Live: Pavilion de Paris, Paris

David Bowie performed at the Pavilion de Paris in Paris, France, on 24 May 1978, as part of the Isolar II Tour.

It was the 39th date of the tour, which began on 29 March in San Diego.

Bowie’s guitarists were Carlos Alomar and Adrian Belew. Simon House was on electric violin, Sean Mayes played piano, and Roger Powell was on keyboards and synthesizers. George Murray played bass guitar and Dennis Davis was on drums.

We had a sound-check at four. The seedy suburbs revealed the Pavilion, a run-down wrought iron cattle market. I ran inside with my camera swinging and got pulled up promptly by a security guard. The place was gloomy with long wooden bench seats. The dressing-rooms were also dimly lit but comfortable. It was typical France – the toilets were disgusting. I have a photo of Dennis in white tennis gear and a sola-topi standing by a potted palm like he’d just shot a tiger. Keith Richards came in briefly, looking for David.

We played two nights there – noisy crowd, mixture of very chic and very young. Lots of flowers were thrown and a few fluffy animals.

This was the first of two consecutive nights at the venue, which closed in 1980. Bowie had previously performed there on 17 and 18 May 1976 during the Isolar Tour.

The setlist

• ‘Warszawa’
• “Heroes”
• ‘What In The World’
• ‘Be My Wife’
• ‘The Jean Genie’
• ‘Blackout’
• ‘Sense Of Doubt’
• ‘Speed Of Life’
• ‘Breaking Glass’
• ‘Fame’
• ‘Beauty And The Beast’
• ‘Five Years’
• ‘Soul Love’
• ‘Star’
• ‘Hang On To Yourself’
• ‘Ziggy Stardust’
• ‘Suffragette City’
• ‘Art Decade’
• ‘Alabama Song’
• ‘Station To Station’
• ‘Stay’
• ‘TVC 15’
• ‘Rebel Rebel’