''Glass Spider'' is a

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

singer

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. The release was sourced from eight shows during the first two weeks of November 1987 at the

Sydney Entertainment Centre Sydney Entertainment Centre (later known as Qantas Credit Union Arena) was a multi-purpose arena located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished in 1970 to make way for the E ...

in Australia during the last month of the

Glass Spider Tour The Glass Spider Tour was a 1987 worldwide concert tour by English musician David Bowie, launched in support of his album '' Never Let Me Down'' and named for that album's track "Glass Spider". It began in May 1987 and was preceded by a two-wee ...

. The 86-show tour, which also visited Europe, North America and New Zealand, was in support of Bowie's album ''

Never Let Me Down ''Never Let Me Down'' is the 17th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 20 April 1987 through EMI America Records. After a series of miscellaneous projects, Bowie hoped to make his next record differently following his ...

'' (1987). Originally released in 1988 on VHS, the tour was choreographed by

Toni Basil Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22, 1943), better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer, choreographer, dancer, actress, and director. Her song "Mickey" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia and hit th ...

, directed by David Mallet, and produced by Anthony Eaton. The VHS was released by

MPI Home Video MPI Media Group is an American producer, distributor and licensor of theatrical film and home entertainment. MPI's subsidiaries include MPI Pictures, MPI Home Video, Gorgon Video, and the horror film distributor Dark Sky Films. The company is l ...

in the US and by

Video Collection International 2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...

in the UK. The film stars Bowie, his band including

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

, and a troupe of dancers performing on what was called at the time "the largest touring set ever". Although the tour received mixed critical reviews at the time, later critics noted that the show changed how other artists (such as

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, and U2) performed on their own tours. In 2010, one critic called the Glass Spider Tour one of the "top concert tour design of all time", and in 2016 another critic called the video one of the best for fans wanting to see Bowie delivering "a rock-theatre spectacular." An edit of the film was shown on

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

-affiliated stations in June 1988 as a concert special. The full concert video was subsequently released in 1999 on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and re-released again in 2007 with a Special Edition, which peaked at number 9 on the

UK Video Charts The UK Video Charts is a group of charts compiled by the Official Charts Company on behalf of The British Association for Screen Entertainment. The charts are based on weekly DVD, Blu-ray and, formerly, VHS sales in 6,500 retailers across the UK. ...

Background and recording

The Glass Spider Tour was a worldwide concert tour launched in May 1987 in support of Bowie's album ''

'' (1987). The tour was well attended and profitable, but was poorly received by contemporary

critics A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

. His first tour since his 1983

Serious Moonlight Tour The Serious Moonlight Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English musician David Bowie, launched in May 1983 in support of his album '' Let's Dance'' (1983). The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal, Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended in ...

, the Glass Spider Tour was seen as a chance for Bowie to return to theatrical stage performances, the way he had in his 1974

Diamond Dogs Tour The Diamond Dogs Tour was a concert tour by English singer-songwriter David Bowie in North America in 1974 to promote the studio album '' Diamond Dogs'' (1974). The first leg of the tour utilized a rock opera-style stage show format with mult ...

. As a result, the tour incorporated dancers, music and multi-media elements such as stage projections and props. The set itself was designed to look like a giant spider and stood over 60 feet (18.3m) high, and was described at the time as "the largest touring set ever". The tour features dance choreography by

, and

on guitar.

Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the Ar ...

makes a guest appearance on vocals and guitar in the video release. Prior to the tour, Bowie stated that he did not intend to produce a live record of the show, but despite this, director David Mallet recorded 8 shows from a nearly 2-week run in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia in the tour's final month. The liner notes say that most of the ''Glass Spider'' video comes from the nights of 7 and 9 November 1987, with some footage from the other nights, although Bowie biographer

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Acti ...

claimed that most of the footage comes from the performance on the evening of 6 November. While a typical show from the tour ran over 2 hours with around 26 songs, the video release clocks in at under 2 hours and includes only about 20 songs. A 2007 Special Edition re-release includes a CD of the entire show as performed in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on 30 August 1987, but does not change the video release. The tour and concert film were named after the track "Glass Spider" from the album.

