David BOWIE 

October 21st  2003, Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy, Paris  

The Setlist :
  1. New Killer Star
  2. Pablo Picasso
  3. All the Young Dudes
  4. I've Been Waiting for You
  5. Fame
  6. Cactus
  7. China Girl
  8. Hallo Spaceboy
  9. Under Pressure
  10. Fashion
  11. Afraid
  12. Days
  13. Sound and Vision
  14. Breaking Glass
  15. Be My Wife
  16. Ashes to Ashes
  17. I'm Afraid of Americans
  18. "Heroes"
  19. Heathen (The Rays)
  20. Always Crashing in the Same Car
  21. Hang onto Yourself
  22. Ziggy Stardust
 This show was my first David Bowie show, and the least I can say is that it is really difficult to write a review about it.

After an extensive Stones Tour all across Europe, this was my first non Stones-related show for months. I couldn't help but compare the stage to the one used by the Stones for their arena shows.
The screens were great, but they were only used on approx. half the songs. When used, they mostly were a part of the décor, illustrating a specific athmosphere for a song, more than giving the audience the opportunity of seeing closeups of the musicians.

The stage itself was somewhat classical, except 2 catwalks on the sides. It is obvious that the stage has been designed for venues smaller than Bercy, because the catwalks were unfortunately not designed to allow David Bowie to come close to  the audience seated in the tiers.

The show itself began with one of the worst opening act I ever saw : the Dandy Warhols. I have no idea if these guys were under the effects of drugs, alcohol or anything else, but they for sure did not have any coffee available in their loge. We had to endure their slow talking, bad articulation, and very repetitive music for about 45 minutes.

David Bowie finally hit the stage at 9:15 PM.
The sound was excellent, but the audience did not go as wild as what I was expecting, especially compared to what happens at the begginning of a Stones show.
David Bowie himself was very cool, smiling, and seemed to be in good dispositions.

The first treat was the tour première of All the Young Dudes.
After very nice versions of I've Been Waiting for You and Fame, I was happy to hear China Girl. The keyboards used on the original version was replaced by a guitar, and this made the song sound like written yesterday.

Under Pressure was a fantastic surprise for me. Freddie Mercury's part was sung by Gail Ann Dorsey, the bass player, and it really sounded very good. The song as followed by Fashion, which had a false start.

A few songs later came Breaking Glass. The band started the song, David Bowie started singing, and after a minute, he stopped everybody, complained about the tempo which was
too slow, and made the band restart the song.

I'm afraid of Americans really rocked the house, but we could notice that Bowie wasn't talking too much to the audience anymore. Heroes really drove the audience crazy and provoked that night's biggest response. Finally Heathen ended the 1st part of the gig, after a performance of less than 90 minutes.

The disappointment really came with the encore. The 3 songs were played without any particular soul, and the show ended up a bit brutally, with David Bowie saying "Excuse me" before making a final bow and leaving the stage.


CLICK HERE for photos
Compared to the 2 hours and 25 minutes of the show given the day before, this 1 hour and 40 minute set was really disappointing.
Of course, the setlist was interesting, the 1st hour was great, but the band made many mistakes, the athmosphere wasn't really hot, and David's voice wasn't at its best.

David Bowie :
Gerry Leonard :
Sterling Campbell :
Earl Slick :
Gail Ann Dorsey :
Catherine Russell :
Mike Garson :

 vocals - guitar
 guitar - backing vocals
 drums
 guitar
 bass - vocals
 keyboards - percussions - backing  vocals
 keyboards