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David Bowie 1995-1996 Outside Tour

The Outside Tour, with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails co-headlining, opened on 14 September 1995 at Meadows Music Theatre – Hartford, CT with Prick as support band. On selected dates Reeves Gabrels performed songs from his album, The Sacred Squall of Now in addition to performing with Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie. The opening of the concert tour preceded the release of the 1. Outside album which was released on 25 September 1995.

In a 2012 Rolling Stone reader’s poll, the tour (pairing Nine Inch Nails with Bowie) was named one of the top 10 opening acts in rock history.

Tour history

This tour was Bowie’s first since he retired his hits with his previous Sound+Vision Tour (1990). Bowie said, “We’re going to play some older material, sure, but not obvious things. I found, while rehearsing for the [Outside] tour, that older songs I haven’t played for years suddenly fit in with this new material quite well – things like … “Joe the Lion.” So I’m quite looking forward to it.” Other songs from Bowie’s back catalog that he performed during the tour include “Scary Monsters”, “Look Back in Anger”, “Andy Warhol” and “Breaking Glass”.

Bowie spoke on why he chose to tour with Nine Inch Nails:

I personally did like the combination of NIN and me, but my fans didn’t. Bad luck!! It also was an extremely young audience, between about 12 and 17 years old. My starting point was simply: I’ve just made an adventurous album, what can I do now to turn the concerts as adventurous. Looking at it in that way, it seemed logic to confront myself with the NIN audience. I knew it would be hard to captivate them by music they never heard, by an artist whose name was the only familiar thing.

Trent Reznor has gone on record numerous times as being heavily influenced by David Bowie,[5] and further collaborated with Bowie by remixing “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” and later on 1997’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” single. When asked in 1995 if his album Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered, “the band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland call The Young Gods … I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails.”

Set design

For the tour, Bowie went with a modest stage design (“some banners, some mannequins”) and avoided the theatrical presentation like his previous Glass Spider Tour in 1987 and Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.

Performance note

Bowie opened an interview for the tour with USA Today on the opening day of the tour, on 14 September 1995 with the question “How do you commit commercial suicide? Well, you do this: play songs from an album that hasn’t been released yet, and complement it with obscure songs from the past that you’ve never done on stage.”

During the tour, as Nine Inch Nails reached the conclusion of their performance, the two bands played together with both Nine Inch Nails and Bowie and his band performing “Subterraneans”, “Hallo Spaceboy” and “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, followed by two Nine Inch Nails songs “Reptile” and “Hurt” after which Bowie continued with his own set alone.

Early in the tour, the “almost 100% Nails audience” provided a challenge to Bowie, who said “In those first weeks, we had to adjust emotionally to the fact that we were going to be challenged every night to get in sync with what people were coming to the show for. But then you start to recognize that if you’re going to continue, you’d better enjoy what you’re doing. The more we did that, the more it communicated to the audience. That’s how it went from survival to being a good tour.”

Other opening acts

For the European leg of the tour, Morrissey was enlisted to provide support until his disappearance before the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre performance on 29 November 1995. The support slot was filled on later dates by The Gyres, Echobelly, Placebo and a variety of local bands.

Live recordings

The 13 December 1995 performance at the National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) – Birmingham, England, billed as the Big Twix Mix Show with Alanis Morissette, Lightning Seeds and Echobelly supporting was filmed by BBC TV with excerpts broadcast at a later date.

Tour band

• David Bowie – vocals
• Reeves Gabrels – guitar
• Carlos Alomar – guitar, backing vocals
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, vocals
• Zack Alford – drums
• Mike Garson – piano
• Peter Schwartz – synthesizer, musical director
• George Simms – backing vocals, keyboards

Tour dates

The Outside Tour, with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails co-headlining, opened on 14 September 1995 at Meadows Music Theatre – Hartford, CT with Prick as support band. On selected dates Reeves Gabrels performed songs from his album, The Sacred Squall of Now in addition to performing with Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie.

The opening of the concert tour preceded the release of the 1. Outside album which was released on 25 September 1995.

In a 2012 Rolling Stone reader’s poll, the tour (pairing Nine Inch Nails with Bowie) was named one of the top 10 opening acts in rock history.

Tour history

This tour was Bowie’s first since he retired his hits with his previous Sound+Vision Tour (1990). Bowie said, “We’re going to play some older material, sure, but not obvious things. I found, while rehearsing for the [Outside] tour, that older songs I haven’t played for years suddenly fit in with this new material quite well – things like … “Joe the Lion.” So I’m quite looking forward to it.” Other songs from Bowie’s back catalog that he performed during the tour include “Scary Monsters”, “Look Back in Anger”, “Andy Warhol” and “Breaking Glass”.

Bowie spoke on why he chose to tour with Nine Inch Nails:

I personally did like the combination of NIN and me, but my fans didn’t. Bad luck!! It also was an extremely young audience, between about 12 and 17 years old. My starting point was simply: I’ve just made an adventurous album, what can I do now to turn the concerts as adventurous. Looking at it in that way, it seemed logic to confront myself with the NIN audience. I knew it would be hard to captivate them by music they never heard, by an artist whose name was the only familiar thing.

Trent Reznor has gone on record numerous times as being heavily influenced by David Bowie, and further collaborated with Bowie by remixing “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” and later on 1997’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” single. When asked in 1995 if his album Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered, “the band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland call The Young Gods … I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails.”

Set design

For the tour, Bowie went with a modest stage design (“some banners, some mannequins”) and avoided the theatrical presentation like his previous Glass Spider Tour in 1987 and Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.