Releases

The film was released on VHS in 1988 by

in the US and

in the UK. In some regions, it was released on two video cassettes of 10 songs each until a 1990 compilation combined them into a single release. The running time of the combined VHS is approximately 110 minutes. In 1999 a "semi-official" DVD of the show was released in Far East regions only. A 1-hour edit from the original release was aired on US prime-time television in early June 1988 on

-affiliated stations. The video was reissued in 2007 on DVD. A regular edition includes the DVD of the same concert as released on VHS, while a special edition also includes a 2 CD live album from the same tour, recorded at

Montreal Olympic Stadium Olympic Stadium (french: Stade olympique) is a multi-purpose stadium in Montreal, Canada, located at Olympic Park in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of the city. Built in the mid-1970s as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics, it is n ...

on 30 August 1987. The 2007 re-release was originally planned to include a live recording of the song "Glass Spider" recorded in Vienna on 1 July 1987. The DVD includes stereo,

Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ( ...

and DTS 5.1 sound and presents the video in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. An error in the sound mix on this DVD left much of

's guitar playing scarcely audible. Pegg claimed that as a result, although the picture quality is superior on the DVD release, the original VHS or 1999 DVD remain a superior choice for audio.

Critical reception

The home video's original 1988 release received positive reviews from sources such as ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine, the ''

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'' and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''."MPI: David Bowie Glass Spider Promotional Flier" 1988,

The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' said the video "offers all of the excitement, spectacle and music" of one of 1987's "most visually engrossing" shows. The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review called the release "brilliant" and credited the performance with "stunning" live performances that are frequently on par with their studio counterparts. Some reviews were more ambivalent, such as ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

s review stating simply that "there's a lot to digest." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' had a mostly negative review of the 1-hour ABC special, calling the show "surprisingly lame" and the stage "silly." One critic found that the video release rendered the show's intended meaning ("rock stars vs reality") "obscured" for two reasons: First, by the time the show was recorded, Bowie had already dropped some parts of the show that elaborated the point; and second, six songs (and at least one

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

) that were performed in the show were omitted from the video itself. Another critic found that the 1-hour ABC special, which showed only a small subset of the songs performed, and showed them out of order, also "obliterated" the show's meaning. Pegg said that the concert film was "hugely enjoyable" despite the show's flaws, and unless the 1974

or 1990

Sound+Vision Tour In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

videos are released, this release "leads the field for those wishing to see David Bowie delivering a rock-theatre spectacular."

Track listing

All songs were written by

except where noted. Although they are not mentioned on the sleeve, the original VHS edition contains the same "Intro/

Up the Hill Backwards "Up the Hill Backwards" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released on his 1980 album '' Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)''. It was later issued by RCA Records as the fourth and final single from the album in March 1981. Originally wri ...

" and band introduction segments that feature on the DVD reissue.

Special edition CD 2007

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Glass Spider'' liner notes. Musicians * David Bowie –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any musician other than pianist Mike Garso ...

– guitar, backing vocals * Alan Childs –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Richard Cottle –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, backing vocals *

– guitar, vocals *

Erdal Kızılçay Erdal Kızılçay (born c. 1950) is a multi-instrumentalist musician of Turkish birth. He has worked with, among others, David Bowie. He plays bass guitar, oud, drums, keyboards, trumpet and violin. He lives in Aegerten, Switzerland. Work with ...

– keyboards,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, backing vocals *

Carmine Rojas Carmine Rojas (February 14, 1953) is an American bass guitarist, musical director and composer. His musical styles include rock, R&B/funk, and jazz. Music career Early years, as sideman Born in Brooklyn, Rojas toured the world with David Bowie ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

– guitar, backing vocals

Dancers and performers

* Melissa Hurley *

Viktor Manoel Viktor Manoel (born 1957) is a Mexican–American dancer, choreographer, writer, and actor. Manoel was born and raised in Mexico. He worked with such choreographers as Édouard Lock of Canadian dance group La La La Human Steps and Toni Basil. ...

Constance Marie Constance Marie Lopez (born September 9, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Angie Lopez in ''George Lopez'' (2002–2007), and Marcela Quintanilla (mother of Selena) in the film ''Selena'' (1997). She portrayed Reg ...

* Stephen Nichols * Craig Allen Rothwell ("Spazz Attack")

Production

* David Mallet –

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

* Anthony Eaton –

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

–

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

* David Richards –

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, ...

* Mark Ravitz – set design * Allen Branton – lighting design

Chart performance

The 2007 re-release reached number 9 on the

Notes

Bibliography

References

External links

* {{Good article 1988 live albums 1988 video albums David Bowie video albums David Bowie live albums Live video albums Films directed by David Mallet (director) Concert films Films shot in Sydney