Month: July 2002

We’re gonna put in some extras tonight…*

David Bowie played the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany, last night, and gave fans at the intimate venue a very special treat. At first the set list was comparable to other recent European shows in terms of content, but after the first encore when he would normally finish the show, David returned to an astonished audience and proceeded to play pretty much all of ‘Low’, which turned the show into a 30-track epic by the end of the evening!

The concert was being filmed, and ‘Everyone Says Hi’ was performed twice in the first encore for that very reason. Perhaps that’s why fans were treated to ‘Low’ too.

Whatever, by all accounts it was a special evening, possibly made even more special by David’s Stylophone re-working of ‘Do-re-mi’ from ‘The Sound Of Music’ soundtrack at the end of ‘Slip Away’. Who knows where this may end? ‘Sixteen Going On Seventeen’ in France tomorrow perhaps? Or maybe ‘Edelweiss’ in Italy and ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ in Switzerland. Apparently Gerry Leonard also complied with David’s wishes for him to perform a little jig from Riverdance!

Mr Bowie wore the ensemble in the live shot above for the entire show, and he performed the following popular tunes from his catalogue:

Life On Mars?
Ashes To Ashes
Cactus
Slip Away
Starman
China Girl
I Would Be Your Slave
I?ve Been Waiting For You
Changes
Stay
Fame
I?m Afraid of Americans
5:15 The Angels Have Gone
“Heroes”
Heathen (The Rays)
——————–
Everyone Says Hi
Hallo Spaceboy
Let’s Dance
Everyone Says Hi
Ziggy Stardust
——————–
Warszawa
Speed Of Life
Breaking Glass
What In The World
Sound And Vision
Art Decade
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Be My Wife
A New Career In A New Town
Subterraneans

Click on the poster above to take you to a German review of the show with a couple more pictures. Thanx again to SusanS for her breathless messages on my mobile at the end of each show, and indeed to all of the BowieNutters following Bowie around Europe right now. What a wonderful bunch of loonies you are!

*The first person to tell me what Bowie recording this is from gets another silly random prize!

I’m changing time

Meltdown : The Telegraph : 07/03/02

David’s performance at Meltdown was the subject of an additional review in The Telegraph, from a journalist who is also a lifelong fan – Sarah Crompton. Here are a couple of extracts:-

“…… this year he released Heathen, … a work in which he has somehow found a way to unite the man he once was with the person he is, to tap back into the wellsprings of his creativity and, in a manner both moving and uplifting, pull out songs that linger in the memory.”

“It struck me that, once again, as he has so many times in his career, he was setting a new pattern for other rock idols to follow. …. Like great painters, they can find a way to refine a work to its essence, to make the product of their age as burnished as the songs of their youth; to combine innocence and experience and still be heroes.”

Meltdown : The Telegraph : 07/04/02

Also in The Telegraph, this time from Neil McCormick, a story about some of the well-known names backstage at Meltdown, and their take on the events of the evening.

Brian Eno:- “It was actually quite bizarre, sitting in the audience hearing all those sounds and arrangements we created being so immaculately replicated by other musicians.”

Bono:- “Back in the Seventies, it was something strange and alien, this harsh, cold, Teutonic sound.” Tonight everyone was singing along. It sounded like pop music.”

Kylie:- “I’ve never actually heard it before. When did it come out? Well, I was only nine! Its not the kind of thing we were singing in the playground in Melbourne!”

Aladdin Sane : Usa Today : 07/01/02

As part of the Absolut Album Covers campaign – ” a salute to the artists whose designs have left an indelible mark on music” – Rob O’Connor, founder and creative director of London-based design agency Stylorouge, talks about the design process for the cover of Aladdin Sane. Click here to listen and to view some rather nifty Flash 6 animation.

and..

There are quite a number of reviews online covering the other performers at Meltdown, more of which from Blammo later. Here are a couple of links and quotes to whet your appetite.

Meltdown (Mercury Rev) : The Independent : 07/02/02

“Masterfully constructed, the show astonishes because the band can continually scale new peaks…. Goddess on a Hiway” is like a Chuck Berry car-driving song as remodelled by Philip K Dick, stretching out into a sensurround rhapsody. “Opus 40″ glories in subterranean explosions and wired-to-the-moon pyrotechnics, Donahue crouched down, tearing several shades of destruction from his guitar, while the predatory bass, drums and keyboards hover as if waiting for the kill.”

