David Bowie :: The Next Day
“As long as there’s me, as long as there’s you…”
On January 8th 2013, David Bowie’s 66th birthday, he dropped a bomb on an unsuspecting public: a new single ; with a new album, The Next Day, to follow in March; then, we got a second video just before February’s end; and finally, ten days before the album’s release, an iTunes stream. Following nearly a decade of semi-retirement (or was it misdirection?), the release of Where Are We Now? was a PR masterstroke that provoked an astonished outpouring of love and excitement among starving acolytes. Nobody knew it was coming – even The Outside Organisation, Bowie’s long-time PR company, didn’t know until Christmas 2012. In the cold light of day, he did nothing except make a record and keep it a secret. He did this in our online era, where everyone is over-sharing, stealing music is commonplace, the music industry is transforming, against its will, and most public figures can’t buy a pint of milk without media training. In the process, he made what could have been a drip-drip publicity campaign of teasing and snippets and buzz that would have cost millions completely obsolete. There was a rush to explain how on earth this had happened. Sony’s president, Rob Stringer, was so peeved with the perception that he might not have known about the existence of an album his own label was releasing that he insisted on a correction to a Guardian piece that had dared to claim he found out at the same time as the PR agency. He knew in October, he snorted, desperate to appear to be two extra months inside the loop. He didn’t know earlier because Sony obviously didn’t fund the recording – and if record labels aren’t paying for that old staple, what do they even do now? He is oblivious, seemingly, to his own irrelevance – the joke of being so unimportant to an artist comically lost on him.
As I sat, with The Next Day’s iTunes preview before me, I felt like I’d been given a 14-course Michelin-starred meal all at once and was expected to eat every last morsel. Reviewers got a couple of hours in a darkened room with this album. What a task to demand of them: to write defining reviews for serious newspapers , magazines and websites with only a couple of plays under the belt, the first of which is really just reverberation from the shock of the existence of the album in the first place. What’s the point of such secrecy anyway – to prevent leaks? The right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing because the album started streaming online 10 days before the release date and can now be easily found, online, for free. The music industry have given up trying to sell music at all but PR companies can’t let go of their tiny measure of control. How pointless. But then, half way through my second play, I was driven to write something too, and it felt possible. Perhaps that’s the lesson of these past two months – everything is possible.
We will each have our own unique relationship with The Next Day. There’ll be teenagers coming to him anew, with this album being the first one they’ll have bought (or stolen). What must it feel like to be at the beginning of such a journey? They have untold riches ahead. But whether you’re a kid or Bowie’s age, you’ll have your own personal connection to this album. I can only talk about my own. My first play was rushed, as I was heading out of the house, and I barely heard anything, I couldn’t take it in. Later that same day, I closed the door and the curtains, turned the light off, put on my headphones and pressed play. As the album was nearing its end, about half way through How Does the Grass Grow? I realised that tears were rolling down my face. Why that song in particular I have no idea. It was just too much, perhaps, and it all got concentrated into that one moment. I’ve lost so much in the last year, and while I have never written about it, never felt the desire to write down how I feel, and have felt, I found myself crumbling to a moment of loss, of my own sadness.
Since I lost my mum my heart has hurt every single day. She would always ask me when Bowie was going to make his comeback, and I’d tell her it didn’t look likely at all. And no matter what anyone says now, it fucking didn’t. In a millennium, I could never have told my mum that I thought he was secretly working on an album. I had no clue, none of us did. So she will never know this joy, she will never hear this record. She was the first person I would have called on that breathless day, January 8th. She loved him and would have been so happy about this unexpected turn of events. She would have watched the video for The Stars (Are Out Tonight) a dozen times. That I never got, and will never get, to tell her has caused a sadness that will never leave me. And yet, this record does what it’s supposed to do, at its very heart – it makes me happy.
During the creation of any album, there are a thousand creative decisions to be taken. Whether you make an album that takes two weeks or two years, it’s all about the roads you choose to take. I couldn’t possibly trust Bowie more than I already do to make the right choices and, expectedly, every element of this album has been carefully picked to work and fit together. Every guitar break (the three-pronged attack of Gerry Leonard, David Torn and Earl Slick works wonderfully throughout), bass line, horn and string part, and every insistent, powerful, drum beat is filled with conviction; every lyric and thought is crafted with precision and passionate expression, and every charismatic vocal delivery employs the guile and instincts of the seasoned actor he is. He has created an entire world in which these songs live.
Visconti wasn’t kidding when he said the single wasn’t indicative of the album. The whole experience of listening to The Next Day is to find yourself battered around the head by a man who is letting his silence on life, love, death, war, history, religion and politics end. And yet, and this is the crucial point, this is an artistic statement of someone who wants to fight. It is an angry record, one that expresses vicious and contemptuous judgement, but it also talks of the journey of mortality; it’s partially reflective, true, with the odd look back, but it’s very much thematically rooted in the present, in the world he’ll leave for his daughter one day. It would be easy to say that this bit sounds like it could be on Lodger, that bit is straight out of Scary Monsters and so on. But such flourishes are the lesser strokes of a paintbrush on a huge canvas; The Next Day very much lives and breathes in the present. It has its own personality and will find its own place in the canon. You knew it would, because he is far too clever to put something out after this length of time that didn’t stand proudly alongside the rest. Every decision made is a careful one, and there’s nothing wrong with employing his famed level of control freakery if you’re adding to a back catalogue of such immensity.
The first thing that knocks you over is the remarkable pace it sets off at, with the title song having more than a touch of Tin Machine’s abrasive propulsion as it tells a dark tale of medieval death on the gallows. Dirty Boys is like the sex cousin of Sister Midnight , with a groove so filthy you could imagine a tassel-twirling burlesque performer getting off to it in a Soho dive bar. The Stars (Are Out Tonight), divested of its staggering video accompaniment , is a solid gold pop hit, with wonderful melodic work from Gerry Leonard and David Torn and a gorgeous Visconti string arrangement. The dramatic Love Is Lost tells a dynamic yet indifferent, lonely tale of displacement, which seems to lead perfectly into Where Are We Now? For all the talk of nostalgia, it’s the only track that harks back, lyrically at least, to bygone times. When you know you have more years behind you than ahead, and the gift to siphon those feelings into a creative outlet, the desire to blink for a second and allow for reflection is understandable. But it’s a fleeting moment before we’re off again, into a lovely, light pop song, Valentine’s Day, though the subject, a troubled and dark-minded protagonist, muddles its musical sweetness. The face-melting If You Can See Me follows, a song ambitious and portentous enough to have sat comfortably on Outside. The time signature alone is a blood twister and the chemistry of the brilliant Tony Levin and Zachary Alford makes the song what it is.
It’s at this point that there’s a dip, which after the blast of the first seven tracks feels like a surprise. But then again, Scary Monsters aside, it’s par for the course that a Bowie album has a filler or two, which is no crime. Dancing Out in Space is pretty pedestrian (and the title, good as it is, inevitably makes me think of Flight of the Conchords ) and I’d Rather Be High and Boss of Me (great verses, prosaic chorus) are just good songs, they’re not great. But so what? It’s an album where the ideas spill forth unrestrained, and that’s worth a couple of tracks you know you’ll skip after you know it all better. The odd bit of imperfection is offset by huge swathes of intensity and dazzling quality. How Does the Grass Grow? is beautifully crafted and seems to have some combination of cadence and timbre that makes my tear ducts overflow. How does it do that? (You Will) Set The World on Fire is a mammoth track, with a Slick guitar line Pete Townshend would be proud of. It’s the kind of song that he tossed off in the 80s and, because of his general disinterest in his own music during that period, would have let become submerged amid layers of someone else’s production control. Here, it’s powerful, sleek and insistent.
And then, we get to You Feel So Lonely You Could Die (nice title nod to Heartbreak Hotel). If you’re thinking that this straight-ahead rock album is perhaps lacking something, a big overblown epic, say, this is your moment. Bowie knows exactly what he’s invoking here, and you can do nothing but marvel at its sheer bloody cheek. This extraordinary song, a companion piece to I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday (itself a parody of a Morrissey homage), or even the hallowed Rock and Roll Suicide, is completely thrilling. It pulls you back and forth, it emotionally exhausts you, and the delivery is off the scale. And just when you think there’s no more emotional heft it can give or receive, as it fades away the drum beat of Five Years comes in and you almost burst out laughing at its brazen flamboyance, arrogance and utter ostentatiousness. The Scott Walker-esque Heat, the album’s closer, is like a Tuesday comedown, a mesmerising mantra-like chant not unlike Heathen.
