Reality has Stamina but not Enough GlamMar 31 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Whatever happened to making love with his ego? Boston David Bowie fans had to wait three and a half months to see the Reality Tour swing into the Fleet Center after a case of the flu canceled Bowie’s original December date. On March 30, 2004, the British rocker made sure Bean Town’s patience was well rewarded with a long set full of hits and obscure songs alike. Hardcore fans seemed ecstatic that Bowie dug deep into his catalogue for rarities like “Quick Sand” from 1971’s Hunky Dory and “Five Years” from 1972’s Ziggy Stardust, but he seemed to lose just about everyone when he played too many songs from his latest albums, Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003). While the 2 and a half-hour length of the show was impressive, the pacing seemed off, and the audience seemed dead during several lulls. Bowie looked gorgeous in tight, black jeans and a black cut-off t-shirt with a red scarf around his neck and his bright, blond hair shining under the spotlights. However, the 57-year-old seemed slightly lacking in energy, swigging Gatorade during the too-frequent breaks between songs and taking a while to warm up during each tune. When Bowie chatted with the crowd, it seemed more like he was trying to catch his breath than engage us. Partly, the Tuesday night crowd was too blame as they never seemed fully enthralled, even during mega-hits like “Heroes,” “China Girl” and “Blue Jean.” Bowie asked, “Is it too early in the evening to do a sing-along?” I think, perhaps, it was too early in the week. The Fleet Center wasn’t completely sold out, but I expected more screaming from the diverse crowd. Tabling for Amnesty International before the show*, I met glamorous young women, a local politician, Goths, a woman who has seen too many of Bowie’s shows to count in the 30 years she has been a fan, students, families with young children, and a motorcycle couple. People sang along (rather half-heartedly) on “All the Young Dudes,” and I, personally, was screaming my head off for “I’m Afraid of Americans,” which I was thrilled to hear, but when Bowie tried to get a sing-along started for “China Girl,” hardly anyone took the bait. “That was f*cking tragic!” Bowie exclaimed, adding, “OK, I’ll sing that one if you promise to sing the rest of them.” The response seemed rather lackluster even during “Rebel, Rebel,” the first hit Bowie played. He was still wearing his leather jacket at that point, so maybe people were holding their cheers until he disrobed to reveal the nicest set of arms I have ever seen on a man. ** It’s understandable that artists want to play songs from their new albums. Heck, Bowie is probably really sick of playing “Fame,” but he has to do it because that’s what sells tickets. However, during the twelve (12!) songs I wasn’t familiar with, the crowd looked dazed and uninterested. “Cactus,” a Pixies cover that appears on Heathen, is nice but a bit bland, as were “The Loneliest Guy,” (a total buzz kill) “Looking for Water,” the acoustic “Days,” and Jonathan Richman (a Jew Who Rocks) cover “Pablo Picasso,” all from Reality. 1979’s “Fantastic Voyage” also received a lukewarm response. The Fleet Center, a hockey and basketball arena, has rather poor acoustics, and I’m sure that all of these songs would have been much more impressive in a different venue. “The Man who Sold the World,” was lovely, but “Heroes” started slowly and never quite reached the triumphant heights that the recorded version attains. Unfortunately, Bowie played “Blue Jean” and “Ashes to Ashes,” both of which I usually skip over on the Greatest Hits CD, but he didn’t play “Changes,” “Modern Love,” or “Young Americans,” three of my favorites. A highlight of the show was bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, who looked stunning in combat boots and an African-inspired dress. She sang the Freddy Mercury parts of “Under Pressure” with conviction and added impressive, synth-sounding vocal effects on the brilliant “I’m Afraid of Americans.” The rest of the band, apart from the lead guitarist who looked like the love child of Keith Richards and Sid Vicious, didn’t make much of an impression on me, and Bowie hardly interacted with them. The pop star mainly stayed at the front of the stage with the band a comfortable distance behind him, but he occasionally pranced along the catwalks that lined the simple stage. I was expecting more theatrics and fancy lighting from the former glam rocker, but Bowie’s Reality Tour is decidedly stripped down with just a few wispy, dead branches hanging above the stage for decoration, three TV screens above the stage, and a giant one behind it that showed images that reminded me of a screensaver. The only hint at his former personae was that he wore a sparkly jean jacket for one song. After the final song, the giant screen flashed BOWIE in huge letters, but I would have liked to see more dramatic effects in keeping with his cult of personality. Bowie saved two of his biggest crowd-pleasers for the encore, ending with a bang: “Ziggy Stardust,” featuring that scorching guitar riff. The penultimate song was the rollicking “Suffragette City,” during which the fans belted out, “Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am!” It was rather ironic since Bowie had kept us going for nearly 150 minutes. Bowie's Setlist for Boston - March 30th, 2004 1 Rebel Rebel 2 Hang On To Yourself 3 New Killer Star 4 Fame 5 Cactus 6 Fantastic Voyage 7 All The Young Dudes 8 China Girl 9 Reality 10 The Man Who Sold The World 11 The Loneliest Guy 12 Hallo Spaceboy 13 Sunday 14 Heathen (The Rays) 15 Under Pressure 16 Sound And Vision 17 Days 18 Quicksand 19 Looking For Water 20 Blue Jean 21 Ashes To Ashes 22 Pablo Picasso 23 I'm Afraid Of Americans 24 Heroes (Encore) 25 Five Years 26 Suffragette City 27 Ziggy Stardust ________________ * David Bowie is a big supporter for Amnesty, so we got to see the concert for free! After we finished gathering petitions, a kind usher found me a seat in the first riser section to the right of the stage. When Bowie went out onto the catwalks on my side, I was about 25 or 30 feet away from him! ** I didn’t even find him attractive before last night! I don’t know what happened. He was just so hot! And he’s older than my dad!  |
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