We played our songs and felt the London sky…
A Reality Tour went back over the border into Canada last night, for a show at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario.
Again there were a few BowieNetter eyewitnesses present and willing to take notes for your reading pleasure. And, I’m sure I can stop reminding you to check out VT for Erik‘s pix…
But firstly, as ever, the officially-confirmed 26-song setlist courtesy of HNB:
London, Ont May 14th 2004
01 Rebel Rebel
02 Fashion
03 New Killer Star
04 Cactus
05 Sister Midnight
06 Hang On To Yourself
07 All The Young Dudes
08 Fame
09 China Girl
10 The Loneliest Guy
11 The Man Who Sold The World (Followed by a tease of Puppet On A String)
12 Panic In Detroit
13 Hallo Spaceboy
14 Sunday
15 Heathen (The Rays)
16 Under Pressure
17 Station To Station
18 Ashes To Ashes
19 Quicksand
20 The Supermen
21 Modern Love
22 White Light, White Heat
23 I’m Afraid Of Americans
24 “Heroes”
(Encore)
25 Suffragette City
26 Ziggy Stardust
OK, on to the fan reviews… Many thanx to BowieNetters Lindzay and LaLaLinda, littleoogie7777 and piquettethechat, who all submitted reviews either directly to me or to the MBs. First up is Lindzay’s review illustrated with a little snap his wife, LaLaLinda, took…
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London, Ontario review by Lindzay
Okay its easy to say it was special, but last night’s show in London Ontario was indeed quite special. The set list was a real surprise. We never expected to hear such a varied selection of songs. It was our seventh show and sadly our last for this tour. Unless! Hint Hnt Mr Bowie. Na put ya feet up you deserve it after this magnificent tour.
We got Station to Station, Supermen and White Light White Heat…….and Panic in Detroit. Oh and Quicksand and I tell I was not dreaming.
David halted China Girl just as the audience gave it a warm reception. David had to tell a little story about what Lexi his daughter had asked him to sing a day or two before. David put on a little Lexi voice. “Daddy sing that song about Mummy…….What song is that Lexi……That one that goes Fame makes a Mum takes things over”!! David had the audience in fits of laughter and I felt that all around me the audience enjoyed David indulging for a moment and expressing his love of his daughter little Lexi.
As soon as David hit the lights, I could see he was in the mood to give a great show and if you don’t believe me go see the set list. Again Canada gave David Bowie a real reception and amazing applause.
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London, Ontario review by littleoogie7777
Bowie was great in London! He was gorgeous and very energetic. He wore his purple shirt and black pants with the ever-present floppy belt. “Rebel Rebel”, as always, was a great opener for the show. Before he did each song he would tell us what year we were going into. Poor David got the dates wrong. However he admitted that he didn’t have a clue.
After “Fame”, he told us a story about his daughter. I love his daughter stories. She once asked him, “Daddy, can you play that song about mummy?” And he said, “Which song is that?” and she replied, “You know, Fame, makes a mum who take things over?” So cute!!! “China Girl” started up and then stopped suddenly, followed by DB saying, “Because I can!” Then he said he was going to do it in either Chinese, English, or Mandarin, “Because I can!” He ended up doing it in English after all.
The snippet of Puppet On A String was very amusing with a little puppet dance from DB. “Sunday” and “Heathen (The Rays)” together made quite an emotional impact. He individually told us all he loved us. “Love ‘ya, love ‘ya, love ‘ya, love ‘ya, (breath), love ‘ya, love ‘ya… this could be a long concert.”
He kept mentioning punch lines from jokes and getting Sterling to do a little drum thing at the end. He thought it was so funny and broke out into laughter. David also mentioned that he liked our River Thames, and that it was clean, which is weird because it’s not really. I don’t even want to know what he’s used to.
David thanked the Stereophonics and mentioned a few times how great they were. Then he went on to introduce his band. We all thought that he had forgotten about Gail, and I think she did too, but it turns out that he left her for the introduction to “Under Pressure”.
“Station To Station” was absolutely breath-taking and, in my opinion, better than the album original. It had a lot of energy and was so exciting. “White Light/White Heat” was introduced with a trip of highlights through rock history and David’s main influence being the Velvet Underground.
I was on the floor, 12 rows away, so the only views I got of him were on my tippy toes looking between heads, but he was very close to me. After having been to Detroit with the 32 song setlist and 10 song encore instead of 2, I was so sad it was over. It was still a great concert though! Thanks sailor! You never fail to amaze me.
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London, Ontario review by piquettethechat
David’s performance in the strange location of London, Ont. proved just how strong this tour has become.
For those of you who don’t even have a sense, London is a city of 350,000, located roughly halfway between Toronto and Detroit. It isn’t exactly known for its big rock concerts, though there was rumour in 1987 that Bowie was to bring the Glass Spider tour to the city. Of course that didn’t happen, so 17 years later, he finally came to a generally apathetic city.
Shockingly, it was perhaps the most outgoing crowd I’ve ever seen for a Bowie show, blowing away earlier shows in Toronto and Montreal. Perhaps feeding off that vibe, Bowie played a remarkable mix of songs, many of which he admitted had rarely been heard on this tour. A tremendous version of his Iggy collaboration Sister Midnight was followed a number of songs later by a remarkably strong rendition of Station to Station.
I would have assumed the crowd of largely baby boomers would have only embraced the hits. While they certainly got down to Rebel and the like, they also seemed keen on listening to the tracks that interested David, like a scorching version of Spaceboy or a lovely take on Quicksand. In many ways, the show seemed to highlight exactly what has made this tour so successful — for the fans, they will get tracks like The Supermen, while the people who only own ChangesOne get a dose of Fame.
That said, the show dazzled most when Bowie played the songs he appeared most keen on, including Panic in Detroit. Oddly, very little, with the exception of New Killer Star, was played from Reality. A shame really, because so many of the songs come to life in a live format. One has to wonder whether what the set list will look like when David hits smaller venues, like Scranton and Buffalo, in coming weeks. If London is any indication, the hard core fans may be in for a real treat.
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Thanx folx… It sounds like this tour just keep getting better and better. By the time this show reaches the Vieilles Charrues Festival in July, it should be just about the best show on Earth, by anyone, ever!
I’ll leave you with one last highly appreciative review from The London Free Press entitled Bowie still blazing, which you can read in its entirety
A Reality Tour continues tomorrow at the Patriot Centre in Faifax.