So he shrinks as they ride, Under vermilion sky…
The rollercoaster ride that is David Bowie’s A Reality Tour pulled in to the Hershey Park Pavilion in Hershey last night.
It seems the show was well-attended by BowieNetters, some of whom have sent in their impressions of the evening’s entertainment.
But first the officially-confirmed 25-song setlist courtesy of HNB:
Hershey May 13th 2004
01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Cactus
04 Sister Midnight
05 Hang On To Yourself
06 All The Young Dudes
07 Fame
08 China Girl
09 The Loneliest Guy
10 The Man Who Sold The World
11 Panic In Detroit
12 Hallo Spaceboy
13 Sunday
14 Heathen (The Rays)
15 Under Pressure
16 Station To Station
17 Ashes To Ashes (Followed by a verse of The Supermen)
18 Quicksand
29 White Light, White Heat
20 Let’s Dance
21 Modern Love
22 I’m Afraid Of Americans
23 “Heroes”
(Encore)
24 Suffragette City
25 Ziggy Stardust
OK, on to the fan reviews… Many thanx to BowieNetters Gwnavere, bowiegal, mandn and NAZZZ66, who all submitted pieces. Sadly, the latter’s epic review, as fine as it is, is a little too long for the news pages. But, BowieNet members can read it in its entirety by clicking
On to the other three. First up is Gwnavere, quickly followed by bowiegal and mandn:
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Hershey, PA: By Gwnavere
Sex, drugs and Rock and roll!
SEX: Rollercoasters DRUGS: Chocolate R&R: Like I really need to say it?
I plop down in my 11th row seat in the center, not prepared for what was about to happen. Separated from the other bnetters I held company with, I saw a few familiar heads that looked forward (mainly, Tailor’s floresent colored do!). David came out opening with the “old” Rebel with the coat that I am just head over heels for, but I do know this: “Hey Mr. Bowie? EARTHLING called, it wants it’s jacket rejections back.” But, alas, he strips down from his “Drapes” as he called them as we began to perspire rather early in the evening – it was hot, and it didn’t rain and we watched the Cracked Actor!
He was totally in tune with his inner child, because he made a few references to being our Willy Wonka (insert dirty thoughts there) and joshed us about riding rollercoasters all day, eating chocolate and then seeing Bowie – in which we did! Also, having the pleasure of riding behind a few roadies that zipped to the front of the line on Storm Chaser! Either way, David was youthful, energetic and truly enjoying himself. The audience, from what I saw, was more of an older hippie group. With the random youngin’s here and there, it seemed to be more populated with folks that hadn’t seen David since Serious Moonlight and were trying to rekindle that feeling again. They got it…and their mullets stood on end!
David only played 2 of his new hits, which was a bit sad, but he made up for giving us the absolute DREAM setlist that we could ask for on this tour. Superman, Quicksand, Modern Love…and the absolute sexual climax to the show was Station To Station.
I stood there watching the man walk to the far right of the stage and begin to pace like a caged tiger when the sound of a train began to erupt! Long time fans started to well up in madness and, like myself, began jumping up and down with excitement – not believing that it was going to be played, let alone so early in the set!
Witty banter, constant smiles and winks, friendly comments and a playful heart stood before us last night. Granted we all still think there is a painting somewhere in an attic of a 57 year old man, but for now we’ll take what we can see. Until last night, New Orleans was the number 1 Reality show yet….Hershey surpassed that and put it in the dust. Never before have I had so much fun at a gig, jammed so hard, and felt like I got hit by a trunk the next morning as I did for Hershey. It was something I nearly passed up, and I would have kicked myself had I known what I would have missed – excellent bnetters that ARE family and a fantastic showman to perform for us.
…Roll on DC!
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HERSHEY 5/13/04 By bowiegal
OMG HERSHEY WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! I was prompted to write to you for Gwn and MandN and Nazzz66 and myself because we have spent the most incredible day alive at Hershey Park riding rollercoasters (except for Nazzy who got picked on by Bowie for being the “kind of person who would vomit on one of those things” and being the “kind of person he … “really” wants at his shows” wink wink. so .. riding rollercoasters, eating chocolate, and David Bowie all in the same day with some incredibly wonderful bowienetters made the PERFECT PERFECT DAY!!!
Not to mention that David himself ROCKED the house tonight!! A set list packed with tons of oldies, but none-the-less VERY VERY GOODIES such as Sister Midnight, Station to Station, LETS DANCE!! and MODERN LOVE!!! I was a little blown away!! As Gwn put it, ” I nearly came in my pants when they started Station to Station!” and I don’t think there was a dry seat in the house!!!
A little special note was when he saw Peanut’s 9 yr old daughter Sarah in the second row with her lil sign and her screaming Supermen, and he said… “you’re a lil young to appreciate that one” then they broke into The Supermen, only about 8 lines into the song he quits, slamming the mic down on the stage … only to start back up with a beautiful Quicksand.
Golly, no one could have asked for a more perfect night!!! We were all completely blown away!!!
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Hershey ? THE BEST DAY EVER!!! By mandn
WOWOWOWO!!! WHAT A DAY!! Rollercoasters, Chocolate and BOWIE!!
It was just such a great day! We got to the park around 11am or so. Hit the rollercoasters right away! Had a bite to eat and then back on the rides. Made sure to hit the log flume for a quick rinse off before the park closed and then changing in an amusement park bathroom isn’t quite as much fun as one would think. But it worked, we looked great.
And boy did we get Bowie last night! From the classic opening of Rebel Rebel, not the jazzier one we are used to, to the last note of Ziggy!! An unbelievable setlist!! Panic in Detroit AND Station to Station!!!!! I never thought I would hear those two songs in the same setlist again.
David was in a fine jocular mood last night. Laughing and joking with the crowd. Pointing to the newest monstrosity of a rollercoaster at Hershey Park and asking if anyone had gone on it today, of course we had. SO we raised our hands, to which he asked, “Anyone throw up?” Nazzz66 raises his hand and David replied, “Now THAT’S my kind of fan!” He was also making chaos theory jokes for Physics Day, which it was at the park.
We did our part by contributing Bowie Beach balls for the crowd’s fun. When one made it up to Daivd, he said “don’t ever fuck with an Englishman and a beach ball.” then he gave it a good hard kick!
There seemed to be some new changes and riffs in each song last night! It was truly unbelievable. Everything sounded new and fresh, and we are all exhausted!
China Girl, Modern Love and Let’s Dance, the last one he sang for some very lucky woman’s birthday. “Happy Birthday Lady!” and adding that “well, if we’re gonna play that one, we should do it now as it won’t sound any good after what we were going to play.”
A nice teaser of part of the The Supermen and then into Quicksand. When someone yelled out Width Of A Circle, David asked “Do you know how to play it? No? Well, neither do we, so we’re fucked! ”
David and everyone were in fine form and loving every minute of it. The music was superb, the venue was awesome and there couldn’t have been a more memorable night if I tried to think of one.
BTW, I forgot to mention how much I LOVE THE STEREOPHONICS!!!!!! Been so looking forward to seeing them and they were better than I could have imagined. I woke up to them this morning too so it was a nice little way to complete the circle.
Their set was really a treat and some ass kicking testosterone guitar! it’s about time! Thank you everyone!.
My most abundant thanks go to David and the band and all my BNet friends who helped make such a magical day come to life!
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Thanx folx… Good to read such enthusiasm and glad it was such a special day for all of you. Don’t forget to check out the VT section for yet another handful of Erik‘s brilliant pictures.
A Reality Tour continues tonight at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario.