 12) "Five Years"
 * 13) "Soul Love"
 * 14) "Star"
 * 15) "Hang On to Yourself"
 * 16) "Ziggy Stardust"
 * 17) "Suffragette City"
 * 18) "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
 * 19) "Art Decade"
 * 20) "Station to Station"
 * 21) "Stay"
 * 22) "TVC 15"
 * 1) "Rebel Rebel"

Tour band

 * David Bowie – vocals, chamberlin
 * Adrian Belew – lead guitar, backing vocals
 * Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, music director
 * George Murray – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Dennis Davis – drums, percussion
 * Roger Powell – keyboards, Moog Taurus bass pedals, synthesizer, backing vocals (except 11–14 November 1978)
 * Dennis Garcia – keyboards, synthesizer (11–14 November 1978 only)
 * Sean Mayes – piano, string ensemble, backing vocals
 * Simon House – electric violin

Band road management, road crew, showco crew, personal staff

 * Jan Michael Alejandro – Band Tech (Pre Jan-Al Cases)
 * Vern "Moose" Constan – Band Tech
 * Rob Joyce – Stage Manager
 * Leroy Kerr – Band Tech
 * Rick Browning - Piano and Keyboard Tech ( North America and Europe )
 * Edd Kolakowski – Piano and Keyboard Tech (Australia, New Zealand and Japan dates)
 * Buford Jones – FOH Mixer
 * Townsend Wessinger– Showco Sound Crew
 * Billy King– Showco Sound Crew
 * Russell Davis– Showco Sound Crew
 * Randy Marshall– Showco Sound Crew
 * Glenn George– Showco Sound Crew
 * Lonnie McKenzie – Showco
 * Warren Cunningham – Showco Lighting Crew
 * Dirk Arnold - Showco Lighting Crew
 * Rick Hunnicuut – Showco Lighting Crew
 * John Mitchell – Showco Lighting Crew
 * Juan Gonzales – Showco Lighting Crew
 * Kevin Di Piazza – Showco Lighting Crew
 * Richard Brown– Showco Lighting Crew
 * Kevin Randall– Showco Rigging Crew
 * J. Smith– Showco Rigging Crew
 * Lyle Centola– Showco Rigging Crew
 * Morris Lyda – Production Consultant/ Advance Mgr
 * David Bernstein – Cargo Guru (Pre Rock-it Cargo)
 * Mike Brady – Mr Bowie's Driver / Bodyguard
 * George, Stuart (Stuey) -Mr Bowie's Bodyguard
 * Eric "B" Barrett –Tour Manager / Lighting Designer
 * Ronn Roberts – Asst To The Tour Manager
 * Pat Gibbons – Tour Manager / Accountant
 * Truck Drivers (Europe) Richard Boote & Gwyn Lawrence
 * Coco Schwab – Mr Bowie's Personal Assistant

Songs
From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars From Aladdin Sane From Diamond Dogs From Young Americans
 * "Five Years"
 * "Soul Love"
 * "Moonage Daydream" (Rehearsed but not performed)
 * "Starman" (Rehearsed but not performed)
 * "It Ain't Easy" (Rehearsed but not performed)
 * "Lady Stardust" (Rehearsed but not performed)
 * "Star"
 * "Hang On to Yourself"
 * "Ziggy Stardust"
 * "Suffragette City"
 * "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
 * "The Jean Genie"
 * "Rebel Rebel"
 * "Fame" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar)

From Station to Station From Low From "Heroes" Other songs:
 * "Station to Station"
 * "TVC 15"
 * "Stay"
 * "Speed of Life"
 * "Breaking Glass" (Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray)
 * "What in the World"
 * "Sound and Vision"
 * "Be My Wife"
 * "Warszawa" (Bowie, Brian Eno)
 * "Art Decade"
 * "Beauty and the Beast"
 * ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Eno)
 * "Joe the Lion" (Rehearsed but not performed)
 * "Blackout"
 * "Sense of Doubt"
 * "Alabama Song" (originally from Bertolt Brecht's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; written by Brecht and Kurt Weill; a non-album single later released in 1980)