Month: August 2003

I’ll say “Don’t ask me…”

I think the majority of you may have stumbled across this one on the new splash page already, but just in case, here it is for those of you that haven’t:

Ever wanted to ask David Bowie a question and then get an answer in real time? No it’s not a web chat, it’s something much more than that, and in true Bowie style it’s something that’s never been done before.

As you all know, on September 8th David is playing an invite only live show in London that is being beamed out to cinemas the world over, so far so good, right? Well, that’s only part of it, as a handful of very lucky people are going to get the opportunity to ask David a question from the cinema they are in, and then, (via the magic of technology) David will answer the question personally, except he’ll be on the screen and 20 feet tall!

All you’ve got to do is fill in what cinema you will be at and a couple of other details, and then just ask away. The best questions will then get asked live on September 8th. So get writing, and remember you’re more likely to get chosen if you ask an interesting and original question. Click on the image above to take part, or go here.

While we’re on the subject of this show, BowieNet members should stay tuned for the first of our ticket give-aways later today. But, don’t panic if you’re not able to join in today, there will be several chances to win tickets here on BowieNet over the coming week.

Now that I’ve really got a chance…

OK, I’ll keep this one as simple as possible, as I’m sure you’re all far too anxious to put up with my usual waffle. This is the first of our exclusive BowieNet give-aways for the September 8th show at the Riverside Studio in Hammersmith that we told you about last week. (08/17/03 NEWS: HAMMERSMITH SHOW TICKET CONTEST NEXT WEEK)

Please read carefully before entering, as this give-away is not being done on a first-come-first-served basis. Don’t panic, you do not stand a better chance of winning by being the fastest to send in an entry. In fact, I have noticed that The Random Generator has never yet chosen the first entry, so slow down and double-check the rules before you hit send. I know it’s dull, but it’s a necessary evil I’m afraid.

We plan to give away fifty places every other day, and we have somewhere between 250 and 300 places to fill. (We’ll tell you the exact amount as soon as we know it.) We’ll announce fifty winners every other day too. In other words, first give-away today, first fifty winners announced tomorrow, second give-away Saturday, second batch of fifty winners announced Sunday… and so on.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a free place at this incredible event is e-mail me… but not yet, read these rules first:

You must be absolutely certain you can attend on September 8th before entering this give-away. You may jeopardise your chances in future contests if you just don’t turn up on the day.

You must enter using your BowieNet account. If for some reason this is impossible for you, you must supply the reason you can’t use your account and you must also supply your user name. We will check that each winner has a genuine BowieNet account.

You must supply your real name and address for identification purposes on the day, and a contact telephone number. The more information you supply, the easier it will be for us to contact you in an emergency. (In other words, give us your mobile number so we can ask where the hell you are on the day!)

Only one entry per member. Each successful winner will receive only one place at the event.

Once you have won a place, you may not try for another. If you do try for another place once you have already won, you could be disqualified altogether. If, however, you are unsuccessful, you may try again on the next give-away. In a worst-case scenario of just 250 places, we will have five give-away days.

You must be sure to have the right subject line in your e-mail for that day. For example, today’s give-away is “September 8th – Give-Away One”. Because of the large volume of e-mails I will receive for this event, the system is automated and e-mails will be delivered to the appropriate inbox. So if you send an e-mail with a subject of “September 8th – Give-Away One” when “September 8th – Give-Away Two” is current, your entry won’t even be entered.

Each give-away ends at 10:00am UK time the morning after it is announced, and the fifty winners of that particular give-away will be announced at midday that day. In other words, this give-away ends tomorrow (Friday) at 10:00am, and the first fifty winners will be announced two hours later at 12:00 noon here on the news pages.

So much for not waffling…

OK, for your first chance, e-mail me now at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of “September 8th – Give-Away One”. And don’t forget to include the aforementioned information. I genuinely wish you all the very best of luck!

I opened my eyes and I saw you…

Boy do we spoil you… We have another video-montage compiled from footage from the BowieNet rehearsal studio spy-on-the-wall. It’s an even longer treat this time, and apart from some more jolly banter, there are snippets from three songs.

I’ve pasted anagrams of all three below, so you can either puzzle on those for a short while, or ignore my silliness and go straight to the action by clicking on the image above.

01 Evensong 5: ale hag 15
02 Mystery oboe sum
03 Grail chin

You still here? Go watch the vid, you silly thing!

Calling Sister Midnight, You know I had a dream last night…

As promised in last night’s news piece, here are some more pictures from David’s triumphant BowieNet show at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. I’ve used them to punctuate a review from Poughkeepsie Journal. Com.

All pictures were taken by our good friend Kevin Mazur over at WireImage.com, and apart from the shot from rehearsals above, all of these stunning shots were taken during the show. I’ve posted a couple more for BowieNet members on the MBs too.

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Rocker Bowie lights up stage – By John W. Barry – Poughkeepsie Journal

The crowd of roughly 600 crept into The Chance like lava after waiting patiently outside, some for nearly two hours.

Once inside, they remained calm and subdued, unlike a typical Chance crowd, until a single stage light flickered off, then back on. Everyone stirred.

But it was the closing of a red curtain — large enough to cover a small truck and draped behind the stage — that lit everyone like a fuse.

And they exploded when David Bowie sauntered onto the stage just after 8 p.m., in gray denim jacket and pants, black leather biker boots, black T-shirt and brown leather belt.

”You look good,” a talkative Bowie told the crowd. ”I know all of you.”

Neither the crowd nor Bowie let up Tuesday night at the small Poughkeepsie nightclub during his exclusive concert for members of his Internet fan club, Bowienet. Those in the crowd who didn’t wave their arms or grope his leg when he wandered to the edge of the stage were screaming like Beatles fans at Shea Stadium.

”I think he’s brilliant,” said Richard Roberts, a native of Hackney, England, who is visiting New York for the summer and bought his $45 ticket for $150 on eBay. ”He could do anything and it would be fantastic.”

Garnering the largest cheer during the band introduction was bass player and Kingston resident Gail Ann Dorsey, who wore a torn fringe skirt and black combat boots with orange laces.

Bowie played a 12-song set followed by a six-song encore that all together lasted about 90 minutes. The night belonged to many new songs that Bowie played from his soon-to-be-released CD, ”Reality.” These fresh tunes rocked hard on solid legs.

But the classics stole the show. The crowd erupted when Bowie, on darkened stage except for white spotlight on his face, belted out ”Wham, bam, thank you Ma’am” during ”Suffragette City.”

”I can’t imagine I would ever see him in a place this small,” said Jim Livecchi, who flew from Columbus, Ohio, just for the concert. ”He’s just a cool guy.”

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So there you have it. See yesterday’s story for the full setlist, and to read LizSK2’s excellent review, if you haven’t already. As if anticipation for the forthcoming Reality tour wasn’t already high enough… I – A M – E X C I T E D!

Can’t we give ourselves one more Chance…

We have literally just been told that BowieNet has been allocated another batch of tickets for the BowieNet warm-up show at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, New York, tomorrow night.

The show had originally sold out moments after it went on sale a couple of weeks ago, (08/04/03 NEWS: BOWIENET WARM-UP SHOW AT THE CHANCE IN POUGHKEEPSIE) but now there’s an extra chance for some of you that were unsuccessful the first time around, but that can still make it to the show in time tomorrow.

As we pointed out in that original story, this is in effect a BowieNet show, as the tickets are only available to BowieNet members. The show is general admission, and tickets are limited to two per member at $45 each. These few remaining tickets will be available as Will Call only.

These extra tickets are on sale now, and you can purchase yours by clicking on the image above, or by going here.

I’ve not been so consumed with envy since my neighbour got a talking Action Man with realistic hair!… you lucky %$*&!!!!

Although I wasn’t there…

As promised by David on the MBs over the weekend, here’s a short video-montage of a couple of songs from the current tour rehearsals. This is just a tiny taster of what the lucky BowieNetters attending tomorrow night’s show at Ploughkeepsie will be getting… and what a delicious taste it is.

Without giving anything away, it’s also great to see that Gail has finally persuaded David to perform the second of the two songs in this montage. But, if you need a hand with the words on this particular song David, you know who not to come to!

For those of you that haven’t already, click on the screen grab above for a glimpse into the private world of David Bowie rehearsals via the all-seeing eye of the BowieNet spy-on-the-wall.

It’s the rain before the storm…

David Bowie stormed through a high-octane set of both new and old songs at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie tonight… a set that included a couple of completely unexpected, but most welcome surprises.

As you know, the line-up of musicians was essentially the same as the Heathen tour, (but minus Mark Plati) and apparently “the band rocked big time”, as the more excitable among us would say.

David himself played guitar (the Supro, a big body 6 string Gibson… and possibly a white Gretsch, but probably not!) and harmonica, and was in jovial mood, even making jokey references to yours truly being stuck here in London! Cheeky sod.

I’ve only communicated with women who attended the show so far (thanx LizSK2, H2 and Susans) so as you can imagine, David apparently looked very fit and most hot indeed… as witnessed in Helen’s pic above.

Anyway, I’ll stop waffling (seeing as I wasn’t even there) and I’ll leave you with the set list plus a little review from a very happy LizSK2:

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

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Fantastic Voyage
Never Get Old
The Man Who Sold The World
Rebel Rebel
Hang On To Yourself
Heathen (The Rays)

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DAVID BOWIE AT THE CHANCE THEATER, POUGHKEEPSIE, NY: AUGUST 19TH 2003

Tonight a man changed my life. Not for the first time or the last but it was a watershed moment. I’d only ever seen db in stadiums or upstairs at Hammy. This was worlds away. I could not believe the size of the venue. It was tantamount to him playing in your living room!

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 a frenzy, was thrilling and I felt honoured to be part of it.

So when the lights dimmed and a shock of blond hair atop the greatest artist in the world appeared at the back of the stage I knew we were in for a night to remember.

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 which really does rock quite hard, as someone may have said. 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) which were 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 David. 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. A hit!

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 quite wonderful version of Iggy’s Sister Midnight, followed by a great rendition of I’m Afraid of Americans.

The crowd, packed into this tiny theater, were hot and sweaty throughout, gasping for air. David made some hilarious references to Blammo not being there, giggling about Blam stuck in London and even did an impersonation of the possible whinging “Bloody BowieNet, no f***ing fringe benefits, I’m stuck in London!”. And since we all know Mr Blam it was roundly applauded. “See Blammo, I know how to cut corners don’t I?”!

I have never jumped and sang and hollered as loud in my life. You can never go back once you’ve been to a show of this size. Waiting outside the venue beforethe show. the band, then David, arrived and waved. Then David came out and talked to us with the considerable charm we all know he has in spades. 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.

The MB Scrooge’s will hate this but 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. Buff isn’t enough of a word. The piercing screams of the teens behind me attested to that. Every so often Helen (breakingglass), Emily, cartal and Pretty Thing (whose hand David held during a song, to her delight) would turn to me and each other and mouth silent ‘OMG’s’ because we just could not believe how incredible he looked.

The mood was so frenzied at least 5 of us (including me) started grabbing his calf during Never Get Old and almost pulled him offstage! 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 you. See you on the road!

Liz Tray

PS – Love and thanks must go to the wonderful Dickmac (and Mrs Mac) and Luis for the generosity and hospitality I’ve come to know all New Yorkers by. Thanks L, for the ticket and for letting me win at pool. Thanks Dick, for putting me up and putting up with me 🙂

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Thanx again to LizSK2 and Helen2 for the review and pix respectively… and to Susans for confirming the setlist. We’ll hopefully have more pictures tomorrow, and anything else of interest relating to tonight’s show. Roll on September the 8th!

All you’ve got to do is win…

The exclusive BowieNet contest for tickets for David’s concert at Riverside Studio, Hammersmith, in London on Monday 8th September 2003, will begin sometime around the middle of next week.

As you all know by now, this groundbreaking event will be broadcast live to cinemas around the globe, but only BowieNet members will be able to enter this contest to win tickets to the actual live, and most intimate, performance in Hammersmith.

The contest will most likely be a simple names-in-the-hat random draw that will take place over a few days, with just one ticket for each winning member. This seems to be the fairest way to give everybody a chance of winning, regardless of age, Bowie knowledge, years of service, and anything else that some may consider an unfair advantage.

These details are only being posted in the member section of BowieNet for obvious reasons.

Nevertheless, I look forward to the familiar flurry of activity from the usual suspects on the MBs, who will no doubt find all of the problems with this system, that I may have somehow overlooked. };-)

Ch ch ch ch changes…

Last week we told you about our ticket collection scheme to take place this coming Tuesday in London. (08/14/03 NEWS: REALITY TOUR EARLY MEMBERS-ONLY TICKET PICK UP)

Well, there’s no change there, apart from the fact that one of the knock on effects of the US power problems of the last couple of days, is that not all of the tickets have been produced in time for Tuesday’s collection service.

Those of you affected by this change will shortly receive an e-mail outlining the changes below, but just in case you don’t, here’s the info again…

Tickets for the following shows WILL NOT be available for personal collection on Tuesday:

Paris
Lyon
Amnesville
Toulouse
Vienna
Helsinki
Hamburg
Frankfurt
Stuttgart
Munich
Koln
Hannover
Berlin
Dublin
Milan

Don’t worry, tickets that aren’t collected will be dispatched in good time for the shows, as originally planned. If in doubt, don’t show on Tuesday and you’ll get your tickets in the mail just the same.

For those of you still planning to collect, please refer back to the aforementioned story for what you need to do before you can pick up your tickets.

Tickets for the following shows WILL be available for personal collection on Tuesday:

London (two shows)
Manchester
Birmingham (two shows)
Glasgow
Marseille
Nice
Lille
Stockholm
Antwerp
Rotterdam
Oslo
Copenhagen

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused some of you, but please don’t blame us, blame the guy who forget to put a dollar in the electric meter! };-)