Live: Tower Theater, Upper Darby

David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars performed two shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on 19 February 1973.

It was the 96th date of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, which had begun on 29 January 1972. The support act on this date was Fumble.

This was the last of four consecutive nights at the Tower. The tour had previously called at the venue on 30 November and 1 and 2 December 1972.

We moved on to Philadelphia, to the Tower Theater where we’d had such a great time on the first leg of our tour. We were doing seven shows in four days there. We weren’t too sure about doing matinees followed by an evening show on three consecutive days, especially not knowing if Bowie was over his exhaustion, but in the end we just said to each other, ‘Fuck it, let’s just do it and make sure every show is good.’ It was incredibly hard physically but really good fun!

Though the shows were amazing and received so well by the crowds, and it felt like rock ‘n’ roll history was being made, cracks were starting to appear in the established relationship between Bowie and the Spiders. He’d started to go to the venues in a separate limousine whereas previously we’d all travelled together. On several occasions he even stayed in a different hotel from the rest of us.

During the Diamond Dogs Tour, Bowie performed at the venue on 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 July 1974. All but the last date were recorded, and released as the David Live album later that year.

On 19 March 1977 Iggy Pop’s The Idiot Tour called at the Tower. Bowie played keyboards during the tour. Tin Machine’s It’s My Life Tour also came to the venue on 15 and 17 November 1991.

Bowie’s final show at the Tower Theater was the penultimate date of the Heathen Tour on 21 October 2002.