Exclusive, mostly unseen live shots of David Bowie from 1978/1980s by Arthur D’Amario III

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David Bowie fan and photographer Arthur D’Amario III has been in touch with his newly scanned exclusive and mostly unseen shots of Bowie that he took in the late 1970s and ’80s.

Over to Arthur..

“On St. Patrick’s Day 1976 I saw Bowie for the first time, at Boston Garden.  It was so exciting I realized each performance of that generation’s singer-songwriters was historic and needed to be memorialized.  Soon thereafter I bought Minolta 35mm camera equipment and learned theater photography by trial and error.

From 1977 to 1990 I photographed hundreds of concerts for newspapers and magazines around the world.  It was a fast-paced, thrilling carnival ride through the publishing and entertainment worlds, and the best time of my life.

The Station to Station tour, regarded as one of rock’s greatest live music triumphs, propelled me to shoot every Bowie concert I could get to in 1978, 1983 and 1987.  I quit after his 1990 Montreal concert because the rising expenses had surpassed the modest pay and I felt no connection to new artists young enough to be my children.

Today, at 71, I just want to get the old shots online so fans can see what they might have missed.

The three pop superstars who commanded the stage and attained a level exclusive to them only were Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross and my personal favorite, David Bowie”.

1978:

Above, Los Angeles Forum April 4th.

Above, Providence Civic Centre, May 5th.

Above, Boston Garden, May 6th.

1983:

Above, Hartford Civic Centre, July 15th.

Above, Le Colisée, Quebec.

Above, Montreal Forum, July 13th.

Above, Madison Square Garden, NYC, July 25th.

1987:

Above, Exhibition Stadium, Toronto, August 24th.

Above, Olympic Stadium, Montreal, August 30th.

Above, Arthur in the late-eighties with the camera bag he took to every concert since 1976.

Many thanks to Arthur for exclusively sharing these fantastic shots with us.

All images © Arthur D’Amario III.