A Reality Tour


A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. Bowie retired from performing live in 2006, making this tour his last.
The tour grossed US$46 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing tour of 2004.

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, , 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 all the way to Reality, along with collaborations such as "Sister Midnight" and "Under Pressure", 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, and Reality. The only exception from his latest albums is Hours. Other albums with no appearance included David Bowie, the cover album Pin Ups, Never Let Me Down, the albums produced with the band Tin Machine and Tin Machine II ) and Black Tie White Noise.
A notable inclusion on the tour were the tracks from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, usually performed as the final encores. "Ziggy Stardust" was nearly always the finale of each concert.
The inclusion of tracks from Let's Dance and Tonight 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", 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:

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

;Notes
;Cancellations and rescheduled shows

Songs

Notation:
From David Bowie
From The Man Who Sold the World
From Hunky Dory
From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
From Aladdin Sane
From Diamond Dogs
From Young Americans
From Station to Station
From Low
From "Heroes"
From Lodger
From Scary Monsters
From Let's Dance
From Tonight
From Outside
From Earthling
From Heathen
From Reality
Other songs: