The Montreal Star - 15 June 1974
Bowie bombs at Forum The reigning prince of glitter-camp rock, David Bowie, inaugurated his gigantic "comeback" tour of America last night at the Forum. The British rock singer had "retired" last year from the stage, thus forestalling last autumn's previously scheduled tour until he sold a few more million dollars worth of albums. His latest is called, appropriately, Diamond Dogs, and features a cover illustration of the gaunt faced, asexual Bowie as a dog; his private parts were blacked-out by his record company, and it's just as well. Naturally, the staging of the show was elaborate because staging is what Bowie is all about. He personifies and recreates cliches, most of them deathly melodramatic and from the movies, in an exaggerated fay way. His every move and expression is calculated and acted out on cue, and what he comes off as is a crummy actor. An ineffectual stage-hogger - the show was a non-stop hour and 45 minutes. He couldn't get off, he was a mannequin in floodlights and once they put him away for the night, he didn't return for the perfunctory Forum encore. The stage was built at weird angles like in 1920 German expressionist silents, with a cityscape as the backdrop. The band paled to one side of the stage and Bowie had plenty of space to pace around in. Instead of a chick chorus, he had a couple of fay cronies (or "dogs" as the program informed) doing weird things dressed in black. The performers cast long shadows over the stage - he whole set-up was an immaculately contrived display of staging.	And it was all for nothing, because Bowie is one of the most undynamic performers on stage today. He strikes poses, and opens his mouth and emits bland ounds. He is somewhat reminiscent of Johnny ray, except Johnny Ray was better: his tears were real. Bowie is worse than Adam Faith. He's worse than Freddy & the Dreamers. Worse than Bill Wyman! Bowie is an unaffecting stage performer, despite his programmed array of postures. His most emotional moment came when he went off stage during a guitar solo and reappeared on a terrace, wearing an oversized vintage wrap-around coat, bowing his head and looking moodily into the distance. He looked as if he was posing for a photograph. Big deal. There's nothing that he puts out on stage that makes you want to care about him. Despite the flashing red neon lightning rod - his symbol - and a crane that lifted Bowie bathed in purple light, singing Space Oddity over his audience, there was no direct immediacy from him, only from the hoked-up act. His band made a lot of tightly executed noise, filled with stock rock riffs, slotted in when needed (like the aesthetics of muzak). As the show wore on, it became apparent there was going to be no intermission, and pretty soon the clever staging was collapsing. The next time Bowie "retires", I hope it's for keeps. JUAN RODRIGUEZ
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