Live: Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan, Osaka

David Bowie performed at the Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan in Osaka, Japan, on 6 December 1978, as part of the Isolar II Tour.

It was the 75th date of the tour, which began on 29 March in San Diego.

This was the first of two consecutive nights at the venue. The show was broadcast on Japanese radio, but the crowd was subdued and less lively than the next night.

Bowie’s guitarists were Carlos Alomar and Adrian Belew. Simon House was on electric violin, Sean Mayes played piano, and Roger Powell was on keyboards and synthesizers. George Murray played bass guitar and Dennis Davis was on drums.

From 41,000 in New Zealand we now faced a capacity crowd of 1,500 in the small Kōsei Nenkin Theatre. The audience was polite and enthusiastic but there was no hysteria. One kid had died at a big concert earlier this year when the crowd rushed the stage, so now they were strictly controlled.

The music was enlivened by Dennis who had two huge Chinese gongs behind him which he struck whenever the mood took him. As he gradually became more enthusiastic these were confiscated! After the show, Ishi, a young man looking after us for the promoter, Mr Udo, took us to a small disco. We paid 2,000 yen admission, then drinks – Japanese beer and whisky – were free. The place was dull and I didn’t stay long.

Bowie had previously performed at the Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan on 17 April 1973 during the Ziggy Stardust Tour.

The setlist

• ‘Warszawa’
• “Heroes”
• ‘What In The World’
• ‘Be My Wife’
• ‘The Jean Genie’
• ‘Blackout’
• ‘Sense Of Doubt’
• ‘Breaking Glass’
• ‘Fame’
• ‘Beauty And The Beast’
• ‘Five Years’
• ‘Soul Love’
• ‘Star’
• ‘Hang On to Yourself’
• ‘Ziggy Stardust’
• ‘Suffragette City’
• ‘Art Decade’
• ‘Alabama Song’
• ‘Station To Station’
• ‘TVC 15’
• ‘Stay’