We’re painting our faces and dressing in thoughts from the skies, from paradise…
Well, it seems things have come on a bit since David Bowie had his life threatened in Texas, around 35 years ago, for wearing a dress. A man’s dress at that!
There was no such hostility shown to our man at the The Backyard in Austin, Texas, last night. Indeed, this was one of the more up-for-it crowds of David Bowie’s A Reality Tour so far, with many dressing up in their satin and tat especially for the show
Don’t take my word for it, apart from the shot above, BowieNetter Saxonny confirms the fact in her “drunken Austin review” sent in via IM in the early hours of this morning:
Oh man. I am gonna regret this much booze and smoke in the morning. But hell! …The Backyard was very reminiscent of Poughkeepsie…a place with allotta history and allotta…wear and tear on it. It was like going to see the mud show at the Renaissance festival; the main section of the venue for the audience was a giant dirt pit. It was an outdoor show as well, so no screens, no WOO HA lighting, it was all very broken down to the essentials…again, why I was reminded of Poughkeepsie.
This has got to be the HIPPEST audience I have been in yet. Cesar & I dubbed it the audience of “uber-hip teenagers who wanted to screw Bowie” (boys and girls included) It was really incredibly cool; lots of glitter and vintage clothing and alternative hair colors. Old stuff, new stuff, it didn’t matter what Bowie played, the audience was totally into it, totally rocking out where they stood.
I heard (the?) Supermen for the first time on tour, well done theeeeeeeere. There was also Quicksand, and Sunday smoothing into Heathen, Slipaway with the Spree (which worked SO WELL) and Modern Love. Slipaway was just….amazing. Houston is the Spree’s last gig on the tour, so if you’re going to those shows, lookout for the song. It looks like the final number for Hair. Absolutely eccentric.
For those that are DYING for it, here are the details:
Coat: Plum velvet/velour
T-Shirt: Black
Jeans: Tight
Belt: Floppy
Garson: shirt and jacket kinda reminding me of Reeves Gabrels and I don’t even know who that is.
Spooky Ghost: needs a haircut
Number of times he licked his lips: 3.41
Number of times he crowd surfed: you wish
General Admission gigs rock.
Heh heh… Great stuff Sax. You should write more drunk! BowieNet members can check out another dozen or so of Erik’s brilliant shots (this guy just keeps getting better) by clicking on any of the three Aladdin Sane flashes in the pic above.
Here’s the officially-confirmed 27-song setlist sent in by the ever-reliable HNB. I’ll hopefully be bringing you a handful of short films Nick has made while on the road. But be warned. What these records of derring-do lack in professionalism they make up for in sheer life-affirming edge-of-the-seat excitement.
Austin April 27th 2004
01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Battle For Britain (The Letter)
04 Cactus
05 Fashion
06 All The Young Dudes
07 China Girl
08 Modern Love
09 Fame
10 The Loneliest Guy
11 The Man Who Sold The World
12 Hallo Spaceboy
13 Sunday
14 Heathen (The Rays)
15 Under Pressure
16 Days
17 The Supermen
18 Reality
19 Ashes To Ashes
20 Quicksand
21 I?m Afraid Of Americans
22 “Heroes”
(Encore)
23 Slip Away (With The Polyphonic Spree)
24 Hang On To Yourself
25 Five Years
26 Suffragette City
27 Ziggy Stardust
A Reality Tour continues tomorrow at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas.