JANUARY

Rehearsals for the tour continue at Keith Richards home in Jamaica.

10 Nic Roeg interview by Mike Flood Page published in Street Life :

"He has before him a miniature Sony cassette machine and offers an exclusive preview of the Bowie soundtrack just in from LA. It's a simple melodic instrumental based around organ, bass and drums, with atmosphere courtesy of studio wizardry all put together and performed by Bowie himself."

Roeg compared the character of Newton in The Man Who Fell To Earth with Howard Hughes.

"There is this line that he speaks in the film which is quite indicative of his attitude: "My life is not secret, but it is private", which is typical of Hughes. It seems to me that irritates a lot of people."

Bowie's deadline for completion of the soundtrack music is February.

21 Leaves Jamaica for Canada to prepare for the beginning of the tour.

23 Station to Station LP released by RCA

The release date was held up by Bowie's decision to change the sleeve to black and white to reflect the visual feel of the tour.

Tour group

Carlos Alomar
Guitar

Dennis Davis
Drums

Tony Kaye
Keyboards

George Murray
Bass

Stacey Heydon
Guitar

Tour staff

Patrick Gibbons
acting manager

Corinne Schwab
Bowie's personal assistant

Barbara DeWitt
worldwide press and publicity

Tony Mascia
Bowie's driver

Appears on Good Morning America with Angie (recorded in Los Angeles).

Interviewed by Rona Barrett

Appears on Dinah! (recorded in Los Angeles) singing Stay and Five Years with the 1976 tour band.

Includes an interview with Dinah Shore and a karate lesson with his instructor and bodyguard Dwain Vaughn.

» Reported by Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader August 1976

8 Los Angeles Forum

The post-concert party guests included Rod Stewart and Britt Ekland, Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr, Ray Bradbury, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Henry Winkler and Steven Ford, son of President Gerald Ford.

Photos by Andrew Kent

9 Los Angeles Forum

After the show, Patti Smith stopped by and spilt beer all over Angie's mink.

11 Los Angeles Forum

In the audience are Linda Blair, Henry 'Fonzie' Winkler, Carole King and Cameron Crowe. In the dressing room after the show, Bowie chatted to David Hockney and Christopher Isherwood, who also attended.

» Reported by Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader August 1976

12 "Ground Control to Davy Jones" published in Rolling Stone.

13 San Diego, Sports Arena

Returns home to Stone Canyon Drive to pack up his belongings.

A removal firm takes them to Los Angeles airport to be freighted to Switzerland to the new home in Vevey.

Bowie invites Iggy to join him as a travelling companion for the rest of the tour.

15 Phoenix, Veterans' Memorial Coliseum

» Interviewed by Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader August 1976.

16 Albuquerque, Tingley Coliseum

17 Denver, McNichols Sports Arena

20 Milwaukee, Mecca Arena

21 Kalamazoo, Wings Stadium

22 Evansville, Roberts Municipal Stadium

23 Cincinnati, Riverfront Coliseum

25 Montreal, Forum

26 Toronto, Maple Leaf Gardens

27 Cleveland, Public Auditorium » review

28 Cleveland, Public Auditorium (two shows)

29 Detroit, Cobo Arena

MARCH

The Eagle Has Landed begins shooting without Bowie, who had agreed to appear in the film as a Nazi officer. The problem was Bowie's tour commitments, as director Jack Wiener explained:

"It's unfortunate, because we would have liked very much to have had him, but when you are working on a movie with a five and a half million dollar budget you can't afford to have one of the cast involved with something else at the same time."

2 "The Return Of The Thin White Duke" by Richard Cromelin published in Circus magazine.

1 Detroit, Cobo Arena

3 Chicago, International Amphitheatre

5 St Louis, Kiel Auditorium

6 Memphis, Mid-South Coliseum

7 Nashville, Municipal Auditorium

8 Atlanta, Omni Coliseum

11 Pittsburgh, Civic Arena

12 Norfolk, Scope Conventional Hall

13-14 Landover, Capital Center (two shows)

15-16 Philadelphia, The Spectrum (two shows)

17 Boston, Boston Garden

18 The Man Who Fell To Earth premieres at the Leicester Square Theatre, London.

Among the guests were Angie Bowie (right), James Coburn, Lee Remick, Rick Wakeman, John Peel, Amanda Lear, Stomu Yamashta and stars from the film, Candy Clark (above), Rip Torn, Alf Martin and John Walters.

19 Buffalo, Memorial Auditorium

Bowie struggles through the show with flu.

20 Rochester, Community War Memorial

Interviewed before the show by Al Rudis:

AR: After your European tour, are you going to concentrate on acting for a while?

DB: No, no, no, the first thing I'm doing is I'm gonna finish off some silk screens and lithographs that I've worked on. I did some earlier this year, which I thought were very successful.

After the show, in the early hours of the morning, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Dwain Vaughn (Bowie's karate intructor and bodyguard) and Chivah Soo (a fan) are arrested at the Flagship Americana hotel in Rochester on suspicion of possession of 8 oz. of marijuana.

Bowie later given bail of $2000. He also put up the bail of $2000 each for the other three.

» Full report in The Democrat and Chronicle

21 Springfield, Civic Center

22 New Haven, New Haven Coliseum

23 Uniondale, Nassau Coliseum

Recorded for King Biscuit Flower Hour radio broadcast. The source of several bootlegs, notably Resurrection on 84th Street and The Thin White Duke.

Word On A Wing and Stay released officially on Station To Station (Rykodisc) and Queen Bitch on Rarest One Bowie.

