A Reality Tour

History

Bowie announced the tour in June 2003, intending to play to over a million people across 17 countries, and was billed as his first major tour since the Outside Tour of 1995. Bowie promoted this tour with appearances on primetime television shows such as The Tonight Show and on AOL Sessions. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie's career.

Performance

Bowie sought to perform in the format of a stadium concert with less focus on elaborate staging and more focus on the musicians in his band. The stage featured a number of platforms, some extending into the audience, as well as multiple video-screens projecting artistic images and live footage of the concert along with many colored lights for effects. The stage was typically placed at one end of the stadium or arena with seating in the stands or on the field itself with a back-stage area on the far side of the stage.

The musicians were dressed in casual but colorful outfits; each musician had a set of outfits in different colors, such as Bowie's cut-off shirt and neckerchief or Gail Ann Dorsey's dress. Musicians were free to move about the stage as their instruments permitted with wireless amplification, though Bowie and Dorsey interacted most often as part of the acts.

Each concert began with an introduction on the main video-screen, during which the band would enter the stage and prepare the opening number. After the opener, Bowie would greet the audience with the flexible line, "Hello, [city name], you crazy bunch motherfuckers" as a sign of welcoming. The performances, between the somewhat staged pieces, were informal often with a dialog between Bowie and his audience, jokes, band introductions, and the occasional "Happy Birthday To You".

Repertoire

The set list included tracks spanning Bowie's 30 plus years in the music business, from The Man Who Sold the World (1970) all the way to Reality (2003), along with collaborations such as "Sister Midnight" (originally from The Idiot (1977) by Iggy Pop) and "Under Pressure" (released as a single (1981) by Bowie and Queen later found on Hot Space released the following year), and snippets and teasers of Bowie classics such as "Space Oddity" and "Golden Years". There is a bit more focus, however, on tracks from the albums released since the Earthling World Tour in 1997: Heathen (2002), and Reality. The only exception from his latest albums is Hours (1999); no tracks from this album were included, possibly due to poor reception of the album. Other albums with no appearance included David Bowie (1969), the cover album Pin Ups (1973), the ill-received release Never Let Me Down (1987), the albums produced with the band Tin Machine (Tin Machine (1989) and Tin Machine II (1991)) and Black Tie White Noise (1993).

A notable inclusion on the tour were the tracks from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), usually performed as the final encores. "Ziggy Stardust" was nearly always the finale of each concert.

The inclusion of tracks from Let's Dance (1983) and Tonight (1984) was also notable, considering a fan tendency to reject the albums as "too commercial", seeing the return of the singles "Modern Love", "Blue Jean", "Let's Dance", "China Girl" (originally from The Idiot (1977) by Pop), and a semi-acoustic version of "Loving the Alien".

Overall, the band had rehearsed around 60 songs for the tour.

Contemporary reviews

The 24 January 2004 show in Vancouver BC was reviewed positively, with the reviewer saying that "with Bowie's near-flawless vocals, brilliant band, and smartly executed show, you wind up with one of the finest old-school rock gigs the Canucks’ home rink has ever hosted." The review of the next show in Seattle on 25 January 2004 was similarly positive, saying Bowie, "still every inch a superstar ... still oozes charm and sex appeal" and called the setlist a "celebration of his whole body of work."

Tour incidents

The 6 May 2004, a performance at the James L. Knight Center, Miami, Florida was cancelled after lighting technician Walter "Wally Gator" Thomas fell to his death prior to Bowie going onstage.

The show in Oslo on 18 June 2004 saw Bowie being struck in the left eye with a lollipop thrown by a member of the audience.

Originally scheduled to play in 24 countries over a ten-month period, the tour was curtailed after the Hurricane Festival performance in Scheeßel, Germany on 25 June 2004, as a result of Bowie being diagnosed with an acutely blocked artery that required an angioplasty procedure. In 2016, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, who was on stage with Bowie, recalled what happened at the end of the tour:

[At the second-to-last show, in Prague] I remember we were playing the song "Reality." He was supposed to be singing at the very end of the song, and he wasn't. I was kind of watching him from behind. Everyone was soaking wet because it was really hot in there, but his shirt was just drenched. He was just soaking wet and holding the microphone out with his left hand straight out. And he was just standing there, posturing, but not singing. And I was thinking, "Why is he not singing the last bit?"

Then he looked over his shoulder at me and he was just white, pale, translucent almost. His eyes were wide and he was kind of gasping for air a little bit, having trouble catching his breath. And then I remember looking down at the audience, and I could see their expressions in the front row, looking up at him, had changed. They went from joy and dancing to looking kind of concerned. At that point, his bodyguard and helper guy saw the same thing. He ran onto the stage and took him off. ... We went back on and played a few more songs. He asked for a stool and he sat down. He just hated to cancel shows. There were some nights he was so sick he had a bucket on the side of the stage where he'd go between songs to puke, but he never wanted to cancel anything. And we didn't know he was having a heart attack until four or five days later.

[At the last show, at the Hurricane Festival in Hamburg, Germany] I remember walking down the stairs behind him after we finished. When he got to the bottom, he actually collapsed. He was so tired and so sick. They rushed him to the hospital and we sat and waited in Hamburg for a few days, and that was the end. The last show.

Live recordings

A DVD video of the Point Theatre, Dublin performances of 2003 was released as A Reality Tour in 2004. A CD of the same performances was released as A Reality Tour in 2010.

Tour band

David Bowie – vocals, guitars, stylophone, harmonica

Earl Slick – guitar

Gerry Leonard – guitar, backing vocals

Mark Plati – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals

Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, backing vocals

Sterling Campbell – drums

Mike Garson – keyboards, piano

Catherine Russell – keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Tour dates

On 19 August 2003 Bowie performed a one-off show in Poughkeepsie, New York at The Chance, as a warm up show.

On 8 September 2003 Bowie performed a show at the Riverside Studios in London which was a 'satellite show'. This was a live performance beamed via satellite to cinemas and theatres across Europe and due to time delay the following day across Asia, Australia, North and South America.

Festivals and other miscellaneous performances

^A This concert was a part of "Isle of Wight Festival" ^B This concert was a part of "Bergen Festival" ^C This concert was a part of "Norwegian Wood Festival" ^D This concert was a part of "Provinssirock" ^E This concert was a part of "Hurricane Festival"

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

Songs

Notation:

^DVD/CD Included on A Reality Tour (film) and A Reality Tour (live album)

^CD Included on the live album

^iTunes Available as Digital download bonus tracks (iTunes) for the live album