Meltdown (Television/Luke Haines) : The Independent : 06/24/02

From the pulsating brilliance of “Little Johnny Jewel” to the adrenaline rush of “See No Evil”, they are as beguiling as ever. “Marquee Moon”, with its rippling, free-form jazz-style wig-out, is quite exceptional. This was a rare appearance from a rarely talented band ? we should treasure them while we can.”

:))

The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We’re Gonna Have a Party…

The media here in the UK have given David Bowie’s performance at the Move Festival in Manchester on Wednesday a big thumbs up…Here follows some excerpts from reviews in today’s Daily Star, The Manchester Evening News and NME online:

Daily Star – By Amy Watts, with a headline of “BOWIE’S MAGICAL MOVE”

“The sun came out for David Bowie’s performance at the first ever Move festival – and he responded with a sparkling gig in Manchester to go with the rare sunbeams…Even after more than 30 years in the business, the hits were pitch perfect, from the anthemic Starman to funky versions of China Girl and Let’s Dance…Bowie rounded off the show with one of the most famous tracks in history, Ziggy Stardust. And the crowd went wild. If Bowie ever gets bored with belting it out after all these years in the business, he certainly hides it well.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Manchester Evening News – By Sarah Hughes, with a headline of “A GLORIOUS REIGN”

“As DAVID BOWIE strode on stage, the torrential rain stopped and the clouds parted to let him show why he is one of the greatest rock stars on Earth….Few have ever had as much effortless charisma and he wowed even the most sodden members of the crowd at the Lancashire County Cricket Ground with the headline show on the first day at the Move festival.

Looking unnaturally (and some might say unfairly) good for his age, Bowie, now 55, whipped the capacity audience into a frenzy, dipping in and out of his new album Heathen while finding time for the sort of greatest hits show most acts would be lucky to dream of.

…not only can Bowie reduce an audience to a quivering mass of hero worship, it seems he can also control the weather: Support act Suede turned in a tight, adrenaline-driven set, in a torrential downpour: But as soon as Bowie arrived on stage, the downpour stopped…

Bowie effortlessly dipped in and out of his extensive back catalogue from Ashes To Ashes to Let’s Dance by way of Fame, Heroes, Starman and even a taut, menacing version of I’m Afraid of Americans, which sounded strangely apt although he was swift to point out his band were largely from the US.

As the hits kept coming, there was an overwhelming sense that Bowie is now more relaxed than he has been for years. Ever the actor; he played to the crowd, hamming it up at times and grinning and cracking jokes between hits. The voice, of course, was as glorious and theatrical as ever…”

——————————————————————————————————————————

NME.COM – with a headline of “BOWIE ‘MOVE’S MANCHESTER!”

“DAVID BOWIE wowed fans and stars at the first night of the NME-sponsored ‘MOVE’ festival in MANCHESTER last night (July 10). The show, at Lancashire County Cricket Club, saw John Lydon, Badly Drawn Boy and Tim Burgess of The Charlatans brave the elements to witness the legend?s only outdoor UK show of the year, alongside Suede, The Divine Comedy, the Electric Soft Parade and the Real People.

Bowie?s set drew heavily on new album ?Heathen?, which saw him reunited with Tony Visconti, producer of seminal albums ?Low? and ?Scary Monsters And Super Creeps?. However, he also echoed his 2000 Glastonbury appearance, opening with crowd favourite ?Life On Mars?? and incorporating ?Starman?, ?Heroes? and ?Changes?.

A stripped-down Divine Comedy were notable for a cover version of ?Planet Of Sound? by the Pixies ? the first of the day?s tributes, as Bowie played a reworking of ?Cactus?.”

Me I’m on a radio show…

Mick Rock is the guest of Bowie-loving (not in a man-love sense) Jonathan Ross this morning. You can tune in to Radio 2 online by going here. Jonathan’s other guests are lead singer of A-Ha Morten Harket and bloody funny comedian Vic Reeves. Stay tuned to BNet News for loads more Mick Rock stuff shortly.

Can turn around no (kiss-kiss)

OK, remember that quick little competition we set in yesterday’s news? Well, here are the winners. ziggy1972@davidbowie.com wins something nice for being the first to tell us that the picture we posted was of David and Iman attending the annual summer party at the Sepentine Gallery in London’s Hyde Park, on July 9th 2002.

And, despite the fact that most of the suggestions were price tag based, we have three winners for the caption part of the competition too. Ysengrin@davidbowie.com earnt herself a prize for the very clever image above, while Mask@davidbowie.com gets some sort of bovine voucher for supplying the original idea for the image below.

Mask sent in the image of a sailor kissing a girl taken in New York in 1945 by Alfred Eisenstaedt and entitled “Kissing the war goodbye”. It’s a famous poster print these days (click on the image to see the original)…well we’ve turned our image to black and white and subtly changed the caption to “Kissing the tour goodbye”…I think it works!

Finally we have awarded a fourth prize to justinsohl@davidbowie.com for the simplicity of the caption: “The Iman Who Fell To Earth”…simple but clever and funny, not unlike myself! };-)

Anyway, if the four of you would each send your name and address to me at TotalBlamBlam@DavidBowie.com with a subject line of “David and Iman winner”, we’ll post you your prizes as soon as we’ve decided what they are!

Due to all the system upgrades and maintenance, we have decided to post the winners on the site without having an email confirmation. The new BowieNet email system still is being tweaked up, and we wanted to make sure that all the winners were notified.

SO —

Without further adieu, we proudly announce the winners for the Nimes Arena show in Nimes, France.

We are hoping that all the winners are able to attend. If you are able to attend simply show up at the venue with some form of ID.

Click here to see the list of winners for NIMES

Move On…

It was looking very much like rain was going to stop play during the first day of The Move Festival at Lancashire County Cricket Club ground in Manchester today. But the music triumphed and we all had a jolly wonderful time. I’m just back from Manchester, and frankly, after only two hours sleep the night before…I’m knackered. So I’ll post a few pix and the setlist for tonight, and I’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Here are the songs from David’s stunning performance at day one of The Move Festival:

Life On Mars?
Ashes To Ashes
Cactus
Slip Away
Starman
China Girl
I Would Be Your Slave
I?ve Been Waiting For You
Changes
Stay
Fame
I?m Afraid of Americans
5.15 The Angels Have Gone
“Heroes”
Heathen (The Rays)
——————–
Everyone Says Hi
Hallo Spaceboy
Let’s Dance
Ziggy Stardust

Earlier in the day, David stopped by Radio 1’s Mark ‘n Lard show for a quick chat and to play a few records in celebration of Lard’s birthday…a bit! It was all frightfully funny, and I can’t wait to hear a tape of what was broadcast.

I’ll leave you with a final backstage shot at Move of David with, (from left to right) Pinky and Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, and Brett Anderson of Suede, all of whom enjoyed brilliant performances of their own. More of which later.

And I looked and frowned and the film star was me…

As promised by the outrageously talented Mark Plati yesterday, here are a couple of pix from Sunday night’s show at the Seat Beach Rock 2002 festival in Belgium. The picture of David and the whole band above was taken just before showtime, which, apart from onstage, is probably one of the only times you can get ’em all in the same place at the same time!

The shot above of David onstage was taken by Mark himself during the first song of the evening, ‘Life On Mars?’, and very nice it is too. Speaking of Mr Plati, while introducing the band in Belgium, David referred to the hairy-faced one as Mark ‘Serpico’ Plati. I’m sure most of you know Serpico as the 1973 Al Pacino film of the same name, but I’m not sure I can see what David is getting at…can you? };-)

Click on any of the images above to take you to the Studio Brussel website where you can view more pictures from the show.

Due to all the system upgrades and maintenance, we have decided to post the winners on the site without having an email confirmation. The new BowieNet email system still is being tweaked up, and we wanted to make sure that all the winners were notified.

SO —

Without further adieu, we proudly announce the winners for the Stravinski Auditorium show in Montreux, Switzerland.

We are hoping that all the winners are able to attend. If you are able to attend simply show up at the venue with some form of ID.

MONTREUX

MANCHESTER

NORWAY

DENMARK

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