David Bowie was a consummate entertainer, and his enthusiasm for his live stage shows came through in this ET flashback, as the rockstar prepared to launch his 1987 Glass Spider Tour.
“I try and do something I want to go and see really, that’s the essence of whatever I do,” Bowie told ET at the time. “This particular tour, for instance, I’ve really tried to put together all the elements, everything that I’ve been fascinated [with] in theater and rock, ever since the beginning of my career.”
The worldwide tour, in support of Bowie’s album Never Let Me Down, was a massive stage production, which included appearances by guitarist Peter Frampton and choreography by Toni Basil. The set, described at the time as the “largest touring set ever” was designed to look like a giant spider.
“It looks like the kind of show I really want to go and see myself. It’s fast, colorful, vulgar, loud, subtle, quiet, dreamlike. I mean, it has so many different qualities to it,” the singer, then 40, said before the first show.
Bowie conceived the tour as a theatrical stage show, including spoken-word introductions to songs, vignettes, videos, and props.
“I’m not really good at getting up there and singing a couple songs,” he said, admitting that he was “excited and nervous” to launch the tour. “I really like to make a piece of theater out of it.”
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