Performance notes

Bowie opened an interview for the tour with USA Today on the opening day of the tour, on 14 September 1995 with the question “How do you commit commercial suicide? Well, you do this: play songs from an album that hasn’t been released yet, and complement it with obscure songs from the past that you’ve never done on stage.”

During the tour, as Nine Inch Nails reached the conclusion of their performance, the two bands played together with both Nine Inch Nails and Bowie and his band performing “Subterraneans”, “Hallo Spaceboy” and “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, followed by two Nine Inch Nails songs “Reptile” and “Hurt” after which Bowie continued with his own set alone.

Early in the tour, the “almost 100% Nails audience” provided a challenge to Bowie, who said “In those first weeks, we had to adjust emotionally to the fact that we were going to be challenged every night to get in sync with what people were coming to the show for. But then you start to recognize that if you’re going to continue, you’d better enjoy what you’re doing. The more we did that, the more it communicated to the audience. That’s how it went from survival to being a good tour.”

Other opening acts

For the European leg of the tour, Morrissey was enlisted to provide support until his disappearance before the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre performance on 29 November 1995. The support slot was filled on later dates by The Gyres, Echobelly, Placebo and a variety of local bands.

Live recordings

The 13 December 1995 performance at the National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) – Birmingham, England, billed as the Big Twix Mix Show with Alanis Morissette, Lightning Seeds and Echobelly supporting was filmed by BBC TV with excerpts broadcast at a later date.

Tour dates

North America

14 September 1995 Hartford,Connecticut,United States,Meadows Music Theatre

16 September 1995 Mansfield,Massachusetts,Great Woods Arts Center

17 September 1995 Hershey,Pennsylvania,Hersheypark Stadium

20 September 1995 Toronto,Ontario,Canada,Skydome

22 September 1995 Camden, New Jersey,United States Blockbuster Center

23 September 1995 Burgettstown,Pennsylvania,Star Lake Amphitheater

27 September 1995 East Rutherford,New Jersey,Meadowlands Arena

28 September 1995 East Rutherford,New Jersey,Meadowlands

30 September 1995 Cuyahoga Falls,Ohio,Blossom Music Center

01 October 1995 Tinley Park,Illinois,New World Music Theatre

03 October 1995 Auburn Hills,Michigan,The Palace of Auburn Hills

04 October 1995 Columbus,Ohio,Polaris Amphitheater

06 October 1995 Bristow,Virginia,Nissan Pavilion

07 October 1995 Raleigh,North Carolina,Walnut Creek Amphitheatre

09 October 1995 Atlanta,Georgia,Lakewood Amphitheatre

11 October 1995 Maryland Heights, Missouri,Riverport Amphitheatre

13 October 1995 Dallas,Texas,Starplex Amphitheatre

14 October 1995 Austin,TexasSouth Park Meadows

16 October 1995 Denver,Colorado,McNichols Sports Arena

18 October 1995 Phoenix,Arizona,Desert Sky Pavilion

19 October 1995 Las Vegas,Nevada,Thomas & Mack Center

21 October 1995 Mountain View,California,Shoreline Amphitheatre

24 October 1995 Tacoma,Washington,Tacoma Dome

25 October 1995 Portland,Oregon,The Rose Garden

28 October 1995 Inglewood,California,Great Western Forum

29 October 1995 Inglewood,California,Great Western Forum

31 October 1995 Hollywood,CA , Hollywood Palladium

Europe

14 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena

15 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena

17 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena

18 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena

20 November 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre

21 November 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre

23 November 1995 Belfast, Northern Ireland ,King’s Hall  (The Belfast Show Was Postponed as he played the MTV EMA awards show instead – The rescheduled date was 05/12/95 and the opening / support act was local band Peacefrog)

24 November 1995 Dublin,Ireland,Point Depot

26 November 1995 Exeter,England,Westpoint Arena

27 November 1995 Cardiff,Wales,Cardiff International Arena

29 November 1995 Aberdeen,Scotland,Exhibition Centre

30 November 1995 Glasgow,Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre

03 December 1995 Sheffield,England,Sheffield Arena

04 December 1995 Sheffield Arena (Cancelled)

05 December 1995 Belfast Northern,Ireland King’s Hall

06 December 1995 Manchester England (Re-scheduled) Manchester Arena

07 December 1995 Newcastle,upon Tyne Newcastle Arena

08 December 1995 Manchester,Manchester Arena

13 December 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) (Big Twix Mix Show)

17 January 1996 Helsinki Finland,Helsinki Ice Hall

19 January 1996 Stockholm,Sweden,Globe Arena

20 January 1996 Gothenburg,Scandinavium

22 January 1996 Oslo,Norway,Spektrum

24 January 1996 Copenhagen, Denmark,Valby-Hallen

25 January 1996 Hamburg,Germany Sporthalle

27 January 1996 Brussels ,Belgium, Vorst Forest Nationaal

28 January 1996 Utrecht, Netherlands, Prins Van Oranjehall

30 January 1996 Dortmund, Germany, Westfalenhalle

31 January 1996 Frankfurt, Festhalle

01 February 1996 Berlin, Deutschlandhalle

03 February 1996 Prague Czech Republic, Sportovni Hala

04 February 1996 Vienna, Austria, Stadthalle

06 February 1996 Ljubljana ,Slovenia, Hala Tivoli

08 February 1996 Milan ,Italy, Palatrussardi

09 February 1996 Bologna Palasport

11 February 1996 Lyon,France ,Halle Tony Garnier

13 February 1996 Geneva, Switzerland Arena

14 February 1996 Zurich,Hallenstadion

16 February 1996 Amnéville ,France, Le Galaxie

17 February 1996 Lille, Le Zénith

18 February 1996 Rennes,Salle Expos-Aeroport

20 February 1996 Paris,Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy