The European cannon is here...
David Bowie's A Reality World Tour kicked off with obvious style and much excitement last night in Copenhagen. The two and a half hour set included a fine balance of new and old songs plucked from as far back as Hunky Dory and included seven songs from Reality. Here is the full set list:
Copenhagen October 7th 2003
01 New Killer Star
02 Afraid
03 Fame
04 Cactus
05 Battle For Britain (The Letter)
06 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
07 Breaking Glass
08 Reality
09 Changes
10 The Man Who Sold The World
11 Hallo Spaceboy
12 Under Pressure
13 Sunday
14 Bring Me The Disco King
15 She'll Drive The Big Car
16 Ashes To Ashes
17 Never Get Old
18 Pablo Picasso
19 Fantastic Voyage
20 I'm Afraid Of Americans
21 Rebel Rebel
22 "Heroes"
23 Heathen (The Rays)
(Encore)
24 Slip Away
25 Hang On To Yourself
26 Let's Dance
27 Ziggy Stardust
I talked with many fans after the show who were completely blown away by the big visual production of the A Reality World Tour stage set, which I'd rather not reveal too much of so early in the tour, so that those yet to witness it still have a few surprises to look forward to.
David was on brilliant form even pausing to wish BowieNetter Andre1 and his wife a happy 25th wedding anniversary, and the evening was punctuated by playful in-between-song banter that bordered on the surreal at times.
The one technical glitch of the evening did nothing to spoil the fun, when the out-front speaker power was lost during the brilliant karaoke presentation of Slip Away. The band seemingly played on oblivious to the lack of volume in the auditorium as the onstage power was still working.
However, what could have been a disaster had it happened during another song, turned to triumph as the words to the song danced on the screen behind David and the crowd sang their hearts out... It must have even seemed planned to some... and who knows, perhaps it was. Either way, I can't wait to hear a recording of this show.
The band are truly magnificent right now and they just seem to get better and better... if that seems at all possible. Anyway, I'm pasting the press release below which was sent out to the world's media today and I've illustrated it with a few of my snaps from last night.
The press release, which includes details of a BowieNet online Virtual Reality Tour (more of which soon) and the announcement of the next single from Reality, Never Get Old, is followed by the set list for tonight's Stockholm show... if you ever reach the end of this piece! Who's having more fun than us right now? That's what I want to know!
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DAVID BOWIE OPENS FIRST WORLD TOUR IN A DECADE WITH A DANISH DELIGHT FOR FANS
ALSO OFFERS OPPORTUNITY TO FOLLOW TOUR AROUND THE WORLD WITH A ?VIRTUAL REALITY TICKET?
LONDON, October 8th 2003
David Bowie opened his ?A Reality World Tour' with a two and a half hour show packed with surprises at the Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark last night. He played an incredible 27 songs including material from the pan European no 1 album Reality plus a selection of songs from throughout his career.
The tour, which lasts for seven months, reaches 16 countries and hundreds of thousands of people, will feature an ever-changing set list. Bowie is looking to change the songs he?s performing every night to make the shows more organic and real for the fans. With this in mind, Bowie is taking the groundbreaking step of inviting every ticket holder to join him on a ?Virtual Reality? tour of the entire world. Each person who attends the shows has a code on their tickets and once this has been entered on Bowienet (www.davidbowie.com) it entitles the ticket holder to follow the entire world tour online with exclusive footage and audio from all of the stops along the way from Denmark to Denver and from Tokyo to Glasgow.
Those present last night would have witnessed a dramatic start to the show utilising one of the biggest LED screens ever taken on tour, which kicked into life revealing David and his musicians in animated form. The band then kicked in with a spectacular version of ?New Killer Star?, the lead off track from the hit album Reality. Next up was Afraid, followed by the classic Fame co-written with John Lennon.
David was wearing Victorian Biker, deconstructed look, and sounding on top form. He was totally relaxed with the crowd, even stopping to congratulate one couple on their 25th wedding anniversary! Behind him a black and white split screen added to the drama of the moment, and the screens high above the stage gave it the feel of a boxing match. The crowd were on their feet from early in the show, and it stayed that way right through to the very end.
Bowie and his crack band continued to mix together classics such as Rebel Rebel, Changes - which he introduced as ?that David Essex song? - and a brilliant Under Pressure with Gail Ann Dorsey sharing vocals, to fan favourites such as Fantastic Voyage as well as tracks from Heathen. Live it was the songs from Reality that provided the real highlights of the night. The forthcoming single Never Get Old and the epic Bring Me The Disco King featuring some incredible keyboard work from Mike Garson were received ecstatically by the sell-out crowd as modern classics.
A storming version of the album?s title track saw the enormous LED screens coming into their own once more showing an extraordinary psychedelic graphic and "CCTV" footage of the band provided by tiny "lipstick" cameras hidden around the stage.
Other highlights included an awesomely powerful I?m Afraid Of Americans with great animation imagery playing behind the band and a fantastic finale including "Heroes" which received a thunderous ovation, a rocking Hang On To Yourself, Let?s Dance and a show stopping Ziggy Stardust. Bowie was clearly moved by the response and told the audience how in these difficult times it felt very important to him that he and his band were able to be there singing for them .
The tour continues through Europe throughout October and reaches Bowie?s homeland of the UK in mid November. From there he proceeds to the USA in December and will include prestigious shows at New York?s Madison Square Garden and the Legendary Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
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Tonight's Stockholm show did include the nightly set changes as promised in the press release... and this is how it went:
Stockholm October 8th 2003
01 New Killer Star
02 Fame
03 Cactus
04 Battle For Britain (The Letter)
05 Breaking Glass
06 Loving The Alien (acoustic)
07 Days
08 Hallo Spaceboy
09 Under Pressure
10 Sunday
11 Bring Me The Disco King
12 Ashes To Ashes
13 Never Get Old
14 Pablo Picasso
15 Fantastic Voyage
16 I'm Afraid Of Americans
17 Heathen (The Rays)
18 Rebel Rebel
19 "Heroes"
(Encore)
20 Slip Away
21 Hang On To Yourself
22 Let's Dance
23 Ziggy Stardust
So that means that Afraid, Fall Dog Bombs The Moon, Reality, Changes, The Man Who Sold The World and She'll Drive The Big Car were dropped for tonight's show, while Loving The Alien and Days were new additions to this evening's set.
David made mention of Copenhagen resident Link Wray during tonight's show, whose Rumble is occasionally played by David and the band during rehearsals. He also mentioned what a big fan Pete Townshend is of the king of instrumental cool. In fact Pete has said of Link Wray: "He is the King; if it hadn't been for Rumble, I would have never picked up a guitar."
I did speak with David about Mr Wray yesterday and he explained that the man is having a tough time of things in Copenhagen... Perhaps his agent should have a listen to Killer In The Home by Adam and The Ants and see if he's owed any royalties!
A more light-hearted moment during tonight's show was during Rebel Rebel when David sang the immortal line: "You've got your mother in a whirl, she's not sure if you're a boy or a squirrel." Personally, I was pleased to learn this as it meant that I hadn't been hearing things during rehearsals in Brussels... well, you know how it is, some people hear what they want to hear.
I look forward to Friday's set list from Helsinki with keen anticipation. Stay tuned to BowieNet for more pictures and stuff from David Bowie's A Reality World Tour.