25 Appears in court in Rochester, New York. The case is adjourned and dropped one year later. Bowie later appeared on Channel 5 news leaving court.

» Full report in The Democrat and Chronicle

26 New York, Madison Square Garden

After this, the final US show of the 1976 World Tour, a small party was held at the Penn Plaza Club for Bowie and the crew.

At the party Bowie described that evening's show as getting the best reaction he had ever received:

"I was so nervous, I nearly threw up!"

Bowie spent most of the evening in a corner chatting with Iggy.

27 A private screening of The Man Who Fell To Earth Bowie had arranged for friends had to be cancelled when Bowie couldn't get a print of his own film.

Sails from New York for Cannes to continue the tour.

TVC 15 / We Are The Dead single released in the US (RCA). (highest chart position No. 33)

7 Munich, Olympia Hall, Germany

8 Dusseldorf, Philips Halle, Germany

10 Berlin, Deutchlandhalle, Germany

Interviewed earlier in the day by Stuart Grundy for The David Bowie Story, broadcast in May on Radio One.

11 Hamburg, Kongress Zentrum Halle, Germany

Further interviews with Stuart Grundy.

13 Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany

14 Zurich, Switzerland

Originally, the tour schedule included another German show in Ludwigshafen Franz-Eberthalle, but was cancelled in favour of a Swiss date.

15 Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany

17 Bern Festhalle, Switzerland

18 Bowie, and Iggy take a quick trip to Moscow, and are held at the Russian/Poland border while customs men confiscated some Nazi books. Bowie said they were reference material for a film on Goebbels he was planning.

In 1980 Bowie discussed his Nazi fascination in an interview with Angus Mackinnon for NME.

21 Iggy sees in his 29th birthday in Basle with a party with Bowie, Pat Gibbons, Coco Schwab and Andy Kent (photograph).

22 Sightseeing in Moscow with Iggy and Andy Kent

Bowie with Coco at the Metropol hotel, Moscow

24 Masshallen, Helsinki, Finland

Earlier in the day a press conference is held.

26 Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm

After the show, pursued by a persistent Swedish reporter (left), Bowie made his infamous remark about fascism, which he has since repudiated:

"As I see it I am the only alternative for the premier in England. I believe Britain could benefit from a fascist leader. After all, fascism is really nationalism."

27 Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm

» "Bowie Meets the Press" by Ben Edmonds published in Circus magazine.

28 Scandinavium, Gothenburg

29 Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen

MAY

2 Bowie arrives at Victoria Station to a well-publicised return to the UK, after an absence of over two years, the national press showing particular interest in him after the political declaration made a few days earlier in Stockholm.

For Bowie's arrival at the station RCA supplied a PA system on the platform for him to make a speech on arrival. This never actually took place as the PA had broken down. Bowie left the station after only thirty seconds waving to excited fans. The media ran a photograph of Bowie in mid-wave making it appear to be a Nazi salute. In the furore it created Bowie was furious at the claim and repeatedly denied it in subsequent interviews.

4 Empire Pool, Wembley

Interviewed earlier that day by Jean Rook for the Daily Express in his only UK press interview.

5-8 Empire Pool, Wembley

9 Review of a Wembley show in the Sunday Times

13 Ahoy Sports Stadium, Rotterdam

17 Pavillon de Paris, Porte de Patin, Paris

18 Pavillon de Paris, Porte de Patin, Paris

After the show, Bowie and famous transvestite Romy Haag celebrate the end of the world tour at the Alcazar club.

Bowie and Iggy had intended to stay on in Paris but soon sought refuge from the many fans roaming the city.

Coco arranges for them to relocate to the Chateau d'Herouville. After two nights they decide to book two months recording time in the summer to begin work on Iggy's album with Laurent Thibault, owner of the Chateau, engineering.

Bowie then joins his family in Switzerland.

Bowie family move into Clos Des Mesanges, near Montreux in Corsier-sur-Vevey, to relax after the tour.

Bowie also begins plans for his next album and makes rough sketches of songs for The Idiot on keyboard and guitar.

At the end of May, Bowie and Iggy Pop leave for the Chateau d'Herouville to begin work on backing tracks.

JUNE - JULY

Bowie spends two days recording, playing piano with session drummer Michel Santangeli. Bowie then adds keyboards, drum machine and saxophone with Thibault on bass.

George Murray and Dennis Davis arrive at the end of July to add bass and drums, some of which are used in the final mix.

JULY 9 Suffragette City / Stay single released (RCA).

AUGUST

Bowie, Iggy and Thibault complete recording of The Idiot at Musicland studios, Munich.

Phil Palmer is called in to contribute guitar parts.

Final mixing done at Hansa Studios, Berlin.

» "David Bowie: An In-Depth Look at the Illusion" by Lisa Robinson published in Hit Parader magazine

Stay / Word on a Wing single released in the US (RCA)

Home for Bowie and Iggy in Berlin at this time was a seven-room flat above a car spares shop, at 155 Hauptstrasse, Schoeneberg.

The flat, which was within walking distance of the studios, was in a very poor area of Berlin, populated mostly by Turkish.

"Berlin gives me something I don't get from London or Los Angeles."

- interview with the Berliner Morgen Post, Bowie's last press interview in Berlin.

Bowie awarded the US Academy of Science, Fiction, Fantasy And Horrors Best Actor Of The Year award for The Man Who Fell To Earth

Christmas at the rented chalet near Montreux with Angie and Joey.