David Bowie - Back In Berlin 1987 (2024)

In 1987, David Bowie played a concert near the Reichstag in West Berlin, a stone’s throw away from the Berlin Wall, the much-hated and despised structure that split the German capital city in two. It was a concert that many Berliners on both sides of the border believe helped harden people’s resolve to bring down the hated barrier that had kept families apart for forty years. The concert was part of Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour, which at that point was his longest and most expensive tour. During his show in Berlin, Bowie’s performance was so loud that a huge crowd began to gather on the East side of the Wall to hear his performance better. It is rumoured that the speakers were turned slightly so as to be more audible in the East part of the city. As the concert progressed, Bowie could hear the East Germans behind the Iron Curtain singing along in stark defiance of their tyrannical rulers. The show’s importance, performing to two separated cities at once, clearly was not lost on Bowie. Never one to miss the occasion to highlight the unifying power of art, Bowie called out to East Berlin before playing ‘Heroes’.