There are no accidents here. There are no half-thought ideas executed with flippancy. The playing is exemplary and Visconti’s production is imbued with the love and respect and skilled invention that 40+ years of friendship and understanding brings. He knows what’s needed, he knows how to add the right touches intuitively, and the shorthand of their relationship is stitched into every track. Every musician who has spent time making this record has done it with love and devotion in their heart. Asked to keep the album’s existence a secret from those closest to them for nigh on two years, without blinking, without argument, the deal was done. Everyone wants to do their best for him and will wait a decade to get a call then accept the invitation without pause or even a thought of complaint.
All Bowie albums are pictures of his mind in particular moments. Has this set been formed over the last couple of years or has he been collecting and creating, bit by bit, since he walked off stage at his last public performance, the 2006 Black Ball? We will never know, but we do know that recording took place in fragments over two years. Sessions lasting a week, then not a call for months; another couple of tracks, then more silence for more months, until he was ready. If there was external pressure to record or tour, via demands from a record label, from management, from fans, from anyone, he paid little attention. There are no interviews, no explanations. The album says everything he wants to say. He ignored everyone to walk around New York in a baseball cap, and do the odd movie cameo and the school run, and this is what we got.
It’s such a gift, and one I never expected. It’s overwhelming. I could overanalyse it if I wanted. I could try and figure out if, had it come out 18 months after Reality, whether I’d love it this much. I could try and place it in the larger canon and measure it up against albums that have meant so much to me. I could try to think about whether his long absence is affecting how I feel about it. Or I could just answer the simplest question – does listening to it make me happy? Because after all the words are spoken and written, after all the discussion and critical evaluation, and in mind of all of the happiness that I’ve been unable to feel for a year, all that matters is whether it makes me happy. Yes. It makes me happy.
David Bowie, Hammersmith Odeon, London, 02-10-02
The arrival of Bowie on stage felt like the ultimate in fevered anticipation. As Garson strolled out, sat behind his piano and launched into the familiar opening of Life on Mars we strained to catch a glimpse. And then, there he was. Outfitted in a blue silk suit, with (tied) tie, he sauntered, in that particular way of his, to centre stage as the theatre erupted. And from that moment you knew it was going to be a night like no other. That long, cold night on the concrete outside the venue last Friday was going to be worth it, as we always knew.
Before we could blink he was off - Ashes to Ashes, Look Back in Anger and the "first cowboy song of the night", Cactus followed. The set was a blur as the songs came thick and fast. I'm sure someone will have written it down but I sat in awe as he thundered through the songs that have defined and accompanied all our lives. His trademark energy puts us all to shame - his boundless, ceaseless zest for all the material was astounding.
The Heathen tracks sat beautifully next to the other songs - 5.15, Slip Away, Afraid, I've Been Waiting for You took their rightful place alongside Fame, Fashion, Breaking Glass and so on. The welcome addition of Absolute Beginners was a surprise and everyone smiled as David and Gail danced around the stage as it ended. Not to be outdone he then uttered the famed phrase "not only is this the last show of the tour." The crowd sank to a hush then a cheer as he repeated the line he had once said many years before then he added "but this is the last show we'll ever do." then a pause for dramatic effect before adding "on the day of a fucking Tube strike!"
A cheeky stripped down version of Rebel Rebel had the crowd howling in delight and the gorgeous title track of Heathen ended the first part of the show. Everyone sat, simply stunned in submission by what we were watching and before we could catch our breath he was back again with the sublime Sunday. If the exact song order is sketchy it can only be because it was hard to centre oneself after such a night. Then came the moment I had been dreaming of for as long as I can remember – my favourite song live.
"I'm an alligator." My heart jumped a hundred feet. "I'm a rock and rolling bitch for you." If the gig had been 99.9% perfect until now this was the missing link. I never thought in any wild dream that I would see him perform Moonage Daydream let alone in this venue. Before (or after, still hazy on specifics) someone threw a black and silver feather boa on stage which David picked up and draped around his neck as he had once done before on this same stage. This has been hard to write, as usually a review must have balance, the parts liked with the parts not as much. This was impossible as, genuinely, as all the moments had been just as I imagined every night before this. Now it had been made real.
Then as if it was the most casual announcement it came: "We've only ever performed this song once before.". I think my heart actually stopped as I thought, no chance, he isn't actually going to do this song is he? It just wasn't possible - that we could witness only the second ever public performance of. "This one's called the Bewlay Brothers." He thought no one would know it but the vast majority if the crowd knew exactly how much this one meant. It was word perfect. Can't wait to get the bootleg.
I was stunned after that; to be lucky enough to hear this song performed live was something that left me speechless. It was a wonderful blur - Everyone Says Hi, Starman, Changes, I never wanted it to end. But it must and what better way to make grown men weep than with a roof-raising rendition of Ziggy Stardust. He has so far to go, so many great moments yet to bestow on us.
Life On Mars?
Ashes To Ashes
Look Back In Anger
Survive
Breaking Glass
Cactus
China Girl
Slip Away
Absolute Beginners
Alabama Song
Speed of Life
Be My Wife
Fame
I’m Afraid of Americans
5:15 The Angels Have Gone
I’ve Been Waiting For You
Afraid
Fashion
Rebel Rebel
"Heroes"
Heathen (The Rays)
(encore)
Sunday
I Would Be Your Slave
Moonage Daydream
Changes
Starman
A New Career In A New Town
Everyone says 'Hi'
The Bewlay Brothers
Sound and Vision
Hallo Spaceboy
Let's Dance
Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie, The Chance Theatre, Poughkeepsie, New York, 19-08-03
I've never felt such a sense of excitement and anticipation. I'd be lying if I said the other attendees weren't a part of that. Having spent the day building up outside the venue with so many wonderful Bnetters, whipping each other up into frenzy, was thrilling and I felt honoured to be part of it.
Clad in pale blue denim trousers and jacket with a black T shirt saying 'Metal World' he looked the picture of perfection. The band cracked into the title track from the new album. Then.. Modern Love. I was really shocked to hear this one, very ripped up and fast but a wonderful surprise.
The show was extremely well balanced, 3 songs from Heathen (Afraid, Cactus and the title track to finish), greeted like the classics they have become, a couple of oldies and 6 songs from Reality.
I was feeling nervous about the new songs and clearly so was he. At first I thought it might be false modesty but he really did seem to be worried about how the new material might go down and how it might sound. It's a mystery to me why Never Get Old isn't the first single. New Killer Star is a wonderful record (played *so* well tonight and sang with heart by everyone; amazing considering it hasn't been released yet) and definitely a single but Never Get Old is just superb.
Fall Dog went down extremely well, a lovely song. He didn't fail to notice our appreciation and how well these tunes were going down. Pablo Picasso almost brought the roof caving in. And they just kept on coming: Battle For Britain; TMWSTW; Rebel Rebel and a temperature-raising version of Iggy's Sister Midnight, followed by a great rendition of I'm Afraid of Americans.
The crowd packed into this tiny theatre were hot and sweaty throughout, gasping for air.I have never jumped and sang and hollered as loud in my life. How can you go back to arenas once you've been to a show of this size? Waiting outside the venue before the show, the band, then David, arrived and waved. He came out and talked to everyone, exhibiting the charm I’ve been told about. He signed various things and, having never been as close to him, I was rather open-mouthed I think. But it occurs to me that the guy who said hi to us and was not the same guy as the one on stage. He goes through a transformation the like of which I've never seen, a supreme act. He is simply mesmerising on stage.
Allow me a shallow moment: I must tell you that this man has been working out, and I don't just mean boxing: I mean down the gym! He has not looked this good since the disrobing performances of Tin Machine. The piercing screams of the teens behind me attested to that.
And don't even get me started on Hang On To Yourself, Suffragette City and an exquisite version of Fantastic Voyage: these songs rocked the Chance so much they'll need to put in new floors tomorrow!
This year (and some of next) are going to be shows like you've never seen, and I know you've seen it all. He's so fit and raring to go. He's ready for this world tour, and so are we. See you on the road!
Reality
Modern Love
New Killer Star
Cactus
Battle For Britain (The Letter)
Pablo Picasso
Afraid
Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
Sister Midnight
I'm Afraid Of Americans
She'll Drive The Big Car
Suffragette City
************************
Fantastic Voyage
Never Get Old
The Man Who Sold The World
Rebel Rebel
Hang On To Yourself
Heathen (The Rays)...
