I saw David Bowie in concert on Monday 24 August 1987 at CNE Stadium. I kept a daily diary at the time, and wrote this entry at the end of the day:

I went to bank and paid my univ tuition ($1839.29). I dropped in at CNT [= the Central Library] [1] and photocopied my Bowie/Duran tix. Sharon called. I ironed. Terry & I drove to CNE to see Northern Pikes/Duran Duran/David Bowie supershow (Glass Spider/Strange Behaviour Tour). N Pikes onstage from 18:55 – 19:26 and did 7 songs. Duran onstage 1½ hours and did 18 songs. David onstage 2¼ hours and did 23 songs. Concert from 18:55 – 00:30, therefore 5 h 35 min of music. See N Pikenvelope for song list. I danced during Pikes but on my seat during Duran (for all songs).

I inserted a slip listing Duran Duran’s playlist:

Songs Duran Duran performed, in order, from 20:00 – 21:38

A View to a Kill
Notorious
American Science
Union of the Snake
New Religion
«Meet El Presidente»
Election Day
Some Like It Hot
(Nick’s Interlude)
The Chauffeur
Save a Prayer
I Need Some Money (?)
Skin Trade
Hold Me (beginning)
Dance to the Music (bit)
Hold Me (end)
Is There Something I Should Know
Hungry Like the Wolf
The Wild Boys
The Reflex

[1] I used abbreviations throughout this diary entry, since my diary at the time provided a mere four lines per day. I have written out all the abbreviations here in full, except where the short forms are obvious.

I did not record the names of the Bowie songs, since I was at the concert mainly as a fan of the Northern Pikes and Duran Duran, and thus was not familiar with the names of his material. Note “.00 COMP” at the top of the ticket; my interviewing days saw me attend a lot of free shows between 1983-88.

However that was not really my first David Bowie concert. On September 3, 1983 I watched his concert during the Serious Moonlight Tour. Here is my diary entry from that day:

Grant & I went to CNE & I met Franklin & his friend. I went to Museum of Rock Art & saw hours of Beatlevideos [2]. After at 22:00 – 00:15 I saw David Bowie’s concert → I was outside of Grandstand & watched it backwards on the huge video screen. (Concert was filmed.)

[2] I had a habit of spelling any noun preceded by “Beatle” as one word, thus Beatlesongs, Beatlealbums.

I kept my own Top 10 Singles Charts from 1983-2001, and David Bowie made three appearances:

“Blue Jean” peaked at #7 on 27 October 1984
“Dancing in the Street” (credited to Mick Jagger/David Bowie) peaked at #1 for two weeks on 12 and 19 October 1985
“Day-in Day-out” peaked at #6 on 27 June 1987.

David Bowie had one Top 10 album, Never Let Me Down, which reached #8 on 13 June 1987.