Before David Bowie passed away in 2016, there were umpteen bootlegs circulating around the fandom that one could consider essential.
Since then, most of those bootlegs have been officially released. Call it a cash-in if you will, but it's been fantastic seeing those recordings reach a wider audience. The Brilliant Adventure live album series may have been controversial, but it brought attention to Bowie's underappreciated 90s era.
But all these official releases do mean that the number of true bootlegs is dwindling. Still, these five essentials have never officially been released. On these recordings, you'll find gems that every fan must hear. They're out there to be found. We can't point the way, for obvious reasons, but I assure you, they're not hard to find.
These Bowie Bootlegs are essential for any fan
The 1980 Floor Show 1973
The story beats of David Bowie’s career defy simple summary or categorization. Bowie famously killed off the Ziggy Stardust character at a pair of shows at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1973. But there was one more show as Ziggy Stardust with the Spiders From Mars, three and a half months after the death of Ziggy, it was the the 1980 floor show.
Bowie was approached about doing an episode of the musical variety show The Midnight Special and agreed on the condition that he be given full creative control. It was recorded at London’s Marquee Club in front of 200 fanclub members. Bowie had conceived of a stage musical production of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, but Orwell’s widow denied him permission. The 1980 Floor Show (get it?) is the closest we’ll ever get to seeing the 1984 musical.
But since it’s totally not a stage musical production of 1984, Bowie wasn’t beholden to any one concept. This was more Ziggy than Ziggy, with ridiculously complex dance numbers, and an even more ridiculous succession of costumes designed by the likes of Kansai Yamamoto and Natasha Kornilof. Marianne Faithful and The Troggs were both guests, but their songs were cut from most bootlegs.
The essential climax of the show, Bowie and Faithful singing Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” with Bowie in a bright red PVC corset with covered in black feathers, and Faithful in a melodramatic nun’s habit.
Iggy Pop and David Bowie at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland 1977
The world sure was different in the days before smartphones and 24/7 Internet access.
Iggy Pop’s tour of 1977 was billed as a solo tour. It wasn’t until one got to the show that they learned that David Bowie was performing too. Bowie played keyboard and piano in the band. Some audience members may have not even realized he was there, after all, who’s watching the keyboard player when Iggy Pop is on the stage? The Agora Ballroom, where this bootleg was recorded had a capacity of 2,000 people; in contrast, Bowie’s last solo tour had just wrapped up at with six consecutive nights at Wembley Arena, capacity 12,500.
Imagine if something like this happened now. Word of the big star in the tiny venue would travel around the globe after the first night. Tickets for the subsequent shows would be impossible to get.
There are actually a few bootlegs from this tour circulating, but Cleveland is the one I recommend. The band is tight, something you don’t usually associate with an Iggy Pop show. That must be Bowie’s influence. And amazingly for a bootleg, the sound is crisp and clear.
Some versions append two live tracks from Bowie and Pop’s appearance on “The Dinah! Show,” a daytime chat show for middle America, where host Dinah Shore had to preface the performance by explaining the word “punk” to the audience. The appearance was truly unhinged.
The Bridge School Benefit 1996
Bowie was not the sort of diva to deny others the spotlight, and with just three people on stage at the Bridge School Benefit, there was no room for egos. The Bridge School Benefit was an event organized by Neil Young annually between 1986 and 2016 to support the school for special needs children that his son attended. Because Neil Young is a folk rocker, it was traditional for guests to play acoustic sets. Bowie’s set was a stripped-back affair, he wore street clothes and was flanked by bassist Gail Ann Dorsey on his right, and Reeves Gabrel on his left. A bottle cap taped to his shoe provided percussion.
The set opened with “Aladdin Sane,” which must’ve been deliberately chosen to showcase the talents of the other two musicians. Dorsey’s backing vocals are breathtaking, and the way Gabrels made his regular old electric guitar sound like a piano for that famous manic freeform solo is unbelievable (honestly, if you watch the video, you’ll swear there’s a pianist hidden off-camera. Seriously I’ve been listening to the recording for years, and I’d forgotten there was no pianist.)
But this is the Bowie show after all. As magnanimous as he may be, he can’t avoid the fact that he’s the one people came to see. Bowie’s presence is most felt through his banter. Bowie is clearly having a ball with the more loose and casual format. But that contrasts with a solemn and majestic version of “Heroes,” which is the very best of the many live versions of the anthem.
Madison Square Gardens 1997
So many former bootlegs have been officially released, this is probably the most infamous one to remain unreleased. This show is the stuff of legends… it was a special celebration for Bowie’s 50th birthday, with a truly insane roster of special guests, including Frank Black from the Pixies, the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins. With so many big names ripping through a blistering set of classic Bowie numbers, an official release would be massive.
In the 90s, Bowie was extremely resistant to being a legacy act, rejecting his classic catalog and the big audiences it would’ve attracted. But this was a special celebration, with classic hits brought out of retirement and matched to each guest. Frank Black gets to join in on the spiky atonal “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps),” while Bowie teases him about his dress sense; and Billy Corgan joins in on “All The Young Dudes,” a tale that begins with a young bohemian named Billy.
The reason for the old hits is obvious. The guests are all psyched about sharing the stage with Bowie for the songs they love, while Bowie feeds off their energy. That makes Lou Reed’s appearance stand out, as Bowie enjoys the birthday gift of sharing the stage with his idol, as they play Bowie's Lou Reed tribute "Queen Bitch," as well as covering two Lou Reed songs, The Velvet Underground’s "White Light/White Heat," and the then-recent "Dirty Blvd."
Montreux Jazz Festival 2002
Something changed for Bowie circa 2000. Where he’s resisted being a legacy act in the 90s, his first concert of the new millennium, headlining the Glastonbury festival (another former bootleg made official,) was a glorious greatest hits set. In the 2000s, Bowie was finally embracing his legendary back catalogue.
Two years after Glastonbury, Bowie had a new album of songs to mix in with the greatest hits. While Bowie’s 90s output was confrontingly chaotic, Heathen had a stateliness to it that befitted an elder statesman of rock. It was the sound of Bowie no longer raging against the passing of time, achieving the rare balance of looking back while still moving forward.
So the set was split between classic hits, and cuts from Heathen. But the real headline is that for a second encore (!), he plays the 1977 album Low in its entirety. Low is the favourite of die-hard fans, a difficult album with dark lyrics and a number of instrumentals.
Reading between the lines, one gets the feeling that playing Low is a big experiment. Two cuts from Low, “Breaking Glass” and “Always Crashing In The Same Car” were a part of his 90s setlist, but with radically different arrangements. This was an exercise in accessing the past, to prove that he could, after turning his back on it for so long.
As faithful as the Low songs were, they benefitted from Bowie’s then-current band. Again, it was bassist Gail Ann Dorsey’s vocals that really elevated the whole thing to the sublime.