Live: Bingley Hall, Stafford

David Bowie performed at Stafford’s Bingley Hall on 24 June 1978, as part of the Isolar II Tour.

He performed three consecutive nights at the venue on 24, 25, and 26 June. They were Bowie’s only shows in Stafford.

This was the 60th 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.

Bingley Hall is nearer to Stafford than to Birmingham, right out in the country. It’s a great hangar of a place where I believe they hold cattle markets. Outside was a queue – can you imagine 8,500 people queueing? I felt sorry for them as they shuffled between barriers in a continuous crowded line from the car park, round three sides of a football pitch and along the side of the hall. The sky was overcast but not actually wet.

We played three nights there and the shows were great. David really enjoyed it. I had some friends up there so I stayed with them the first two nights. It was strange to watch the coach rush off after the gig. The next day we went to a wine bar and though it felt a bit unreal it was good to relax away from the tour ‘circus’.

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’
• ‘TVC 15’
• ‘Stay’