Live: Festival Internazionale del Disco, Italy

David Bowie took part in the Festival Internazionale del Disco in Montecatini Terme, Tuscany, Italy, on 1 and 2 August 1969.

The festival took place at the Hotel Reale, where the 17 competitors also stayed. On this opening night Bowie sang ‘When I Live My Dream’ over his own backing tape.

It had been planned that each artist would perform one song to musical accompaniment provided by the local organiser and then sing to the backing tape taken from one of his or her recordings. David had with him the tape of ‘When I Live My Dream’.

However, when we all went to a local hall to rehearse with the band we discovered that it comprised only three musicians and they could not read music. Not by any stretching of the imagination or musical ingenuity could they ever accompany the artists, but the concert was scheduled for that night so something had to be done. All the performers were canvassed for their support and information about their hidden talents was listed. Most of them could play a musical instrument, as could some of the delegates, so each singer had reasonably efficient accompaniment. But, of course, the original programme had to be abandoned, certainly the competitive element, although the backing tapes proved a godsend.

Bowie and his manager Kenneth Pitt returned to London on Sunday 3 August.