Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

also housed in the bowels of the building, which was
a huge labyrinth of a place. I was standing onstage
doing my guitar check when I turned around and saw
four elephants behind me. I think they had maybe
thirty or forty of them, and they’d bring them up four at
a time, square them off and let them eat. It was
unreal. Later that day, we had a banquet room where
there was lots of food laid out, and some of the
wives, children and band associates were there. The
door burst open and suddenly a chimpanzee in a
houndstooth suit and roller skates came whirling
around the table, chasing the kids all over the place,
followed by his handler in an identical suit, holding a
little placard that read ‘Here’s my chimp. He’s done
a thousand commercials and movies.’ It set the tone
for that particular evening. Talking Heads, Dustin
Hoffman, Andy War hol and other famous faces were
in the audience. I’d have to say that was the most
memorable and exciting show we’d done.” A ’78 tour
document was released, in all its sectioned glory, as
the double album Stage.
As the seventies ended, England’s first post-
Bowie decade was gearing up. Some of the
teenagers who watched Bowie perform “Starman”
on Top of the Pops were now pop stars themselves,
like Tubeway Army, Joy Division, XTC and Lene
Lovich. Bowie’s Eno collaborations inspired dozens
of British youths—like Depeche Mode from
Basildon, the Human League from Sheffield,
Blancmange from Harrow and OMD from Liverpool
—to acquire inexpensive synthesizers and begin