New York - June 2000

The morning began with a very early start to queue at the Roseland. Faithful fans had sat outside since the early hours, waiting in anticipation for the show. Coffee and croissants made up the morning constitution while the security at the Roseland shuffled us from one side of the venue to the other and back again. Their lack of coordination and organisation meant that when the doors opened, there was a mad free for all to get in, some fans who waited for 12-14 hours outside didn't even get on the barrier - great! Although a dodgy start to the evening, everyone was in high spirits, anxious and excited for what proved to be a fantastic show.

David came on in black trousers and a coat which proves difficult to describe. It was a kind of rain coat style crossed with a bin liner/trash bag. Still, on Bowie it looked cool so who cares (see the pix). He started off with Wild Is The Wind which he put so much power and effort into it was incredible. Some well known favourites followed, including Golden Years, a great live track, before Absolute Beginners, for the first time since 1987. Great to hear that one again live. David said it was one of his personal favourites from the 80's. The next surprise was This Is Not America, one song which was not expected and worked surprisingly well live. Excellent. It was great to hear Starman, having last performed it in LA and Tokyo in 1990. The Man Who Sold The World was also a refreshing change, differing from the Outside Tour style, this time reflecting the album version.

Holly and Em had a little more to play with this time, with more props and instruments to tamper with. Em had a keyboard while Holly had all kinds of small hand-held bits and pieces, including the guico for The Man Who Sold The World.

Ending the first part of the show was Station To Station which was fantastic with Earl Slick on guitar. This was the fourth track from the Station album and was a crowd pleaser for sure. The first encore consisted mainly of tracks from 'hours...', and a lively Hallo Spaceboy. The second encore treated us to a gem, namely Ziggy Stardust. Ten years since that was sung live too. Heroes was great and the intro to the next song was totally unknown until the familar line "put on your red shoes and dance the blues" came from Bowie's lips, then allowing us to recognise the song as a strange version of Let's Dance. David sang the first part with this new slow, jazz style accompaniment before leaping into the original 1983 hit. Although it is better to hear obscure, album tracks live, this was a welcome member to the set list. Nice to hear it again after so long. I'm Afraid Of Americans rocked the show to its conclusion. Oh, roll on Saturday!