Melbourne Concerts, Feb 26-27, 2004

The 14,820 capacity Rod Laver Arena had the honour of staging two back-to-back Reality concerts.

Built in 1988, the venue is well aquainted with international rock acts. The night of February 26, however, marked the first occasion that David Bowie would play a concert at the arena.


Seating Plan for Melbourne concerts (click to enlarge)


On the first night, Bowie's bassist - Gail Ann Dorsey (a huge tennis fan) - acknowledged the venue as the centre for The Australian Open. At one point, she appeared on stage with a giant sized tennis ball.



Early in the concert, Bowie noticed a girl wearing a tiara in the front rows and later on, he addressed more people for their 'very cool outfits'. Bowie proceeded to play a solid show even if there were no new songs added from the previous downunder concerts.



Finally, Bowie closed the first night with a triple-header from Ziggy. Having already played 'Hang On To Yourself' and 'Starman' earlier in the set, Bowie stood up to the mic and sang 'Five Years', 'Suffragete City' and 'Ziggy Stardust'.



On the second night in Melbourne, Bowie opened as usual with 'Rebel Rebel' and 'New Killer Star' but then announced he'd done some sprucing up of the setlist. Right away came the opening strains of 'Fashion' - a first for the downunder portion of the tour.

A few songs later came 'China Girl' and about the time Bowie would usually announce how poor the audience sounds (as they make a futile attempt to sing the words), Bowie stoped, listened for a while and a look of surprise came over his face. He then announced that Melbourne was the first and only audience in the world capable of singing China Girl correctly.



Following China Girl, two Bowie Downunder members (Bruce and Julie) decided to throw toy marsupials on to stage. It is then Bowie announced that he was being 'rained on' by marsupials before incorporating it into a short news speil and something about the Twilight Zone.



As per the second Sydney concert, Bowie again did 'Let's Dance' first with the slow, jazzy intro before breaking into the full blown rock/pop song most are familiar with.

Later on, Bowie surprised the audience further with two double headers from Heathen and then four back to back numbers from Low. The song 'Never Get Old' and the classic 'Changes' also debuted for the very first time on Australian soil.


Melbourne Photo Gallery :
(Click to enlarge)