Month: October 2003

A shot of the intro animation from last night’s show. Actually it’s from Paris, but who could ever tell?

She couldn’t sail but she sure could sing…

David Bowie’s A Reality Tour reached Stuttgart’s Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle in Germany last night. The main set was almost identical to the previous show in Zurich, but with the addition of She’ll Drive The Big Car, which, by all accounts had a new acoustic intro. Slip Away was omitted from the encore.

David was in fine voice and typically playful mood, announcing that he only intended to play a fifteen-minute set, and then counting down to announce the remaining time after each song, finally announcing the last song early on in the set… he’s such a wag.

Susans informs me that the sexual energy was at the usual high levels too, with David simulating some kind of intimate activity with the microphone stand. This behaviour sent the poor girl (and no doubt countless others) into spasms of delight, seeing as how she was close enough to identify the fact that he was wearing Calvin Klein grundies!

Anyway, here’s the full 24-song set list:

Stuttgart October 26th 2003

01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Fame
04 Cactus
05 China Girl
06 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
07 Hallo Spaceboy
08 Sunday
09 Under Pressure
10 Ashes To Ashes
11 Fashion
12 Never Get Old
13 The Motel
14 5:15 The Angels Have Gone
15 Loving The Alien
16 She’ll Drive The Big Car
17 I’m Afraid Of Americans
18 “Heroes”
19 Heathen (The Rays)

(Encore)
20 Bring Me The Disco King
21 Changes
22 Let’s Dance
23 Suffragette City
24 Ziggy Stardust

Stay tuned for a special treat from last night’s gig, and if you’re going to tonight’s show in Munich, as ever, please feel free to send in any reports, pix etc.

I’m living in a silent film… (Not entirely accurate)

We promised “more gems”, and today’s offering (from a solo Anthony this time) is nothing short of brilliant. There truly are some priceless moments in this five-minute short.

Laugh with David and the band as he attempts to show off his impressive handful of nonsensical Italian phrases… melt at the sight of enraptured, beautiful young fans caught in a moment of sheer ecstasy… experience stirrings down below as David does that thrusty thing on stage… and feel the sharp stab of envy because it wasn’t you behind the camera!

Click on your preferred link from the options below, and marvel at the wonders of today’s technology as I tell you that there is yet more to come.

Bella Milano – David brushes up on his Italian in Milan
REAL: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]
WINDOWS: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]

Secret secrets never seen

While we’re waiting for the completion of the Virtual Reality Ticket doo dah thing we told you about recently, we thought you might enjoy a couple of little films made by our on-the-road video diarists, Ant and Jake. You may have seen the boys darting around at some of the recent shows, armed with cameras, questions and two pairs of good eyes.

Anyway, Ant and Jake have made a magnificent job of capturing a few of the more candid moments you wouldn’t normally be privy to… you know the kind of thing, David vacuuming and doing the washing up, taking a shower and getting dressed for work… well, not exactly those things actually, but you know what I mean.

The first fruit of their labour is a teasingly short film from the backstage area of last week’s Harald Schmidt taping in Cologne, which you can view by clicking on the link of your choice below:

Bowie @ Harald Schmidt
REAL: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]
WINDOWS: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]

There’s much, much, more where that came from… so stay tuned tomorrow for another short that I’m certain will tickle your fancy.

Welcome to Reality… (again)

There are lots of Reality-related releases on the horizon, all high-lighted in this handy cut-out-and-keep guide.

Extra bonus for Tour Edition of Reality

David Bowie’s rendition of the Kinks‘ Waterloo Sunset has now been added to the Reality Tour Edition as a bonus track on disc one. The Tour Edition is the version with the Bonus DVD of the live performance of Reality that we told you about a couple of weeks back. (10/14/03 NEWS: SPECIAL DVD EDITION OF REALITY DUE NEXT MONTH) This release will be released in Europe on November 17th.

Online download and German 3″ CD single

Those of you that prefer to purchase music the modern way, will be pleased to learn that Never Get Old and Waterloo Sunset will be offered for purchase as downloadable files at some point. However, any old-fashioned gits, like me, who prefer a tangible product in their hands, will be gladdened to hear that the two track single will be made available as a limited edition 3″ CD release in Germany for one week only… release date TBC.

Tony Visconti talks about North American 5:1 mix of Reality on new Sony hybrid disc format

Columbia have also announced their intention to release Reality on the brand new Sony hybrid disc format in North America on November 25th. The new Reality disc is part of an industry wide campaign which features approximately fifteen titles by other artists.

This hybrid disc format comes as a double-sided disc which will include the stereo mix of Reality on side one, while side two will feature the 5:1 surround-sound mix of Reality, plus a Bowie Biography, a photo gallery, lyrics, and the Steven Lippman film that the Reality EPK was taken from. Tony Visconti has very kindly explained the process for us once again:

Okay, about the 5.1 mix. It’s f***ing amazing! No, I guess you can’t put that. (Yes we can Tony, open-minded lot are BowieNetters, with some of the foulest mouths on the planet and a very sweary hero to boot!)

Well, like Heathen I wrapped the instruments around the listener and put David stage center for most of the mixes. In 5.1 you can hear every part more distinctly, including heavy breathing from David. With 5.1 mixes I tend to walk around the room rather than sit in one ‘sweet spot.’ This can give you an ever changing perspective of the music.

The mixes were done by myself and Hector Castillo, who assisted me on the Heathen mixes. We were assisted by engineer Mario McNulty who was on Reality from ‘day one’ and even played some percussion on the new CD. The 5.1 is on the new Sony hybrid disc and it also contains the stereo mixes in high definition SACD format and regular 16-bit CD format.

The delay in getting this version released was because the hybrid disc is brand new technology. In other words you can buy this even if you don’t have an SACD player, because it will play on normal CD players and boom boxes (unlike former SACD 5.1 releases, such as Heathen). But the 5.1 will spring to life if and when you upgrade your CD/DVD player in the future. Oh yes, virtually all SACD players can also play DVDs, as well as normal music CDs.

Thanx for clearing that one up for us Tony. Can’t wait to hear that 5:1 mix.

He looks me in the eye and he says he?s got his mind on a countdown 3-2-1…

It seems that part two of this competition threw many of you, as I only received around a third of the entries for part two than I did for part one. With the news that there will not be an actual CD single for the UK now, (see story below) I guess this promo will become all the more collectable… so I’ll probably get more entries for this final part of the competition.

Of course, you’re only in with a chance of winning if you answer all three parts correctly.

Firstly, if this is the first time you’ve noticed this competition, check out last Sunday’s news and the original piece from a fortnight ago. (10/12/03 NEWS: WIN NEVER GET OLD 2-TRACK PROMO CD SINGLE)

I’m going to make this final part easily answerable for everyone, or at least for those that can be bothered to trawl through the BowieNet news, where the answer can be found:

How many times has David performed Never Get Old on his A Reality Tour, up to, and including, tonight’s show in Stuttgart, and starting from the Copenhagen show on the 7th, but not including any TV shows or the like?

Obviously you won’t be able to answer this final part until after tonight’s show, but once you’ve figured it out, send it to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of: NGO Part 3… Usual rules apply, if you can’t mail from your BowieNet account, you MUST supply your BowieNet user name, only one entry per member, etc.

The contest ends at midnight GMT on Saturday. Come back next Sunday for the announcement of the winners.

Watch that man! Oh honey, watch that man

We promised you more yesterday, and so, here’s the second instalment from Ant and Jake, a short film enigmatically entitled Bowie in Scandinavia. Select the link of your choice from those below:

Bowie in Scandinavia
REAL: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]
WINDOWS: [ LOW ] [ MED ] [ HI ]

We’ll be posting more of these gems in the very near future.

The Mirror will watch over you…

Today’s Daily Mirror here in the UK has a double-page spread and a fairly candid interview with David under the heading of: BOWIE – I’M HUNKY DORY and with a sub deck of: David Bowie tells ALUN PALMER how love finally chased his demons away.

Apart from the demon chasing, subjects covered include David’s touchingly romantic streak and his incredibly strong love for Iman. He also speaks of his fatherhood to both Lexi and Duncan, and darker times such as depression and the temptations of the past. Here’s a snippet regarding his mental state in the 80s:

The 80s were very strange for me. I lost all interest in what I was doing. I was doing exceptionally well commercially but I didn’t understand why I was enjoying none of it. I hated every minute of it and I lost every ounce of energy and enthusiasm for the deal. There were several times when I was really going to throw the towel in and give it up.

“Throw the towel in and give up…” I’m sure we’re all glad he snapped out of that one! Anyway, it’s a great read and you can check out the whole thing by clicking on the image above.

Oh no, not me…

I know many of you have been panicked by reports circulating that David Bowie is one of the artists performing at the Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town on November 29th in support of 46664 ? The Concert.

This story is not true, however the mistake has probably come about via a series of Chinese whispers, as David has indeed contributed an audio message for the 46664 event that will most likely be used as part of the telephone campaign.

Here’s a bit from the official www.46664.com site.

46664 was the prison number of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, Cape Town where he was held in captivity for 18 years.

Nelson Mandela gave his prison number 46664 to Dave Stewart of Eurythmics in November of last year who then asked the late Joe Strummer to write lyrics for a song that included the 46664 prison number. Stewart then completed the song with Bono earlier this year and the two of them recorded it as the first of a series of co-writes together for this campaign.

Further recording sessions began in March of this year when Stewart was joined by Queen?s Brian May and Roger Taylor in a studio in Cape Town to lay down tracks which would also see them working in collaboration with some of South Africa?s premiere musicians.

To date those who have committed to joining leading African artists include Anastacia, Angelique Kidjo, Baaba Maal, Beyonce, Bongo Maffin, Bono, Danny K, Eurythmics, Johnny Clegg & Sipho Mchunu, Ladysmith Black Mombaza, Ms Dynamite, Paul Oakenfold, Queen, Ready D, The Corrs, Watershed, Youssou N?Dour, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Zola and Zucchero.

46664 The CD and 46664 The DVD are planned for release early 2004. Proceeds will benefit the global fight against AIDS, and will encourage customers to join the global petition.

The 46664 campaign was conceived by Dave Stewart and put into place in partnership with the Mandela Foundation and Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen.

The above information is just a tiny part of a huge and very worthy campaign. You can find out much, much more by checking out www.46664.com now.

Switzerland, Switzerland… We’re gonna sail to Switzerland… And it’s far far, far far far, far far far away…*

David Bowie’s A Reality Tour stopped off at the Zurich Hallenstadion in Switzerland tonight. The main set was identical to the previous evening’s in Milan, but Disco King was reintroduced to the encore and Suffragette City was played in place of Hang On To Yourself.

Here follows the full 24 song set list supplied by David Bowie’s most efficient tour production team and cross-referenced for accuracy by BowieNetters Bianca and Simone, who were both at the show… Many thanx to you all for this most valuable of services.

Zurich October 24th 2003

01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Fame
04 Cactus
05 China Girl
06 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
07 Hallo Spaceboy
08 Sunday
09 Under Pressure
10 Ashes To Ashes
11 Fashion
12 Never Get Old
13 The Motel
14 5:15 The Angels Have Gone
15 Loving The Alien
16 I’m Afraid Of Americans
17 “Heroes”
18 Heathen (The Rays)

(Encore)
19 Bring Me The Disco King
20 Slip Away
21 Changes
22 Let’s Dance
23 Suffragette City
24 Ziggy Stardust

David has a well-deserved night off tomorrow, and then it’s on to Stuttgart for Sunday’s show.

*Yes, I know… they’re getting worse… And, in fact, you probably wouldn’t want to sail there… and it’s actually relatively close… but, apart from that, what have the Romans ever done for us?

A Milan dream*

David Bowie played the one and only Italian concert of his A Reality Tour tonight, at the Palazzetto Dello Sport FilaForum in Assago, Milan. The evening featured a familiar set of 23 songs that kicked off with Rebel Rebel for the first time, and it went something like this:

Milan October 23rd 2003

01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Fame
04 Cactus
05 China Girl
06 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
07 Hallo Spaceboy
08 Sunday
09 Under Pressure
10 Ashes To Ashes
11 Fashion
12 Never Get Old
13 The Motel
14 5:15 The Angels Have Gone
15 Loving The Alien
16 I’m Afraid Of Americans
17 “Heroes”
18 Heathen (The Rays)

(Encore)
19 Slip Away
20 Changes
21 Let’s Dance
22 Hang On To Yourself
23 Ziggy Stardust

Onward to Zurich then.

* OK, OK… I know this one is pushing it, but you try and find a relevant lyric quote for Milan!!