FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/LATHUM NELSON
BOWIE CAPTIVATES OVERSEAS AUDIENCES IN ADVANCE OF AREA2 TOUR IN THE U.S.
As North American audiences get ready for DAVID BOWIE's July 28-August 16 performances on the Area2 tour, he has been delivering one bracing performance after another overseas. It all started June 29 at his sold-out London Royal Festival Hall gig as part of the Meltdown Festival, for which he was the director. "To rapturous applause," according to an NME review headlined "BOWIE BRILLIANT!" he performed two albums in their entirety--his landmark 1977 Low and the new critically hailed HEATHEN, which had 14 top 15 chart debuts worldwide, including the U.S.--plus various classic songs. Witnessing the concert were Bono, the Cure's Robert Smith, Supergrass, Siouxsie Sioux, Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes and Simon LeBon and Kylie Minogue, as well as Brian Eno, who notably had the chance to hear Low, the album he collaborated on, performed live. One of BOWIE's encores was "White Light/White Heat," the Velvet Underground gem, with all of the Dandy Warhols joining him onstage.
Elsewhere, 55,000 ecstatic fans turned out to see BOWIE headline the July 7 Beach Festival in Belgium, marking the biggest attendance ever for the festival. The audience cheered BOWIE as he performed classics and material from HEATHEN, with fans impressively singing all the words to the new album's "Everyone Says Hi" and "Slow Burn." While Jamiriquoi's Jason Kay watched the Belgium show from the wings, No Doubt and the White Stripes were at the side of the stage for BOWIE's performance at Norway's July 3 Quart Festival.
BOWIE's overseas dates end July 18 at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland, after which he returns for the launch of Area2 tour, starting July 28 in Washington, DC and visiting 12 cities before ending August 16 in Seattle. The trek also features tour founder Moby along with Busta Rhymes, Carl Cox and many others.
Here are the Area2 Tour dates:
DATE CITY VENUE Sun 7/28 Washington, DC Nissan Pavilion Tue 7/30 Philadelphia, PA Tweeter Center Wed 7/31 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center Fri 8/2 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach Sat 8/3 Boston, MA Tweeter Center Mon 8/5 Toronto, CAN Molson Amphitheatre Tue 8/6 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Center Thu 8/8 Chicago, IL Tweeter Center Sat 8/10 Denver, CO Pepsi Arena - City Lights Tue 8/13 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Amphitheatre Wed 8/14 San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre Fri 8/16 Seattle, WA The Gorge
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