Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London
Date: 11th July 1989
Miles fan John Spiers has kindly written to recall a Miles Davis concert from 1989 he attended. John went to both the early and late evening shows. My late brother John and I were also present for the late show! My brother took the photograph accompanying this piece.
Rick Margitza and Benny Rietveld at the Royal Festival Hall, London, 11 July 1989. Photo by John Cole.
The following band and set information is courtesy of noted Miles discographer Jan Lohmann, and is from Peter Losin’s superb Miles Ahead website, which every Miles fan needs to visit, because it’s a treasure trove of information, covering Miles’s entire musical career.
The band Miles had at the time consisted of: Miles Davis (tpt, synth); Rick Margitza (ss, ts); Kei Akagi (synth); Adam Holzman (synth); Joe “Foley” McCreary (g); Benny Rietveld (el-b); Ricky Wellman (d); Munyungo Jackson (perc). Miles’s usual saxophonist Kenny Garrett was absent during July and August of the summer tour, and his place was taken by tenor saxophonist Rick Margizta, who ably stood in for Kenny.
The band played two concerts:
First concert
- Intruder
- New Blues [Star People]
- Hannibal
- Time After Time
- Mr. Pastorius
Second concert
- Intruder
- New Blues [Star People]
- Perfect Way
- Hannibal
- Amandla (false start)
- Amandla
- Jilli
- Human Nature
- The Senate/Me & U
- Wrinkle
- Wrinkle (encore)
- Wrinkle (encore)
- Tutu
- Don’t Stop Me Now
- Carnival Time
- Carnival Time (encore)
- In a Silent Way
Most of the music was from You’re Under Arrest, Tutu, Amandla and the then unreleased Rubberband sessions. “The Senate/Me & U” was composed by Foley. In fact, Marcus Miller was playing this tune in the background when Miles called him one day. It piqued Miles’s interest and Foley was invited to join Miles’s band, playing lead bass.
“Don’t Stop Me Now” was a ballad Miles recorded with the pop band Toto on their album Fahrenheit. In a separate correspondence with me, John noted that the second concert did not include “Time After Time,” a rare occurrence in Miles’s concerts from 1984 onwards.
John Spiers
The only time I saw Miles live was at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1989. He played two shows, 6pm and 9pm, and I attended both.
The support act was Scottish tenor player Tommy Smith, who was very good.
The 6pm show was quite short, only an hour or so. As I was leaving the auditorium I remember a steward saying to me “Don’t worry, you’ll get a lot more Miles later on.” And that was true; the 9pm show was nearly two hours.
I remember that Miles was wearing very colourful attire, as usual at that time, and unfortunately a very obvious hairpiece. Why he felt the need to do that I don’t know. He was supercool, balding or not!
There were photographers crouching just below the stage, and Miles didn’t appreciate that one of them briefly had a hand resting actually on the edge of the stage, so he playfully (I think) pretended (again, I think) to put his foot on the guy’s fingers. He didn’t put his hand near the stage again!
I remember being just mesmerised by Miles. I’ve been to hundreds of gigs, but no-one else has approached his charisma or stage presence. Couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Miles was on good form, not many cracked notes. I wasn’t very familiar with any of the band, but I was intrigued by Foley and his ‘lead bass’.
The set list was pretty much as expected. Lots from recent ‘80s albums, which was fine by me. I loved that period, and still listen to Tutu and You’re Under Arrest regularly.
It was a memorable evening for me. I’m so glad I got to see Miles, a highlight of my gig-going life.
Many thanks to John for sharing his Miles memories with me. If you have any thoughts about a Miles gig you attended, you are most welcome to share it! All reports will be put online for other Miles fans to share. Email
