Glass Spider is a video album by David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, recorded during the 1987 Glass Spider Tour

Glass Spider Tour

In 1987, David Bowie embarked on The Glass Spider Tour in support of the album Never Let Me Down alongside famed guitarist Peter Frampton. The tour was named after the album track "Glass Spider." The concert tour was the most ambitious by Bowie up to that date, surpassing the Serious Moonlight Tour...

 at Sydney Entertainment Centre

Sydney Entertainment Centre

The Sydney Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose venue, located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished to make way for a new railway. The centre is currently owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which administers...

.

Release details

The concert was originally released in 1988 on VHS, and reissued in 2007 on DVD. The video portion of the release catalogues the performances on 7 & 9 November 1987 in Australia. A 1-hour edit from the original release was aired on US prime-time television in late 1988 on American Broadcasting Company

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

-affiliated stations.

The 2007 edition is available as two different editions; the normal edition includes just the DVD, while a special edition also includes a 2 CD live album from the same tour, recorded at Montreal Olympic Stadium on 30 August 1987.

Critical reviews

The home video's original 1988 release received positive reviews from sources such as Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

 magazine, the Houston Post and the Toronto Star. Some reviews were more ambivalent, such as The Boston Globes review stating simply that "there's a lot to digest."

VHS (1988 release)

1. Glass Spider
2. Day-In Day-Out
3. Bang Bang (Iggy Pop
   Iggy Pop
   Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
   
   , Ivan Kral
   Ivan Kral
   Ivan Kral is a Grammy Award-winning Czechoslovakian-born American composer, filmmaker and singer. He works across many genres including rock, jazz, soul, country and film scores...
   
   )
4. Absolute Beginners
5. Loving the Alien
6. China Girl (Bowie, Pop)
7. Rebel Rebel
8. Fashion
9. Never Let Me Down (Bowie, Carlos Alomar
   Carlos Alomar
   Carlos Alomar is an American guitarist, composer and arranger best known for his work with David Bowie, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician...
   
   )
10. "Heroes" (Bowie, Brian Eno
    Brian Eno
    Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
    
    )
11. Sons of the Silent Age
12. Young Americans/Band Introduction
13. The Jean Genie
14. Let's Dance
15. Time
16. Fame (Bowie, John Lennon
    John Lennon
    John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
    
    , Alomar)
17. Blue Jean
18. I Wanna Be Your Dog (Pop, Asheton, Asheton)
19. White Light White Heat (Lou Reed
    Lou Reed
    Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
    
    )
20. Modern Love

Although they are not mentioned on the sleeve the original VHS edition does contain the same Intro/Up the Hill Backwards

Up the Hill Backwards

"Up the Hill Backwards" is a song from David Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters . It was also issued as the fourth and final single from the album in March 1981...

 and band introduction segments that feature on the DVD reissue.

DVD (2007 release)

1. Intro/Up the Hill Backwards
2. Glass Spider
3. Day-In Day-Out
4. Bang Bang (Pop, Kraal)
5. Absolute Beginners
6. Loving the Alien
7. China Girl (Bowie, Pop)
8. Rebel Rebel
9. Fashion
10. Never Let Me Down (Bowie, Alomar)
11. "Heroes" (Bowie, Eno)
12. Sons of the Silent Age
13. Band Introduction
14. Young Americans
15. The Jean Genie
16. Let's Dance
17. Time
18. Fame (Bowie, Lennon, Alomar)
19. Blue Jean
20. I Wanna Be Your Dog (Pop, Asheton, Asheton)
21. White Light White Heat (Reed)
22. Modern Love

Disc one

1. Intro/Up The Hill Backwards
2. Glass Spider
3. Day-In, Day-Out
4. Bang Bang (Pop, Kraal)
5. Absolute Beginners
6. Loving The Alien
7. China Girl (Bowie, Pop)
8. Rebel Rebel
9. Fashion
10. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
11. All The Madmen
12. Never Let Me Down (Bowie, Alomar)

Disc two

1. Big Brother
2. '87 And Cry
3. "Heroes" (Bowie, Eno)
4. Sons Of The Silent Age
5. Time Will Crawl
6. Young Americans
7. Beat Of Your Drum
8. The Jean Genie
9. Let's Dance
10. Fame (Bowie, Lennon, Alomar)
11. Time
12. Blue Jean
13. Modern Love

Music Personnel

• Carlos Alomar
  Carlos Alomar
  Carlos Alomar is an American guitarist, composer and arranger best known for his work with David Bowie, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician...
  
  : guitar
• Alan Childs: drums
• Richard Cottle: keyboards, saxophone
• Peter Frampton
  Peter Frampton
  Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
  
  : guitar
• Erdal Kizilcay
  Erdal Kizilcay
  Erdal Kizilcay is a multi-instrumental musician of Turkish birth who has worked with, among others, David Bowie. He lives in Aegerten, Switzerland.-With David Bowie:*Never Let Me Down...
  
  : keyboards, trumpet, congas, violin
• Carmine Rojas
  Carmine Rojas
  Carmine Rojas, Bassist, Musical Director, Composer & Producer born February 14, 1953, Brooklyn, NY.With the efforts and support of his family, friends and professional relationships, Carmine has traveled the World earning the reputation as one of the most renowned and respected bass players in the...
  
  : bass
• Charlie Sexton
  Charlie Sexton
  Charles Wayne Sexton is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for the 1985 hit Beat's So Lonely and as the guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band from 1999 to 2002 and since 2009...
  
  : guitar

Dancers and Performers

• Melissa Hurley
• Viktor Manoel
  Viktor Manoel
  Viktor Manoel is a Mexican-American dancer, choreographer, writer, and actor. Viktor Manoel was born and raised in Mexico. His charismatic, androgynous look and unique style of dancing captured the imaginations of choreographers Édouard Lock of Canadian dance group La La La Human Steps and Toni...
  
  
• Constance Marie
  Constance Marie
  Constance Marie Lopez is an American actress. Known professionally as Constance Marie, she is known for her role as Angie Lopez on George Lopez and for her role as Marcella Quintanilla in the 1997 film Selena...
  
  
• Stephen Nichols
• Craig Allen Rothwell

Other Credits

• David Mallet
  David Mallet (director)
  David Mallet is a British director particularly noted for his work on music videos, including David Bowie's innovative "Ashes to Ashes", Rush's "Distant Early Warning, and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" videos. He has also served as a producer on television programmes including...
  
  : Director
• Anthony Eaton
  Anthony Eaton
  Anthony Eaton is an Australian writer of fantasy and young-adult fiction.-Biography:Eaton was born in Papua New Guinea in 1972 and moved to Perth, Western Australia during his childhood. After attending university he worked as a literature and drama teacher at Trinity College, Perth for eight...
  
  : Producer
• Toni Basil
  Toni Basil
  Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...
  
  : Choreography
• David Richards
  David Richards (record producer)
  David Richards is an English-born Swiss-based record producer, engineer and musician. In the Mountain Studios in Montreux, owned by the rock band Queen, and in Attalens he engineered and co-produced many albums by Queen, David Bowie and other artists. Richards also played keyboards on some records...
  
  : Audio mix