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 but most notably it is the home of The Australian Open tennis championship.. The night of February 26, however, marked the first occasion that David Bowie would play a concert at the arena.
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| Left: Seating Plan for Melbourne concerts (click to enlarge) |
On the first night, Bowie's bassist - Gail Ann Dorsey (a huge tennis fan) - made note of the venue they were playing in by appearing on stage with a giant sized tennis ball.
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| Left: Bowie and Gail Ann Dorsey. Right: Rod Laver when in "tennis mode". |
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.
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| Above: Bowie at Rod Laver. Photo by Adam Dean |
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'.
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| Above: Bowie at Rod Laver. |
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.
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| Above: Bowie at Rod Laver. |
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.
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| Above: Bowie at Rod Laver. |
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.
(Click to Enlarge)
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