FAN CONCERT REPORTS
New Zealand, Wellington
Westpac Stadium
(Saturday 14th February 2004)
Report: Westpac Stadium
From: Craig Bridge
G'day from New Zealand.
Last night David and the band rocked 30,000 at Wellington's Westpac Stadium during a downpour which lasted throughout the whole concert! It was torrential rain, but did not dampen the fans nor David's delight to be back in NZ for the first time since 1987.
He started with "Thank you for coming out in this shitty weather!", then the setlist (I can't quite remember the exact order) was as follows.
Rebel, Rebel
New Killer Star
Reality
Fame
Afraid
All The Young Dudes ("Is it too early to have a singalong he asked! Then the verdict was "You're pretty damn good.")
China Girl (The NZ model who was in the video was in the front row, but wasn't invited on stage)
Slip Away ("I used to get stoned at 5 o'clock in the afternoon with friends in New York and watch Uncle Floyd.")
Starman (At the end of Slip Away - he brought out his Stylophone "from 1968" and said you may remember this song and sang/played the first line to Space Oddity. Everyone went berserk, but he said "But we're not playing that one" and gave the crowd the finger and a cheeky grin. Then "But we'll play this one for you" and started Starman.)
New Career in a New Town
Cactus (Dedicated to a "little girl in a plastic mac" whom he reckoned looked like a Barbara!)
The Man Who Sold the World
Hello Spaceboy
Under Pressure
Life on Mars
Days
Changes
Sunday
Ashes To Ashes
The Loneliest Guy
Hang on to Yourself ("To make you get warm.")
White Light, White Heat
I'm Afraid of Americans ("Except, not the ones in my band.")
"Heroes" (dedicated "to you lot for standing out in the rain. Bloody hell!")
Encore:
Five Years
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust
He also had fun towelling his face and hair due to the rain and played a mock air guitar with Earl Slick "this is my air towel" he laughed, then drying his hair, said "now it's my hair towel!"
He was in exceptionally good spirits and utterly magnificent. I have seen him 4 times 1983, 90, 95 and now and this was the best yet and I was only metres away from him. My flights to and from Wellington to Auckland were full of Bowie devotees.
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Report: Westpac
From: Harry
Twenty-seven song set from the greatest performer on the planet. The fact that it pissed down didn't seem to bother anybody including the man himself. I have seen Bowie three times and this was the best show handsdown, from Rebel Rebel to Ziggy Stardust the energy level created was awesome. The fact that video screens couldn't be used was a let down but with 100km winds predicted safety was an issue. Bowie's voice is in great shape at the moment and what a band. We were even able to do a bit of celeb spotting with Ge Ling [China Girl] sitting a couple of rows behind us. Of course the fact we had seats in 2nd row, that's right! 'bout six feet away all night might of helped. HA HA thank you B-net pre-sale. Lets hope the Dublin DVD can deliver like this show surely did.
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Report: David Bowie in NZ
From: Kym
David Bowie - some of us remember him as his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, others (aka the younger generation) as Goblin King in Labyrinth. Bowie performed in NZ last weekend, and Kym was there to see him...
When I heard in December, that David Bowie was going to be in the country in 2004, my first thought was - better not be on my wedding day; or I'll call it off! Hee hee hee. My next thought was to make sure I bought my tickets as soon as they were available.
I've had a love affair with Bowie since I saw Labyrinth in the 80s (and no it wasn't the tights, I was seven for goodness sake!). Over the years I've come to appreciate his music even more and I've always said to my Man...'if Bowie comes, I am going. Wild Horses, my friend, could not keep me away.'
And so it was announced that the concert would be held in Wellington (crap...) on 14 February 2004. In order to allow me to fly to the concert; the boy decides not to go with me, and lets me use some of our wedding savings (Ohhh, isn't he SWEET!) and I got my tickets as soon as they went on sale - pitch seats, right behind those people paying $175 for their plastic chair at the Cake Tin!
Well, Saturday night was the night and I was buzzing! It was raining intermittently, which suck quite a bit (we were all snuggled up in jackets and warm jerseys!). However, when Bowie came out it wouldn't have matter if there was flooding! I wasn't going anywhere.
The show was awesome. He was fantastic (drool drool). It continued to rain right through the two hour set; but he reckoned we were fab for sticking around and if we could stand he would too. Yay! He played a lot of songs from his Reality Album; mixed in with some of his older stuff. The only sad thing for me was he didn't say ‘Let's Dance' - but only cos us girls had been singing it all weekend, waiting for the concert! Hee hee hee.
Others mentioned that the sound wasn't very good - as it echoed a lot of the grandstands. Apparently it was worse for the people up there. Unfortunately I can't say I noticed...I was watching BOWIE.
BTW The opening act was Brooke Fraser.
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Report: NZ Bowie concert
From: coko (aka Kirsten K)
Well, I'm just coming back down to "reality" after having seen Bowie in concert in Wellington, New Zealand, on the weekend. That was the first time I've seen him live in concert, and I had all these pre-conceived ideas of what he would be like: of course I expected he would be good and it would be an exciting show, etc. etc. He was everything I expected and heaps more. In fact, I was completely blown away by just how AWESOME he is!!!!
The minute he appeared on stage and launched into "Rebel Rebel", there was incredible excitement, unlike anything I've ever experienced. I went completely mad: screaming, yelling, just about exploding with emotion at finally seeing Bowie, after having been a fan of his for 18 years! And the excitement didn't let up throughout the whole show. It was GREAT!!
Bowie was in a relaxed, happy mood, smiling and joking with us. Not even the constant rain seemed to bother him, and I was impressed by the fact that instead of moving further back under cover with the rest of the band, he just put on an anorak and continued to stand right out the front of the stage, getting wet with all the rest of us! It seems like a lot of mention has been made of the rain, but really it wasn't that bad - I was sitting out in the rain, but didn't even bother with a raincoat. Yes, I got a bit wet, but I was so busy dancing and so focused on Bowie that I think I was quite oblivious to it! Every so often Bowie would ask something like, "how are you doing? Are you okay?", to which there would be a resounding "YES!!" from everyone, and he said as long as we didn't mind the rain he wouldn't mind it either. And he gave us a good long show - 28 songs! And a good mix of old and new. Unfortunately I don't think the majority of the audience appreciated his newer works, which was a bit disappointing. I think most NZers are a bit out of touch with his latest music, and mostly just wanted to hear him do the old classics; but to us "real" fans it was just as thrilling to hear something like "New Killer Star" as it was to hear "Starman".
Highlights of the show for me were the Ziggy songs ("Starman" in particular was awesome because it sounded like just about everyone in the stadium was singing along to it), "Slip Away" (a personal favourite of mine, and also interesting that he explained the background to it), the "Reality" songs, "Under Pressure" (Gail Ann was terrific), "All the Young Dudes"... well, the whole show was one huge highlight really!! There's a lot of things that I will always remember about the concert: the sheer excitement and fun, the precision of the band, the cool little video clips, etc. But most of all just Bowie's obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment of the whole thing, his incredible voice which was better than I ever expected, and the fact that when he was on the stage I just could not take my eyes off him - there is definitely something very special about him. He is cool beyond belief!!
So yes, it was a most enjoyable show! And I'm thrilled to finally be able to say, "I've seen David Bowie in concert"! The only downside to all of this is now the excitement is all over and the realization is hitting me that he will probably never come to NZ again and that may well be the only time I ever see him. :-( But I'm glad that I got to see him when he's probably at his best that he will ever be - I really think that he's in tremendous form right now, so happy and enjoying himself, so it was a good time to see him.
(A Reality Pacific Rim Tour 2004)