Mark ‘Lard’ Riley looking particularly happy with himself for getting the Bowie
look down pat. However, the joy soon turned to tears, as he discovered his
faux pas in a mirror… he had combed his parting over to the wrong side!
The church of Manchester, love, is such a holy place…
David Bowie played his first UK show of his A Reality Tour in Manchester tonight… but, not before he stopped in at the BBC for fifty minutes of fun with Mark and Lard. a few of the subjects covered included: Mark Radcliffe‘s architectural review of The Lowry; a spot of wine-tasting including a fine vintage Merthyr Tydfil; a new blow-up Reality sex toy; Link Wray and his mail-order ’56 Supro guitar; The NGO/Waterloo Sunset cyber single (NGO was played) and downloading music via iTunes; Thespians in The Daily Sport; Rachel Stevens latest single, Funky Dory, with the sample from Andy Warhol, and her fine set of lungs; vices… or the lack of them; Comedy DVDs and much much more. You’ll be able to listen to the whole thing once it’s been archived on
After the interview/discussion had finished David left the studio to dash to the soundcheck, only to return moments after leaving to wish my dear wife Gae a speedy recovery. Thanx for that David… you completely brightened what would otherwise have been a thoroughly miserable day for Gae.
As for this evening’s show itself, David was in fine voice and had a bit of fun early on by teasing the audience for the less than energetic reception. He apparently joked that he was just back from Europe, and that Manchester had a lot to live up to, before delivering a rallying cry along the lines of: “C’mon kids, wake up! Your grandad?s here…” or words to that effect… I know the accuracy of that will be contested, as I’ve already been given several versions of what David actually said.
Anyway, the crowd soon rose to the occasion and it seems a top night was had by all. Again the 23-song setlist was identical to that of the previous two shows and here it is:
Manchester November 17th 2003
01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Reality
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 Afraid
07 China Girl
08 The Loneliest Guy
09 The Man Who Sold The World
10 Hallo Spaceboy
11 Sunday
12 Under Pressure
13 Life On Mars?
14 Ashes To Ashes
15 The Motel
16 Loving The Alien
17 Never Get OId
18 Changes
19 I’m Afraid Of Americans
20 “Heroes”
(Encore)
21 Five Years
22 Suffragette City
23 Ziggy Stardust
The tour continues with the first of two evenings in Birmingham on Wednesday.