NASHVILLE |DATE: DECEMBER 16, 2003
FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/LATHUM NELSON
DAVID BOWIE
LAUNCHES AMERICAN LEG OF WORLDWIDE ‘A REALITY TOUR’
IN FRONT OF STAR-STUDDED AUDIENCE
Last night, DAVID BOWIE launched the U.S. leg of his worldwide “A REALITY TOUR” at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the site of many of his classic performances over the years. And BOWIE again triumphantly raised the roof there with a sold-out show in front of a star-studded audience that included Iman, Lenny Kravitz, Jude Law, David Byrne, Meg White (White Stripes), Placebo, Laurie Anderson, Q Tip, Interpol, Maxwell, Kim Cattrall, artist Jeff Koons, guitarist/actor Little Steven Van Zant, film director Paul Schrader, multi-media artist Tony Oursler and Tony Visconti.
Visconti–a key BOWIE collaborator going back to the days of The Man Who Sold The World, and albums like Low, Heroes, Lodger and Scary Monsters—co-produced with DAVID his last two albums, 2002’s Heathen and this year’s REALITY, which debuted in the #1 position on Billboard’s Pan European chart and entered the Top 10 in 15 countries. BOWIE’s Madison Square Garden set list included songs from REALITY (among them “New Killer Star,” for which BOWIE has been honored with a Best Male Rock Vocal Grammy nomination) as well as an array of classics and deep album cuts.
BOWIE’s North American tour comes on the heals of his sold-out two-month tour of Europe and the U.K., for which he’s received some of the best live reviews of his career.
“… Bowie, strapped on a guitar for ‘ New Killer Star’ from the new Reality album, before detonating the tough-as-nails title track. Few artists inching up on 60 are making music this vital. Bowie’s insistence on reinvention has made him a peerless artist for decades, but beyond the costume changes and stylistic switch ups is a musician whose talent alone puts him in a very select class among the most elder of rock statesmen. Only Bob Dylan can compare”
The Gazette, Montreal : – 12/15/03 Jordan Zivitz
“Never motivated by half-measures, David Bowie's first world tour proper since 1995 has 17 countries in its sights over a seven-month campaign. On record, too, he is in his most productive form for a decade, with a fine new album, Reality…Bowie is 56, but has an almost teenage enthusiasm and vigour. Rarely can a rock legend have been sighted having such brazen fun with his own past without descending into nostalgia for its own sake…The vast Palais Omnisports, an 18,000-capacity sellout, is the kind of hangar in which good entertaining intentions can fade. But with the sonic choreography of a brilliantly cohesive band, a 135-minute concert became an intimate party.”
Paul Sexton, LONDON TIMES (Paris show review), October 21, 2003
BOWIE is being backed by the same stellar musicians he worked with on the REALITY album and performed with him on the acclaimed Heathen mini-tour: Sterling Campbell (drums), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass/backing vocals), Mike Garson (keyboards), Gerry Leonard (guitar), Earl Slick (guitar) and Catherine Russell (backing keyboards/backing vocals).
“…extraordinary band, too, the best he’s taken on the road in years…Vocally, Bowie is on his best form in ages.”
Molloy Woodcraft, THE OBSERVER (Manchester), November 23, 2003
“Bowie just keeps getting younger. At the rate he’s going, he’ll wind up a teenager again.”
Thierry Coljon, LE SOIR (Antwerp, Belgium), November 2003
“His group…was a perfect arsenal.”
LE MONDE (Paris), October 23, 2003
“…a veteran who is at once part of history and living in the present…35 years into his career, he takes the stage with a formidable six-piece band and gives a generous show.”
SYDSVENSKA DAGBLADET (Sweden)
“David Bowie is one of rock’s greatest entertainers–if not the greatest–and he has an amazing ability to catch and hold an audience. Like few others, he gives each individual member of the audience the feeling that he is singing for him or her alone. But he also manages to create a happy community with songs as the binding force, particularly the essential numbers, which always turn the audience into a jubilant mass choir.”
Uffe Christensen, JYLLANDS (Copenhagen)
“Unpredictable and excellent as ever…Bowie was at one with his powerful group.”
Volker Beherens, KULTUR & MEDIAN (Hamburg)
“…the concert of the year. A triumph…”
Stephan Schutze (Berlin), November 2003
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