Recalling the night David Bowie helped open BC Place
Posted January 11, 2016 3:15 pm.
Last Updated January 11, 2016 3:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – David Bowie was known a trendsetter in music and fashion, but you may not be aware of a local first.
The legendary singer-songwriter, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 69, also had the distinction of performing the first rock concert at BC Place.
The show came just weeks after the stadium’s June 1983 grand opening before a crowd of nearly 54,000.
“I do remember that show, for sure,” recalls Terry Chan with our sister station JACK.
“It was a big, big event here. Honestly as a kid, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that this shiny new stadium is going to be opened by David Bowie!'”
The headline on the frontpage of the Vancouver Sun the next day screamed, “BC Place Gets Its Rock N’ Roll Baptism.”
Chan agrees and says the concert was a very big deal, given the level of Bowie’s fame at the time.
“As it turned out, it was probably the time of his biggest commercial success in the `80s with the Serious Moonlight tour and then touring behind all those great songs. It was a very, very good show.”
Legend has it Bowie turned his dressing room into a sushi bar.
He ended up playing two nights at BC Place in August 1983 and would play under the dome again four years later.
A 1997 tour stop saw Bowie play a now legendary club date at the Plaza of Nations.
Chan says Bowie will best remembered for doing things his own way.
“He’s done the music that he’s wanted to do. He’s just done whatever the heck he’s wanted to do and he’s never been accused of doing it for the money, for the success, for the fame. He’s just done it because he’s David Bowie and he’s going to do it this way and I think he’s been very, very well respected for that.”