David Bowie, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, 08-09-03
So back to the aforementioned Mr Ross, who did a fabulous job all night might I add. He told us that David would come out and do a warm up to check the sound, which I wasn’t expecting really, so when he walked out wearing similar clothes to Poughkeepsie with an Earthling tour type jacket a flash of excitement shot through the lucky attendees. We got A New Career In A New Town and bits of Blur’s Song 2 and even Link Wray's Rumble, which he insisted none of us would know!
There was much checking of times in earpieces and satellites and then we were off! As I expected NKS was the first tune up and, it was received loudly and warmly. Even though I knew he was doing the whole of Reality I wasn’t sure if it would be in order a la the Heathen/Low shows last year. Well when Pablo Picasso was announced I knew it would be! I must say the album sounds wonderful in entirety and even though he thought we wouldn’t know it because ‘you haven’t had your bootlegs long enough yet’ every song was sung with great passion and recognition especially Never Get Old which I’m sure will turn into a firm live favourite.
I’d forgotten about the Q&A completely but it turned out to be such a good laugh. A combination of well-handled technical difficulties and great answers (on haircuts, dogs and James Bond); a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest without the shit tunes.
So then on to the request section, which started with my favourite song of the night, Hallo Spaceboy. The band was so good last night; they’ve all really developed a rapport and connection that is better than any Bowie band I’ve ever seen. Oblivious to the cameras we jumped and sang our hearts out hoping the world was wishing they were in our place. Fantastic Voyage is always welcome (my second hearing in 3 weeks), NKS was performed again and the air was punched even more emphatically the second time. And then it was over. He swaggered offstage looking understandably pleased with himself. We attended the biggest interactive music event of all time and I can’t think of anyone who could do it better.
Many post-gig drinks later I got home at 4am and now I’m sitting at work with a giant smile on my face remembering flashes of last night. Talking of flashes there was a couple of T-shirt moments that raised the temperature a little from the man on stage. I got almost to the end without mentioning how good he looked too ;-)
(Warm up)
A new Career in a new town
A bit of Song 2
A bit of Rumble
(Whole of Reality album) New Killer Star Pablo Picasso Never Get Old The Loneliest Guy Looking for Water She'll Drive the Big Car Days Fall Dog Bombs The Moon Try Some, Buy Some Reality Bring Me The Disco King
Q n A with Jonathan Ross
(Extras)
Hallo Spaceboy
Fantastic Voyage
Hang On To Yourself
Cactus
Afraid
Modern Love
New Killer Star...
David Bowie, The Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland, 15-10-03
Yesterday was better. Everything: it was more polished, the set list was more varied and the running order and flow of the show is down pat (after only 5 gigs no less). We got there late so ended up about 10 rows back on the left. It’s funny to me now how that seems miles away. Before Poughkeepsie I’d seen each Bowie gig from the back of a stadium and now, I admit, I’m totally spoiled.
I guess the one thing I was after, unattainable you might say when you went to Poughkeepsie and Riverside, was surprises. Even having seen the show last week I still wanted them. Second song in? Jean Genie. And then Fashion. And then Try Some, Buy Some. First performances on the tour. Well, that’s sorted.
I was delighted that so many of the audience knew the Heathen songs, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. It is his highest profile and impact album in years. Slip Away has really become the great anthem from it for this tour.
Set list... well, we all have our opinions on it. Personally I’m over it: I could, as could you, choose a 50 song set list not played last night or any other on the tour. But what has been chosen fits completely with the band and the demands of an arena tour.
Having said that there were tunes that just about took the high roof off the Ahoy in Rotterdam: Suffragette City (brilliant as ever), Changes, China Girl, Ashes to Ashes, Let’s Dance etc. I was thrilled to hear The Motel (never heard it live before) and an exquisite Tibet gig style version of Loving the Alien.
Having never travelled to see him live outside England I wondered if there was a point where I’d get fed up of hearing the same songs. After 4 gigs so far this year I can only say bring it on! I’m getting more excited with each passing show and feel a bit like a runner on starting blocks waiting for the gun to go off… next stop Frankfurt.
