Month: November 2003

I’ve been to Lyon…

David Bowie played the last show in mainland Europe of his A Reality Tour last night. The gig, in Lyon, featured an identical 23-song setlist to that of the previous night in Marseille, which, for those that can’t remember went something like this:

Lyon November 15th 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

We were hoping for some fresh pix from Celine, but, alas, due to a missing cable, she wasn’t able to download them. Oh well, this gives us the chance to use another of her excellent Marseille shots, above, instead.

The Bowie show rolls into Manchester tomorrow, for the first of eight shows in The British Isles.

It happens today…

David Bowie continues his A Reality Tour in Manchester today with the first of six UK dates. Above is the official UK tour poster, which utilises a picture taken at Riverside back in September by yours truly. BowieNetters can view a slightly bigger version by clicking on it.

Don’t forget to tune into the Mark and Lard show from one of the clock pm, UK time this afternoon. (11.09.2003 NEWS: DB AT THE BBC ON MONDAY NEXT) David is expected to be on air sometime between fourteen and fifteen hundred hours, live from the BBC’s Manchester studios.

Marseille, hey that’s really something…

Last night’s performance by David Bowie, in the beautiful French city of Marseille, made it difficult to believe that only a few days previously he had been suffering from laryngitis. But, in typical Bowie style, rather than take it easy he chose to include Life On Mars? in the set for the first time… one of the most vocally challenging songs of his repertoire!

Apparently our man was on top form, and considering he had just gotten over laryngitis, he looked impossibly fit… as a butchers dog some would say. Some of the boys on the BowieNet MBs will also be pleased to learn that David was at his sexiest best. But seriously, David is clearly more than ready to perform again, and ear-witnesses said his voice is as powerful as it has ever been.

Thanx again to BowieNetter Celine for these great shots from last night. Hopefully we’ll be getting more from Celine after tonight’s show in Lyon. Anyway, here’s the 23-song set list, supplied by a cast-of-thousands, but special thanx to Susans and Simone in particular:

Marseille November 14th 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

All our love to Bianca who apparently missed last night’s show after breaking her ankle and must now rest in hospital. I’m sure the pain of the broken bone is nothing to the pain you must be feeling at missing the Bowie shows that you’ll no longer be able to attend …but, for what it’s worth, our thoughts are with you for a speedy recovery, at least for your birthday in Dublin… and, as I’m sure you know by now, David sends his love and similar wishes.

The Times they are a-telling…

David Bowie has given a short interview to Paul Sexton for the T2 section of today’s Times here in the UK. You can whiz over to the online version of the piece by clicking on the image above now, or you can check out a short debate started on our very own MBs by reading on first:

Inevitably BowieNet can occasionally feel like a mutual lovefest, but the chatroom mood is often less deferential than you?d expect.

Taken playfully to task for continuing to perform China Girl, of which many followers are not fond, the singer responds in a mock headmaster tone: ?For a number of you I will be doing songs with which you may be bored. I, on the other hand, am not bored. And, unlike you, I am at every show.?

Continuing the point with me, he says: ?See, some songs are great, but if you play them over and over again they don?t have that much in them. It just becomes singalong time, and it?s not much fun for us as musicians. Like Starman, it?s a nice song, and we?ll do that occasionally, but to do that every night, it really doesn?t draw upon your prowess.

?I can?t do a full evening?s worth of those because I?ll go barmy. You really become a karaoke machine. It?s great to be able to do The Motel (from Outside) and 5:15 The Angels Have Gone (from Heathen) and things like that, because they really push you as a performer and a musician.?

Good stuff. As I say, you can read the full thing online by clicking on the image above.

I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies…

I’m sure you’ve all managed to get your hands on a copy of the MOJO “Special Limited Edition” BOWIE special that should have hit most of the UK newsagents today. Though I’ve not had time to read the thing yet, (It’s 148 pages for goodness sake) a quick scan through makes it obvious that it’s been put together with love and attention to detail, as is the way with this excellent series of MOJO specials.

Though I can’t comment on the editorial content yet, I’m pretty sure this is just the kind of publication that fans love… full of great pictures, including some wonderful unpublished shots, and loads of other stuff which is outlined on the back cover: Exclusive new interviews with Tony Visconti, Ken Pitt, Nile Rodgers and more… The untold stories… The 20 best Bowie songs of all time… Every original album interviewed… Rare books and memorabilia… Plus the chance to win some cool Mick Rock stuff.

Here’s what MOJO say about this latest special edition on their site:

MOJO BOWIE HAS FALLEN TO EARTH!

Just in time for his upcoming arena tour, MOJO presents a full-colour glossy special edition celebrating the life and work of David Bowie, rock ‘n’ roll’s most remarkable superstar.

Featuring new interviews, unseen photographs, the untold stories, rare memorabilia, every Bowie album reviewed and The Top 20 Best Bowie Songs Ever… as voted by you. Available in all good newsagents from 14 November.

Well, that “voted by you” translates as over 150 writers and musicians who were asked during September to name their favourite Bowie track, and also fans who voted via Paul Kinder‘s jolly lovely BowieWonderWorld.com. If you don’t want the countdown spoiled before you get this publication (which you can order by clicking on the image above) then look away now, as here is that top twenty, (in descending order) which is bound to start some debate on the MBs:

MOJO’s TOP 20 BEST BOWIE SONGS EVER:

20 Word On A Wing
19 Boys Keep Swinging
18 Quicksand
17 Rebel Rebel
16 Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
15 The Jean Genie
14 Moonage Daydream
13 Drive-In Saturday
12 Let’s Dance
11 Ziggy Stardust
10 Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)
09 Changes
08 Five Years
07 Starman
06 Sound And Vision
05 Space Oddity
04 Station To Station
03 Ashes To Ashes
02 Life On Mars?
01 “Heroes”

So there you have it. I have to say I agree with about fifty percent of the choices, which, coincidentally, is just about the same percentage of songs that David has performed from this list (including tonight’s show) during the current A Reality Tour.

So, dear BowieNetter, I look forward to reading your thoughts on the MBs shortly.

So I’ve been writing just for you…

Today’s Daily Mirror here in the UK, has published an exclusive tour diary written by Gail Ann Dorsey in their pullout The Ticket section. It’s a great read, and Gail’s unbridled enthusiasm shines through… it’s so good to see that she still gets excited at the prospect of playing for a live audience after all these years.

Under a headline (nodding to Ian Hunter) of “DIARY OF A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR”, the double-page spread covers the shows from the start of the tour in Copenhagen on October 7th, up to the Berlin show on November 3rd. The piece is peppered with exclusive pix, including a shot of David and Gail backstage with that raven in Cologne.

Here’s the entry regarding the first show in Copenhagen.

OCTOBER 7th, COPENHAGEN

Tonight was the kick off of the David Bowie “Reality Tour!” Yeah! We’ve spent so many weeks and months in rehearsals and doing television appearances that everyone was bursting to finally play in front of an audience! It made for a very satisfying show. David designed an incredible stage set that none of us had seen until we arrived at production rehearsals in Brussels last week.

The set involves among other things, tiny staircases with no railings, and narrow, elevated ramps that frame the stage on either side and across the back. To me it’s pretty frightening to walk around up there – especially in flashing lights! David dances and struts around on those platforms like he’s taking a stroll in the park! What a pro!

In our dress rehearsals, he choreographed an opening entrance that involves me walking across one of the raised platforms, but I daren’t tell him I get a little vertigo up there. I made it tonight without fainting. I’ll be brave and get used to it. It’s a challenge. Besides, it’s exciting to make an entrance. Where else would I be having this much fun?

You can read the whole thing online by clicking on the image above.

Sad to report that drummer/percussionist Tony Thompson, has lost his fight against renal cancer in Los Angeles three days short of his 49th birthday. Thompson, who died yesterday, was probably best known to Bowie fans for his work on 1983’s Let’s Dance album and the subsequent Serious Moonlight World Tour.

Having begun his career playing with Patti LaBelle‘s band, he met Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, with whom he formed Chic in 1976, the band which became synonymous with disco. His session work meant that he also played for Madonna, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and Debbie Harry, and he also enjoyed a stint with the Power Station, a spin-off from Duran Duran that included Robert Palmer.

Thompson is survived by his wife, the actress Patrice Jennings, and two step-children.

Sun comes up and the man goes down under…

The first lot of dates on the Australian leg of David Bowie’s 2003/2004 Reality tour that we told you about a couple of weeks back, went on public sale today, and, as expected, sold like really popular things.

Indeed the Sydney date sold out within an hour and immediately tickets for a second date on the 21st February went on sale. Here’s a bit from the press release:

Tickets to DAVID BOWIE?S ?A REALITY TOUR? went on sale today and the first Sydney show to be held on Friday 20 February has sold out in under an hour! Tickets to the 2nd show, scheduled for Saturday 21 February at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, went on sale TODAY at 11.00am!

Currently garnering rave reviews and absolute fan satisfaction, DAVID BOWIE?s worldwide “A REALITY TOUR” touches down in Australia on Tuesday 17 February 2004 and plays dates in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. DAVID BOWIE last toured Australia in November 1987 on the GLASS SPIDER TOUR, which played sold out shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Here’s a recap of the shows available to the public from today:

Tuesday 17 February: Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Tickets from Ticketek 131 931 www.ticketek.com.au
Friday 20 & Saturday 21 February: Sydney Entertainment Centre
Tickets from Ticketmaster7 136 100 www.ticketmaster7.com
Monday 23 February: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Tickets from Bass 131 246 www.bass.net.au
Thursday 26 February: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

I said I’d let you know immediately I had any updates after last night’s news that David was suffering from some kind of throat condition. Well, I can now tell you that unfortunately David has come down with a case of laryngitis, and for this reason he has most regretfully had to cancel tomorrow’s show in Toulouse. You know he doesn’t make these decisions lightly and anybody present at last night’s show will understand just how he really does his best not to let anyone down.David does expect to be fine in time for Friday’s show in Marseille, but obviously we’ll let you know if there are any further developments.

Make some new computer thing…

David Bowie and Sony Music in the UK have made Never Get Old and Waterloo Sunset available as a ‘cyber-single’ in the form of a digital download. Fans can download the new single for just £2.99 via the Sony Music UK site.

Everyone who downloads the Never Get Old / Waterloo Sunset bundle will automatically be entered into a draw to win a framed Reality Gold presentation disk, engraved personally to the winner and signed by DB himself. As if that wasn’t enough, there are also five limited edition canvas art prints of the Reality album artwork signed by David Bowie as runners up prizes. You may remember this beautiful and highly collectable item in a recent BowieNet competition.

It seems the two-track promo of Never Get Old / Waterloo Sunset that we recently gave away to a whole bunch of lucky BowieNetters, (11.04.2003 NEWS: NEVER GET OLD 2-TRACK PROMO WINNERS) is also becoming more valuable by the minute. This item has been going on eBay for silly money, with one copy selling in the last couple of days for £72 GBP, or approximately $120 USD… so £2.99 is a snip!

Of course this isn’t the first cyber-single from David Bowie… Anyone remember Telling Lies? At the time it was claimed that over 300,000 people downloaded the original Internet-only release version of Telling Lies. Anyway, I digress, if you’re in the UK, click on the image above to take you to the Sony Music UK site, where you too can join in the fun… well not you, because you’re in the US… you neither up in Canada there… or you down below in Australia… etc., etc., etc.