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The Encore
Fame
Dead Man Walking
White Light White Heat
O! Superman
All The Young Dudes
Well, Dick Mac purchased four tickets for The Guests, and, unfortunately, the seats were in Row P of the balcony. Definitely the worse seats any of us had ever used.
Everything seemed fine. The Orpheum is a theatre that was designed with acoustics and sight lines taken into consideration, so there are really no bad seats. However, the two details that early 20th-century architects could never have planned for were (1) the average size of the average American increasing so dramatically in less than one huyndred years, making the chairs almost unusable for anyone not pathetically slender, and (2) the general behaviour of Americans born after 1970, making sight lines a moot point since these twenty-something-year-old children seem to believe that we are attending the concert to watch them act out and express themselves!
Unable to see the show, Stacey took matters into her own hands, and during Panic In Detroit marched down to the security guards and pleaded her case of no sight lines due to poorly behaved young ones (you know who you are: the four children in Balcony, Row M, first four Seats, who refused to let anyone behind you see the show). We were escorted to an Orchestra Box! Wow! During the show, I was busily scrawling the set list on an envelope. Whan a security man saw what I was doing, he took pity on me and magically offered a copy of the official set list! Thank you, sir!
Seemingly drunk, in a very chipper mood, and not-so-nattily attired in pajamas, Bowie playfully worked the audience into his show. He requested house lights: to ask "What's your name?" and "What was the name of that song: Waiting So Long or Look Back In Anger?", to promote Chemical Bros. throat spray (a reference to one of his current fave Brit bands); and, of course, the obligatory band intros.
Quicksand is one of the obscure additions to Bowie's set lists. It was performed by Bowie and Robert Smith (of The Cure) at the Madison Square Garden Birthday Bash, last January, and has been included in every show since! Not the cheeriest chorus ("Don't believe in yourself, don't deceive with belief. Knowledge comes with death's release . . ."), but a catchy song from Bowie's 1971 Hunky Dory album. Another addition from deep in the vaults is The Supermen, also from 1971. These two, followed by The Velvet Undergroud's classic 1966 demi-monde delight, Waiting For The Man, set the tone for a show where the oldies over-shadowed the current releases.
The opening of Jean Genie was a bluesy number reminiscent of 1940s-1950s American recordings. I do not know the name of the song he sampled, but when Gabrels and Bowie broke into the 1973 classic, the crowd went wild. Panic In Detroit received an even greater reception, and it seemed that possibly this would be an evening of only songs written before 1980! The video images for Panic worked exceptionally well, starting with a red image of Che Guevara and flashing through a montage of Motor City office buildings and architecture.
The hope of an all oldies show, provied to be futile. I'm Afraid Of Americans, from the Earthling release, was the next number. Earlier in the day, Bowie and Gabrels appeared on WBCN, and Bowie entertained DJ Mark Parenteau's analysis of the song as having been written by Bowie while he was staying in the island nation of Java and witnessing the construction of a McDonald's fast-food establishment. Bowie explained that it is a song not anti-American in the sense of being against American individuals, but that it is anti-American in the sense that the nation of USA is represented internationally by corporate greed. What is truly great about America is what exists on the fringe (blues, art), not what exists on the telly (Microsoft, McDonald's). This thought fails to bring Afraid to the anthem status of some of his earlier songs about American culture. And why did he sing "...Johnny wants to suck on my cock..." when I thought the line from the song was "...Johnny wants to suck on a Coke..."?!?! Did I misunderstand? The entire anti-corporate discussion seems ludicrous when Bowie is the topic at hand. Here we have a multi-national multi-talent with personal holdings of $300 million, a 1997 $50 million Wall Street Bond Offereing, and current television ads for Miller Beer and Microsoft (isn't he a Mac user?). And why the faux-flag-burning video images on the video scrim behind the band? Ahhh, dichotomy!
The stock opening for many Bowie concerts in the late 70s and through the 80s was Look Back In Anger. It retains its tension and excitment even when placed in the middle of a show between brand new material.
Seven Years In Tibet and Battle For Britain (The Letter) are two of the strongest cuts from the latest release, and Bowie seemed to almost lose his voice during the latter. Good thing he had his Chemical Brothers Throat Spray ("Doesn't do a fucking thing for the throat, but it makes me feel greaaaaat!").
I have always loved the title track from 1971's The Man Who Sold The World. A crowd favorite since being covered by Nirvana, it seemes to have replaced Width Of A Circle as standard Bowie concert fare, but I have heard enough of it. I look forward to the opportunity to see Bowie perform it on Lulu's next world tour. (If you don't know, don't ask!)
Who knew that Fashion would have made it through the I'M NEVER GOING TO PLAY MY HITS AGAIN editor? Not one of Bowie's greatest songs, but certainly one of the most popular. The band seemed to have a great deal of fun this night, with the singer quipping through guitar solos, and the seemingly deliberate flubbing of the simplest lines. Everyone rocks when Fashion is played, and it's OK with me if it becomes a permanent fixture in all Bowie set lists.
In 1975, Bowie hooked up with John Lennon (he was in some 1960s group) and learned the same lesson Lennon taught Elton John: "It's gotta have a back beat, man, if you want them to buy it!" Had Lennon not fallen victim to a bullet in the brain (it made all the papers), his 1997 release may have included the song Looking For Satellites. This is my favorite song from the current release, combining the Lennon-esque back beat, the Ziggy-esque outer space lyrics, and the Burroughs-esque cut-up-method chants. This night's rendition was not as clear and crisp as the CD recording, but it has the potential to become a Bowie standard. Sadly, it is not slated for release as a single (probably because no American radio station has the imagination to play it). Bowie pointing to the heavens and singing the chorus was dramatic and enlivening, especially when viewed as a 100 foot shadow on the side of the stage.
Let's be clear about this: Dick Mac hated Earl Slick as lead guitarist for Bowie shows. Let's be clear, also, about this: No lead guitarist has ever successfully played Stay live, except Earl Slick. Bowie's use of computer files to generate some of the more difficult vocal parts of this song was very well done. The funky ending sung by Bowie and Gail Ann made the song! It is a crowd pleaser, but why was the audience so mute when Bowie intro'd the song by hinting to what would be next. The crowd so missed his point that he seemed to repeat the same line, and again like a plane or two, it went right over the audience's heads! So be it. Stay is one of his most danceable songs, and the only entry from the very danceable Station To Station. Nobody was seated!
OK! Maybe the Annie Lennox/David Bowie version of Under Pressure was nice to look at. Maybe the Freddie Mercury/David Bowie original has become a rock anthem. But what, I ask you, what, is better than Gail Ann Dorsey singing the girl part of that song? I love this, and have had the good fortune to see them sing it together 3 times. Thank you, both, for a great version of a great song.
Gail Ann is simply the most exciting, and probably the most talented, bassist ever to perform with Bowie. Her vocals on Under Pressure has been a staple of Bowie shows since the 1996 Ballroom Tour. She is always a vision to behold, and seems to be more and more comfortable on stage when she is the center of attention. Keep it up, Gail Ann!
The Heart's Filthy Lesson was the premier single from 1.Outside. I don't know why. For some reason, I have never warmed to it. I just don't like it very much, and when the unreleased version was performed during the Outside/NIN tour, at least it had the excitement of being a new song. That excitement has worn off and I am done with it. Thank you, David, good try. Please dump this one!
"Moondust will cover you!" "Do you like girls or boys?" "This chaos is killing me!" Quintessential Bowie lyrics, and lines in one song: Hallo Spaceboy. Another ignored gem from Bowie's 90s library. This cut should have been both a dance hit and radio hit in America. What happened? The Teenage Wildlifers in the front row tossed glitter confetti when Bowie sang "moondust will cover you." Good job, guys!
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) was played with the same intensity as always. Well, maybe not as intensely as when Bowie and band performed the song with the dreadful NIN at Great Woods in the Autumn of 1995. No rendition of the song will ever match that performance. This night's rendition was reminiscent of shows with Carlos Alomar and Bowie growling like jungle cats and zoo geeks. Fun, fun, fun. Are the not-so-polite lyrics of this song his last jab at ex-wife Angela?
The last song of the show was the current "hit" and new Miller Genuine Draft Beer song Little Wonder. Probably Bowie's best use of the "drums and bass"/"jungle" sound.
And, of course, the encore:
The John Lennon-Carlos Alomar-David Bowie HIT, Fame started things off. Great fun, as always, and superbly played and sung.
The soon-to-be-released single Dead Man Walking is a good song, probably soon-to-be-ignored.
The Velvet's White Light, White Heat has been a Bowie staple since his first world tour and can be seen/heard in the Ziggy movie. Getting both VU songs in one show is a new twist to a Bowie set list. During the amazing light show, my mind and eyes played tricks that the doctors always said would happen if I kept ingesting lysurgic substances. Even the buzzing in the ears and pressure in my chest reminded me of early-70s recreational drug use, enhanced incredibly by the strobe lights. YIKES!
So, does Bowie deliberately cultivate the William Burroughs connections in a surreptitious manner, or is it another accident? William Burroughs was put on the rock map by Bowie, in 1974, when Rolling Stone magazine published the interview "Bowie on Burroughs on Bowie." Subsequently, Burroughs was idolized and iconized by New York City poet/artist/rock star, Laurie Anderson. Burroughs appears on more than one recording with Anderson. On her album, Big Science, Anderson included a cut that has reached cult-like status, O! Superman. Gail Ann Dorsey offered an over-the-top rendition of the song with Bowie providing some background vocals and sax treatments. Very well done. I always hope for cover versions during Bowie shows, because he pays homage to a good song better than any other performer. (See 1974's Knock On Wood.)
No individual rocker has produced as many rock anthems as David Bowie. In fact, he has written so many anthem-status songs that his career suffered not by his generous gift to Mott The Hoople of that 70s-glam-boy hit All The Young Dudes. This night, Bowie sang each and every word exactly as the original, and the chaotic ending made for a grand exit by the man and the band.
I am grateful to be a Bowie fan for 25 years. He never stops pleasing.
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This David Bowie Web-Ring site is owned by Dick Mac (alive!) Want to join the David Bowie Web-Ring? |
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