photo: Debra Rothenberg :: Daily News
Here is a round-up of some local press from the area2 tour:
DAILY NEWS
” David Bowie has been putting on some of the best shows of his recent career. He began with an intimate take on ‘Life on Mars’ and then moved into an 85-minute set that elegantle fused classics with contemporary work.
A cover of the Pixies ‘Cactus’ and the lament ‘Slip Away’ are the best songs from his new album ‘Heathen.’ They sounded strong, even next to a loungy ‘Changes’ and commanding versions of ‘Heroes’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’… ”
COURIER POST ONLINE
” …nostalgia is hardly Bowie’s bag…
All seven of the new tunes were uniformly strong and interesting. Bowie – always one of rock’s great band leaders – guided his seven-piece group through a variety of pop styles from the T Rex-style boogie of “Cactus,” to the atmospheric-but-catchy “I Would Be Your Slave,” to the frothy “Everyone Says `Hi’.”
As warmly received as the new material was, it didn’t come close to the crowd-pleasing properties of the evening’s more vintage material, which included a typically heartfelt “Heroes,” a snappy “Ashes to Ashes” propelled by a particularly funky bass line, and a version of “Fame” whose groove was so deep it probably could have been used to rescue those Pennsylvania miners.
However, these all paled beside the songs that bookended the 15-song set. Bowie opened the program with a powerful reading of 1971’s “Life on Mars.” He exited with a galvanizing “Ziggy Stardust” that provided one of the more potent in-concert moments in recent memory.
In addition to the ensemble work of the band, the performance was enhanced by some of the best live vocal work Bowie has delivered in years. He seems to have found his way back to slightly higher registers; the icy edge that informed his earlier style was frequently employed to great effect.
In addition, Bowie seemed delighted to the point of giddiness to be back in the market that was the first outside of London to embrace him in 1972. At one point, he even joked he was “born in Philadelphia … you can tell by my accent.”
In all, a return to form by one of the all-time greats. “
” The compare-and-contrast early acts set the mood for the headliners: David Bowie, rock’s original chameleon, and space-age whiz kid Moby, who bounced around his multilevel stage much as he bounced from clattering electronica to howling Delta blues.
Bowie, in a black suit and white shirt, looking every bit the Thin White Duke of the mid-’70s, played a dignified career-spanning set that was a crash course for the unsuspecting ravers. His voice was as steely and sinuous as ever, even when taking things down an octave on the show-opening “Life on Mars” and a taut “Ashes to Ashes.” He played seven songs from his new Heathen album; “5:15” with its romantic waves of harmony, and the elegiac “Slip Away” both echoed the spirit of his ’70s glory days.
His guitar foil, the well-preserved Earl Slick, breathed searing fire into a rearranged “Let’s Dance” and set-closing “Ziggy Stardust.” Bowie has avoided both songs in recent years, yet they represent two of the legendary performer’s strongest suits: suave soul and preening glitter-rock.
Only an artist with Moby’s unforced verve and try-anything-once approach to music could follow a performer like Bowie and not look like a chump. Pogoing from guitar to keyboards to congas to turntables, Moby presented a masterful summation of everything the crowd had witnessed earlier.”