David Bowie 2004-02-26 Melbourne ,Rod Laver Arena – 1st Night –
Sound Quality Rating
101. Rebel Rebel
102. New Killer Star
103. Fame
104. Cactus
105. Reality
106. All the Young Dudes
107. China Girl
108. Hang On To Yourself
109. The Loneliest Guy
110. The Man Who Sold the World
111. Pablo Picasso
112. Hallo Spaceboy
113. Sunday
114. Heathen (The Rays)
115. band introductions
116. Under Pressure
117. Life on Mars? (incomplete)
218. Slip Away
219. Looking for Water
220. Starman
221. Quicksand
222. Days
223. White Light/White Heat
224. Ashes to Ashes
225. Panic in Detroit
226. I’m Afraid of Americans
227. “Heroes”
encore
228. Try Some, Buy Some
229. Five Years
230. Suffragette City
231. Ziggy Stardust
Label : Down Under Discs
Audio Source : Audience recording
Lineage : Unknown
Taping Gear : Unknown
Taper: Simone Metge ??
Recording Location: Unknown
Total running time : 2:29:28
Sound Quality : Good. Equals record or radio/TV apart from a slight noise and some dullness.
Attendance : 14,820
Artwork : Yes
David Bowie has just stepped off the stage at the Rod Laver Arena, and, as ever, the very lovely Charly has come through with the goods. Apparently David was back in the familiar stage outfit that he’s been wearing throughout A reality Tour. It seems the Zoot may have been a one off.
During the band introduction after Heathen David, accompanied by the band, sang Happy Birthday to Gerry. I have to hold up my hands and admit I’m not sure if it is actually Gerry’s birthday, (can’t find anything online) or whether this was just some kind of private joke?
In the event that it is Gerry’s birthday, perhaps you should take a look at yesterday’s news and go get a Spooky CD and Screwdriver for his birthday fund!
info Bowie DownUnder
The 14,820 capacity Rod Laver Arena had the honour of staging two back-to-back Reality concerts.
Built in 1988, the venue is well acquainted with international rock acts but most notably it is the home of The Australian Open tennis championship. The night of February 26, however, marked the first occasion that David Bowie would play a concert at the arena.
On the first night, Bowie’s bassist – Gail Ann Dorsey (a huge tennis fan) – made note of the venue they were playing in by appearing on stage with a giant sized tennis ball.
Early in the concert, Bowie noticed a girl wearing a tiara in the front rows and later on, he addressed more people for their ‘very cool outfits’. Bowie proceeded to play a solid show even if there were no new songs added from the previous downunder concerts.
Finally, Bowie closed the first night with a triple-header from Ziggy. Having already played Hang On To Yourself and Starman earlier in the set, Bowie approached the mic to sing Five Years, Suffragette City and Ziggy Stardust.
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This is the last of the three uncirculated Bowie 2004 Australian Reality shows that I have.
Two were recorded by myself & this the 3rd one – the first Melbourne gig which was recorded by a now long-disappeared mate of mine G. Long.
He kindly furnished me with a copy from his master a week after the show.
I’ve never seen this source listed on any Bowie bootleg sites so I’m dead set positive this source remains uncirculated until now.
It was the first of two consecutive Melbourne shows held at the Rod Laver Arena.
Four numbers performed tonight, Starman, Slip Away, Heathen (The Rays) & Try Some, Buy Some, were not played in Sydney, the last three being my least favourites tracks from the Heathen & Reality albums so I’m pleased I wasn’t subjected to them in Sydney!
On Slip Away he played a stylophone, a small metal keyboard made of a printed circuit board and played by touching it with a stylus—each note being connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator.
Bowie actually promoted this musical instrument in 1969 with advertisements appearing in UK music magazines around the time of his hit single Space Oddity, in point of actual fact he played the stylophone on that very song.
The first Melbourne show audience were lucky as they were treated to five songs from Bowie’s breakthrough album Ziggy Stardust.
No Bowie instrumental was performed this night.
David’s stage patter once again shows he was in a humorous mood including mucking around with some audience members.
It was also guitarist Gerry Leonard’s birthday today so the band pay tribute by serenading him with a brief rendition of Happy Birthday during the band introductions.
30 songs were played this night, making it the longest of the seven shows on the Australian Tour.
This is a very good recording, with no near the taper solo beat clappers, hardly any chit chat as well, it has only one fault, that being Life On Mars which unfortunately is incomplete.
G.Long did tell me why but seventeen years later on I can’t recall what happened.
If burning to CD-R may I suggest CD 1 Tracks 1 – 17 & CD 2 Tracks 18 – 31
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David Bowie Tour band 2003-2004 A Reality Tour
A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. Bowie retired from performing live in 2006, making this tour his last.
The tour grossed US$46 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing tour of 2004.
The Tour band
• David Bowie – vocals and acoustic guitar
• Earl Slick – lead guitar
• Gerry Leonard – guitar, backing vocals
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, vocals
• Sterling Campbell – drums, percussion
• Mike Garson – keyboards, piano
• Catherine Russell – backing keyboards/backing vocals
Start date 11 June 2002
End date 23 October 2002