New Killer Star
Jean Genie
Fame
Cactus
China Girl
Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
Hallo Spaceboy
Sunday
Under Pressure
White Light, White Heat
Ashes To Ashes (followed by a snippet of Blur's Song 2)
Fashion
Try Some, Buy Some
Never Get Old
The Motel
5:15 The Angels Have Gone
Loving The Alien
I'm Afraid Of Americans
"Heroes"
Heathen (The Rays)
(Encore)
Bring Me The Disco King
Slip Away
Pablo Picasso
Changes
Let's Dance
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust...
David Bowie, Frankfurt Festhalle, 18-10-03
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David Bowie: Frankfurt Festhalle October 18 2003
So here I am in Frankfurt trying to get my thoughts together about this gig. Firstly I must say the Dandys were good tonight: all foppish caps and louche demeanour. The best I've seen them so far. He started with Jean Genie for the second time in a week (the first I saw too in Rotterdam) which was a bit of a surprise, having only started with NKS thus far up until Wednesday. Storming versions of Battle for Britain tonight and a quite amazing run through of Suffragette City. The crowd took a bit of warming up but by the end were his. Spaceboy raised the roof as ever and Ziggy sent us home happy to say the least.
What struck me most of all tonight, watching the crowd, was how he has them in the palm of his hand. What a performer, filled with experience and knowledge of how to, pardon the phrase, get everyone off. Each Reality song improves with every play especially Never Get Old: he'll be playing it for years. Hearing Heroes performed in Germany was something I thought I'd never hear so it was such a pleasure and very different in terms of vibe from hearing it in England, for example.
I tell you, I'm knackered and I've only done 3 gigs. I have no idea how he does this night after night... the man has stamina to shame us all! Next gig won't be for a month (in Lyon)... can't wait!!
______________________________________
Now the funny thing is that I decided I couldn't possibly wait a month to see him again, such was the groove of flying and getting up early and travelling and staying in cheap hotels that I'd gotten myself into. I realised that 2 weeks after Frankfurt he was playing in Hanover on Nov 1, bisecting the Frankfurt and Nov 15 Lyon gigs. I bought a ticket, booked the flight and just went. It was a Saturday, as many of the gigs I saw were, so no time off work required. What a wonderful time it was, getting up on Saturday and jetting off to some random European city to see him play live, nice and close up too! I'm grateful I had the opportunity to do it because I'm pretty sure it'll never happen like that again. Good times......
David Bowie, Wembley Arena, London, 26-11-03
As he raised his arms and sang the last words at the end of Ziggy I shed a happy tear for all the friends I’ve made and songs I’ve heard. It wasn’t the first tear shed. Five Years in Lyon saw to that. Then there was almost getting thrown out of the gig during NKS in Copenhagen, getting lost in Rotterdam, getting elbowed in Frankfurt, 9 hours of driving for Hanover, a morning in casualty in Manchester, at the front again in Dublin… the list goes on and on. So much has happened since October 7th. I stepped into Wembley Arena last night with a huge amount of personal sadness that it was all about to end.
The show has become so familiar, but no less thrilling, to me. The music starts and David's voice booms out something along the lines of: ‘That’s good, let’s try that again’. The lights go out and the animation starts. Rebel Rebel (usually!) opens the show perfectly.
I had hoped tonight would be different to Tuesday’s show since the second nights played in the same venue usually are: I wasn’t disappointed. Fashion instead of Fame, Big Car, an early inclusion of Hang on to Yourself, Be My Wife, Jean Genie, White Light White Heat and Starman for the first time on this tour! It’s always a pleasure to hear Fantastic Voyage too. I’ve never been so floored by a vocal as I am by Gail’s in Under Pressure; the notes she hits are quite astounding. Every member of the band fits perfectly and certainly Gerry has added a dimension to the music I’ve never heard before.
It seemed to me that seeing both nights at Wembley presented a complete picture of the show. The audience, shackled by seating and over zealous security, were appreciative though I was surrounded by the kind of fan who is rather happy to hear the hits and has a bit of a sit down during the songs they don’t know.
Seeing Bowie in such a mainstream venue it did make me think about his appeal and the reaction to Life on Mars was the best example of it. There’s something about LOM at the moment that is really getting to me: I can barely get through it without choking up, something that has never happened to me before. Seeing the massive sing-a-long and standing ovation I realised that he, to us, is this familiar character who tells daft jokes that only we get and plays Bnet shows in venues you’d never get a ticket for otherwise. To the other 95% of the audience last night he was an untouchable icon, they were listening to one of the greatest songs ever written and couldn’t quite believe he was standing right there belting it out. When you're in a massive arena and he's being appreciated by 10,000 it makes you realise who he really is.
Watching him hold every single person in Wembley enraptured was wonderful and it made me even more grateful that I’ve been able to share so many moments like that over the last 7 weeks.
My thanks go to: David and the band; to my BNet family who made me so welcome in so many European destinations; Trevor and the Gnome for the best after party in history and to Blammo for putting up with my incessant waffling – over email and the phone from New York, gibbering as I was at 5am after Poughkeepsie.
Now we’re sending him across the ocean to carry on this amazing spectacle outside Europe. Treat him well, look after his voice and enjoy the rest of the tour.
Rebel Rebel
New Killer Star
Reality
Fashion
Cactus
Hang On To Yourself
Starman
China Girl
The Loneliest Guy
The Man Who Sold The World
Hallo Spaceboy
Sunday
Under Pressure
Life On Mars?
Ashes To Ashes
Be My Wife
Fantastic Voyage
She'll Drive The Big Car
Jean Genie
Afraid
I'm Afraid Of Americans
"Heroes"
(Encore)
White Light, White Heat
Five Years
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust
(LT note: I really did think that was the last show I’d see, then he announced a massive, sadly uncompleted, summer festival tour. I had to go to and went on an eventful Amsterdam weekend. I’m eternally glad I didn’t know Amsterdam would be the last time I saw him live, since I had a ticket to a Monaco show for a few weeks after, which was one of the shows cancelled.)...
David Bowie, Amsterdam Arena, Holland, 11-06-04
It turns out I’m severely out of gig practice because, 2 days later, I’m still aching from the sheer exuberance of the performance at the Amsterdam Arena. He’s as fresh as a daisy, but I’m getting too old for this. Arriving late I somehow got a great place about 5 rows from the front, no mean feat in a stadium filled with 25,000 fans. The setting was unusual, the stadium roof was on but it was still daylight. As soon as the cartoon kicked in a wave of happiness and contentment descended over me, like I was being transported back to all the gigs I did last year.
I never tire of Rebel Rebel, it really is the perfect gig opener. But then… Panic in Detroit! I’d never heard that live before, such a treat. He complained at us for singing All The Young Dudes, and said as our punishment we had to endure a song from the 80s! He took the piss out of the terrible arena acoustics "You’ll be hearing these songs twice tonight, maybe more!"
He was in great form, tons of jokes and filled with enjoyment at being back in Europe. After over 100 gigs I don’t know where he finds the energy. There was a cheeky dig at the Yanks he’d just left behind. "It’s so lovely to see a crowd filled with such pretty people. Everyone’s so pretty. And I should know, I just got back from America! I feel like a man finally finding water in the desert!"
It was such a wonderfully familiar feeling: seeing him enjoying the crowd, Susan bouncing at the front, Cat’s infectious grin, Gail’s soaring voice, Slick’s playing even more killer than it was last year… I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be and am now gutted my next gig isn’t until Monaco.
Watching the American reports with excitement at the new setlist additions I tried to avoid thinking about any new songs I might be getting, even refusing to say the names of the songs I wanted to hear the most. I can say it now because he played it: Station to Station. I have never wanted to hear a song more and my god the band nailed it. I had heard it once before; my first ever Bowie gig at Maine Road in 1990. I don’t remember that performance of it but I’ll never forget this one. This might sound flighty and over-exaggerated but I think I may have had some kind of religious experience during that song! I looked up (way up, the stage was much higher than usual) at him, the returning Thin White Duke throwing darts in lovers’ eyes and I wanted that complete and perfect moment never to end.
Diamond Dogs wasn’t half bad either. Quicksand completed the trilogy of songs I’d never heard before. All in all, a perfect return to Europe for him and a memorable night for me. Next stop Monte Carlo!
Rebel Rebel
Cactus
Sister Midnight
New Killer Star
Panic In Detroit
Reality
Fame
All The Young Dudes
China Girl
The Loneliest Guy
The Man Who Sold The World
Heathen (The Rays)
Hallo Spaceboy
Under Pressure
Ashes To Ashes
Quicksand
Hang On To Yourself
Station To Station
I'm Afraid Of Americans
"Heroes"
(encore)
White Light, White Heat
Diamond Dogs
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust...