Suffering from an aching neck, (Spaceboy the culprit), I once again joined the queue early to ensure a good position up front. I was curious to see exactly how "polished" Bowie's performance is. As an aside, I've been to two Tina Turner concerts in the past and though they were separated by a few years, she managed to say exactly the same lines on both occasions... Was DB going to recite his Trinity story once again?
Happily not. Instead he recited his story about seeing the Velvets for the first time in The Electric Factory, NY, and meeting Lou Reed... you know the one, if not I won't spoil the punchline for you. Then he proceeded to tell us how much he liked reading Brendan Behan's work until he interrupted himself and asked, "is there brown on my nose?" He wiped his nose and then listed Joyce, Beckett and other Irish writers while frantically wiping his nose.
It was to be a night of revelations. Bowie fluffed his introduction of Reeves by stumbling with Freud-like grace into "Reeves Guitar" instead of Gabrels, much to Reeves amusement, which led Bowie to further brownnose by saying, "well, Reeves, that just means that your name must be synonymous with "guitar"." Puleeze!
As I said, it was to be a night of revelations... Gail was close to revealing all in her skimpy skirt (or was that a handkerchief?!!), her fishnet tights, her red silk bra covered bravely by a see-through clingy black top. Reeves revealed all in his kilt, (okay, okay, maybe not all), and David, not wishing to be outdone, revealed the tattoo on the back of his left calf, while boasting "and it doesn't come off!", pause, "well, not for three days anyway!!"
But I'm afraid Bowie and his merry band were to be outdone by a woman in the audience a few rows behind me, who during The Last Thing You Should Do, saw fit to take off all her upper garments, fling them at David, and, ahem, shake them all about for the duration of the song... My, my, the band was completely upstaged. You should have seen their faces, especially Mike Garson's!! At the end of the song, Bowie commented, "and thank you for that lovely sight, Miss Thang!"
I haven't really said much about the set. I guess I wanted to give you an impression of the electric atmosphere that permeated both nights. Special treats on this night were The Voyage of Utter Destruction (As Beauty) and Moonage Daydream, which freaked out to a climax which included the familiar alien pose, hands turned backwards on the eyes and knees bent... you know what I mean!
I could go on forever, but I won't. Suffice to say that those two shows were the best I've witnessed in my ten years of Bowie extravaganzas. He seems to be really enjoying performing live. His new material is as good as his old stuff, and he knows it. I heard no cries for Space Oddity. I heard no grumblings from the departing crowd. What I did see was those in seats on their feet for the entire encore (over an hour the second night), and a gathering of the masses, not just the usual groupies, to wave Bowie goodbye and wish him well as he exited the stage door. David, Dublin thinks you're one special chap! Come back soon, but please, with a clean nose next time...
As for me, I'm planning to visit some friends in Chicago in October. I wonder who could be playing there on the 17th??....