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The Duke's Review
Bowie at The Astoria - London England Dec. 2nd 1999
On Thursday, December 2nd 1999 i made my way to London to see Mr. David Bowie play a small venue In Charing Cross Road. I had high expectations and i'm pleased to announce that these expectations were surpassed and more!! After reading comments from other concert-goers, it seems we are all of a like mind. This was by far THE best Bowie gig ever.
On reaching London we made our way to the Virgin Store in Oxford Street where David was appearing to sign copies of 'hours...' and the PC game 'Nomad Soul'.
 
I had ticket number 197, but they could only guarantee the first 60 people would actually get to meet him. I was fairly disappointed as there wasn't much chance of that happening with such a high ticket number. Although of friend of Simones did give me another ticket which was number 97. Better, but i still didn't hold out much hope of meeting him. Still, i had my ticket and that was enough.
After standing outside The Astoria for 2 hours, Simone decided to go back to The Virgin Store to see David. I decided against it because i was certain there wouldn't be enough time for him to get to me. How wrong can you be. One of the women in the line outside The Astoria had ticket number 117- she went and she saw him. I didn't and i could have kicked myself. I'd passed up the chance of meeting db. Another one of my lifes regrets!!!!
4 hours later, freezing cold the doors were finally opened. But not before the police were called because of forged tickets circulating.
It seems some people had bought tickets of touts (scalpers) and weren't going to be allowed in. One women behind us actually had 2 tickets which she bought from the box office but wanted to swap them, because she had balcony tickets, and she ended up with 2 fakes.
Fortunately, whilst she was talking to the police a gentleman approached her with 2 tickets for the show, wanting to sell them, because he couldn't make it to the show, so he sold them to her for the face value. So, there are some nice people about!!
Probably the only disappointment of the night was the fact that there wasn't any merchandise on sale. A program would have been nice, but then it wasn't a proper tour as such. But that's only a tiny complaint.
At 9 o'clock David made his entrance wearing a gorgeous pink shirt, white t-shirt and black trousers.
He looked fantastic!!! He sounded fantastic (even with the after effects of the flu). He was in fine form. Best of all (for me) there was no theatricals, no scenery, nothing to distract you from the sheer spectacle of db.
Just him, his band and 1 hour and 35 minutes of pure heaven. I was totally awestruck and just didn't want it to end. Unfortunately though, with such a large number of songs under his belt, he couldn't play them all. Although everyone seemed satisfied with the set he did play:
1:LIFE ON MARS (1971 - Hunky Dory)
2:WORD ON A WING (1976 - Station to Station)
3:THURSDAYS CHILD (1999 - hours...)
4:ASHES TO ASHES (1980 - Scary Monsters)
5:SURVIVE (1999 - hours...)
6:CANT HELP THINKING ABOUT ME (1966 - Early On 1964-1966)
7:CHINA GIRL (1983 - Let's Dance)
8:ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR (1977 - Low)
9:SOMETHING IN THE AIR (1999 - hours...)
10:DRIVE-IN SATURDAY (1972 - Aladdin Sane)
11:STAY (1976 - Station to Station)
12:SEVEN (1999 - hours...)
13:CHANGES (1971 - Hunky Dory)
14:REBEL REBEL (1974 - Diamond Dogs)
15:REPETITION (1979 - Lodger)
16:THE PRETTY THINGS ARE GOING TO HELL (1999 - hours...)
17:CRACKED ACTOR (1972 - Aladdin Sane)
18:I'M AFRAID OF AMERICANS (1997 - Earthling)
Throughout the show David was in a jocular, talkative mood. Even when his microphone came unplugged at the start of Stay. And wearing a feather boa that was thrown on stage for Drive-In Saturday (i think). And one lucky person ended up with a 'snot' filled tissue which David threw into the crowd after blowing his nose!!!!
 It seems the celebrities were out in force (although i didn't actually see any). But they included: Paul McCartney, Boy George (in a panda print topper), Neil Tennant, Pete Townsend, Skunk Ananse (i dont know whether i've spelt that right), Gary Numan, Ben Elton, Sir Bob Geldof, Richard E. Grant, Norman Cook, Billy Bragg, Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, and others.
All in all, it was a fabulous gig. THE best gig i have ever seen. Everything about it was perfect. I think everyone who went will tell you the same.
To all those who didn't or couldn't go, we were thinking about you and hopefully the next time he does a 'proper' tour (soon please, David!!!!) you'll all be able to see him.
Lastly, just a HUGE thank you to David for one of the best nights of my life (i'm just sorry i didn't get to meet you), but i do feel fortunate at just being there as there were so many who weren't so fortunate.
-the_thinwhiteduke
this page created by CrystalTJapan 12/04/99
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