And so the story goes they wore the clothes...
David Bowie played his penultimate Canadian show on Friday, when A Reality Tour rolled into Edmonton for a concert at Rexall Place. As is normal practice now, we posted the set list, and a bunch of Erik's shots in the
Staying on the subject of costumes, this time with a tenuous Easter link, BowieNet members may have noticed BowieNetter isabelle_guns' report on the message boards, regarding her flight from Winnipeg to Edmonton. Members may have noticed Isabelle at the front of several Bowie shows dressed in a bright pink bunny outfit. Here's what she had to say about her adventure:
David was on the same plane with me as the band. He did pull a Donald Trump and said, "You're fired." I have no idea what Sailor meant by that but I just smiled and nodded. Never knew I had a job to begin with. And I slept most of the way on the plane and didn't notice him there until a few minutes before we landed.
I asked David if he recalled seeing such a creature on the flight, and he confirmed Isabelle's story thus:
Bunny wasn't sitting next to me but further back in the plane. She came forward (in bunny suit) to use the bathroom. I told her 'you're fired' but had meant to say 'you're hired'. A slip of the Trump. (ref: to American reality tv show 'The Apprentice' on which Donald Trump says 'you're fired' to people when they lose) She didn't have the head on. Just the bunny body.
The mind boggles. Had I been on a flight on which David Bowie was a passenger and a pink bunny stood up to use the bathroom, I'm sure I would have thought somebody had slipped something in my Kool Aid!
Anyway, Isabelle managed to grab a couple of shots with the band on touchdown, that's one of them above in case you hadn't noticed, and it sounds like she had some jolly good fun at the show too... here she is again:
The show tonight was much better than in Winnipeg. The audience was more appreciative and much more interactive by singing and dancing. People were more open to having a good time and not so reserved. Bowie seemed to really appreciate tonight?s audience compared to Winnipeg. He was joking with the audience more and even threw in a Chinese version of ?China Girl? completely unrehearsed and it took the band by surprise. After the English version of the song, the guitar techs were about to hand over the newly tuned guitars for the next song but Bowie stopped the techs right in their tracks.
The techs and band?s reactions were genuine. He made his band play ?China Girl? again and he started to sing the first verse in Chinese. Whether he was really speaking in Chinese or not is besides the point ?cause it was what he said afterwards which proved how comfortable he was with the crowd and was willing to improve. ?That is so kind of you to be clapping for an old white man?s Chinese.? A lot of the songs tonight sounded better than Winnipeg, the mix was clearer and more distinctive. I especially liked the mixes on ?Quicksand? and ?Heathen?.
Who was the brave soul that flashed Sailor her tits....good job.
Well done Isabelle, and thanx for bringing a little brightness to some otherwise dark corners. Again, David confirmed that he had indeed attempted a second version of China Girl in "Faux Chinese"!
I've only located one online review of the Edmonton show which comes, appropriately enough, from the Edmonton Sun. Though the author of the piece, Mike Ross, does seem generally appreciative, he also seems to favour a time long gone, perhaps reflected in his headline of Zowie Bowie wowie, which I can't have read for at least thirty years now. However, here's an excerpt:
Zowie Bowie wowie - Down-to-earth God of rock 'n' roll lit up stage. By Mike Ross
For the aloof God of rock 'n' roll that David Bowie has been painted as over the years, he's a surprisingly down-to-earth guy in concert. At least he was last night at Rexall Place. He used to sell out stadiums. Now he draws 9,000 fans to Edmonton's hockey arena. I think Avril Lavigne had a bigger turnout, talk about frightening - and Bowie has more talent under his fingernail than Avril has in her entire body.
Not that it seemed to matter to the man who sold the world. Bowie and a six-piece band pumped out a brilliant concert that was half hit parade, half musical adventure to places few have gone before. His easy wit leavened the "heavier" moments. He even managed a local reference, praising the Muttart Conservatory, where he supposedly went yesterday, then saying, "er, what else can I talk about locally?" What, you didn't get the memo that all visiting rock stars get? No mention of the Edmonton-Calgary thing? Oh, well. .
You can read the whole thing
Thanx again to BowieNetter isabelle_guns the fun, and to HNB for the officially confirmed 25-song set list for those of you that couldn't access
Edmonton April 9th 2004
01 Rebel Rebel
02 Modern Love
03 New Killer Star
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 All The Young Dudes
07 China Girl (followed by attempted Chinese version)
08 Hang On To Yourself
09 Never Get Old
10 The Loneliest Guy
11 The Man Who Sold The World
12 Afraid
13 Hallo Spaceboy
14 Sunday
15 Heathen (The Rays)
16 Under Pressure
17 Days
18 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
19 Looking For Water
20 Ashes To Ashes
21 Quicksand
22 I'm Afraid Of Americans
23 "Heroes"
(Encore)
24 Suffragette City
25 Ziggy Stardust
A Reality Tour continues in Canada tonight with a show at Prospera Place in Kelowna.