David Bowie 1997 10 08 The Chilli Pepper Club Fort Lauderdale Florida USA

David Bowie - 1997-10-08 - The Chilli Pepper Club - Fort Lauderdale - Florida - USA
Setlist
Dead Man Walking
Quicksand
The Supermen
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Waiting For The Man
My Death
The Jean Genie
Strangers When We Meet
I'm Afraid Of Americans
Seven Years In Tibet
Fashion
Looking For Satellites
Fame
The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)
Under Pressure
The Hearts Filthy Lesson
Hallo Spaceboy
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Little Wonder
The Last Thing You Should Do
Battle For Britain (The Letter)
V2 Schneider
Telling Lies
White Light White Heat
O Superman
Moonage Daydream
Queen Bitch
Outside
Stay (fades out)

REVIEW BY Post Punk Monk


The band that night was the same one that we had seen on the Outside Tour two years earlier. If it was a real gift getting to see Mike Garson play in an intimate environment like this one, then the effect of seeing Bowie relate to his audience and the music in a space where he was only 25 feet in front of you was a revelation. The human scale of the show was the furthest thing from the hit-the-marks professionalism of the earlier shows I’d caught in 1990 and 1995. As adequate as they were, they were acts of commerce strained through the art filter. This, instead, was an act of communion and good fellowship. It was radically different seeing David Bowie really having a good time at his own show.
The concert started out acoustic and low energy to work up to a frenzied pace by the end of the first set. The music morphed from acoustic rock into art rock before taking off toward the drum and bass that had informed his latest album. When it peaked with “Little Wonder” the band left the stage but told us that it was only a “bathroom break.” Sure enough, they were back in a minute or two and began the first encore with my favorite “Aladdin Sane” song, “Panic In Detroit.” I was surprised to hear “V-2 Schneider” even in its compromised Dao Jones Index version, but what really seemed unprecedented that evening was the excellent cover version the band did of Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman.” When the laughing loop started off the song, I was thinking “it can’t be…” but it was. Bassist Gail Ann Dorsey held the lead vocals; giving her the lead mic for the second time that night following her duet with Bowie on “Under Pressure.” The next two songs were a raucous “White Light/White Heat” followed by my favorite “Ziggy Stardust” track, “Moonage Daydream.” Not a song I could have ever imagined hearing! Surely that was the evenings end as the band exited the stage?
The fact is, that after the two hour mark, I was prepared for the show to end at any time and when it didn’t, each song played became akin to a special event of a sort. The thousand people in the sweaty confines of The Chili Pepper got to see the crack band doing excellent work and the guy with the biggest smile on his face of all was probably David Bowie himself. He had successfully achieved his aims of jettisoning his 80 world-straddeling pop baggage and integrated a set comprised almost 40/40 between 70s classics and deep cuts and his modern output; along with well-considered and surprising covers and experimentation like the “Is It Any Wonder” version of “Fame” filling in the cracks.

The next day we could still not believe what we had been given. My friend Elisa had never seen Bowie before [she also passed on the “Glass Spider” tour in 1987] in spite of being a huge fan, so that was her only show ever, but like the man says, it was the show to see if you’re only having one! After this concert, I only ever could have seen the “Reality” tour before all the live shows ended for Bowie. I don’t think I could have gone backwards in an arena of thousands of peopleoids with Bowie a small speck onstage trying his level best to project to a vast, dark amoeba of an audience. No, my history of Bowie concerts began large, and impersonal and by the last one, had concentrated their essence to become an impossibly intimate celebration of the best that Bowie had to offer with none of the false steps that had plagued the 80s. That it had been successful could be seen on the beaming face of the man himself.
The Tour band
• David Bowie: vocals
• Reeves Gabrels: guitar, backing vocals
• Gail Ann Dorsey: bass guitar, vocals
• Zachary Alford: drums
• Mike Garson: keyboards, backing vocals

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