Bowieng down to the man

Inspiration: David Bowie concert

Created: Fri 27 Feb 2004 16:40

View in current style

Permalink

Something for Kate opened up the evening even before the allocated starting time of 7:30pm - as I passed door 6 of the Rod Laver arena and through to door 7 where I was supposed to enter, I heard Dempsey's familiar voice saying "Hi, we're Something for Kate...". Ahh, just in time. They played mostly new stuff, and mostly their bigger songs, as was to be expected, but chucked in an Echo and the Bunnymen cover - The Killing Moon - for good measure.

Half an hour or more's wait, and it was time for Bowie. Some recorded toons filled our ears first, accompanied by an animated version of the band, by way of introduction. And then each member walked onto the stage and took their positions, with Dave himself grabbing a spot in the centre. And so it all began with Rebel Rebel - a top way to get this party started. Bowie soon realised that long-sleeves weren't really all that smart under the circumstances, and took off his jacket, revealing a thinner, metallicy coat with tails underneath. Nice - but it wouldn't last too long either (just long enough for you to get the effect).

And on with the show. Lots of the classics were in there: The Man who Sold the World, All the Young Dudes, China Girl, Life on Mars?, Starman, Ashes to Ashes. Heroes rounded off the set proper, and then the encore included Suffragette City; the show ending with Ziggy Stardust. Not a bad lot already, but there was also some great other stuff: I'm Afraid of Americans went down well, and Under Pressure was a nice surprise, especially with the top backing vocals.

And, of course, there was a fair proportion of the newer stuff in there as well - in fact, I'd go so far as to say that the percentage of new versus old was a little too high. Sure, I enjoy the newer albums, but most of the songs on there aren't what you'd call classics (yet? ever?).

But what can I say? I'm not the biggest ever Bowie fan, but he is pretty damned cool to see live. He's still kicking it old skool, which is no mean feat. He didn't do some of the stuff I would have liked him to do (Space Oddity is the obvious one, but there were a couple of others I would have liked to hear in preference for some they actually did), and his hair wasn't quite as cool as it was in Labyrinth, but I suppose I can forgive him these things, especially as he was on stage for a good 2 and a half hours. After all, given that I got in for free, I certainly got my money's worth!

Here's what some other folk thought (some with nice up-close photos): Ms Momo, The Age newspaper, Herald Sun newspaper.

There are currently 4 comments for this entry.

Add a comment

Commenting has been turned off because of my inability to cope with the ridiculous amount of spammage I was receiving. Sorry!

Last entry: We are the champions... of the Tower
Next entry: A picture is worth a thousand words