Gig memories: David Bowie at Wembley in 1995

David Bowie
Morrissey
Wembley Arena, 18 November 1995

I recently discovered an old review I wrote for this show at the time, written on a school computer. It's full of teen pretension and I completely dismiss old rock stars (aside from Neil Young funnily enough) and Bowie's 80s output. I don't really know why because I love a lot of Bowie's 80s work (particularly the Scary Monsters and Let's Dance albums and even the first Tin Machine record) but I was the midst of my punk rock phase then and just a snotty kid. But even that couldn't stop me loving Bowie.
Since my older brother came home with the Bowie compilation Changesbowie years before I had been in awe of Bowie's ability to make pop music that was cool, catchy and completely unique. For the longest time I really thought he was the ultimate pop star and, thinking about it, I probably still do even though I don't listen to him as much these days but there's no doubting the utter brilliance and timelessness of songs such as Ashes To Ashes and Heroes. I seriously doubt any of Lady GaGa's songs will survive the years like those have and will continue to do.

When I saw David Bowie live for the first (and only) time in 1995, he was having one of his many comebacks. The late 80s had been a tough time for him critically at least and his new album Outside was being lauded as his best album in years, a return to form if you will. It's definitely a great album: there's brilliantly written pop as well as industrial-influenced rock songs and an arty but entertaining narrative told by Bowie as different characters between the songs. Not surprisingly, although being of its time, it still holds up. The live show reflected this new, once again, reinvented dirtier, punk rock, industrial Bowie, complete with smudged eye-liner, off-white clothes, while the set and staging reflected the theatrical aspect of his new concept album. It was probably the perfect time to see Bowie live, for someone not old enough to have seen him in his 70s and 80s heyday, because this tour seemed to encompass a lot of what is great about Bowie: reinvention, lots of energy, great songs and great performances with a theatrical side. Despite my dismissal of him as "an old dude" in my foolish teenage review, Bowie was still young (in his late 40s at that point), lively and hugely relevant with the likes of the then very hip Suede bowing at his altar. In fact one of his disciples was actually supporting him on this tour, another British music legend, Morrissey.

I must admit I've never been a huge fan of Morrissey or his old beloved band The Smiths but I have many times witnessed the fanatical devotion to him: every fan I've ever encountered simply worships him. So to see him live was definitely an interesting experience. He is without a doubt a great performer and his band were superb. He had at that point just released his fifth solo album, Southpaw Grammar, so there was a lot of material from that, but the thing I remember most was the audience reaction from his fans. There were a lot of people there solely for Morrissey and they went crazy at his every move. At one point a crazed fan managed to make it onto the stage holding daffodils (as Morrissey used to do back in The Smiths days) and flung himself at his idol, hugging him as if his life depended upon it before the security rushed on and dragged him off. That fan is my one abiding memory of Morrissey. It was amusing, slightly baffling (since I'm not a huge fan) but exciting at the same time.

Bowie though was way more than mere curiosity for me, I was hugely excited to see him live and it was made even better by the fact that somehow I had managed to get excellent fifth row seats for the last night of a four-night run at Wembley Arena. It's always thrilling to get good seats but I don't know why, maybe because I had never had ones as good as that before that night, we were especially excited by how close we were to the stage (and to Bowie!) and just how good the view was. Stuff like that spoils you, I tell ya, I've been obsessed with getting good seats to shows since.

As expected the show was heavy on material from Outside but really, since it was a great album that I loved, that was certainly no problem for me and an artist like David Bowie was never going to resort to nostalgia act (thankfully), supplying just the hits to the casual fan. And starting with The Motel all the new songs sounded great, in particular The Heart's Filthy Lesson, Hello Spaceboy and my particular favourite Strangers When We Meet. Since Outside itself was a concept album there were lots of theatrical moments on stage too Bowie reciting parts of the narrative and making use of a table and chair placed on the stage to act out the songs, sitting wearily at the start of A Small Plot Of Land for instance before dramatically rising and approaching the audience, loudly singing, voice full of emotion above the discordant music. It was great stuff, beautifully Bowie in fact.

It wasn't all new material though, we certainly weren't deprived of classic material from Look Back In Anger to DJ and Boys Keep Swinging. A lot of the old material got a more modern makeover though and there were completely mutant, mad versions of Andy Warhol and Scary Monsters (And Super Freaks), while The Man Who Sold The World became a spacey, trip-hop inspired number, perhaps to differentiate it from Nirvana's recent acoustic cover which at that point was being played all the time.

But what I remember the most was the fantastic encore. Starting with a surprise rendition of Under Pressure, his huge, huge hit with Queen with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking over Freddie Mercury's part, the highlight was without doubt a tremendous, spirit-lifting version of Moonage Daydream. I actually managed to find a clip of this exact performance on YouTube but it doesn't really do the experience of being there and hearing it live that night justice. While a lot of the show had been modern, cool and theatrical, this was pure rock and roll joy, like a step back to his greatest moments in the 70s. It was wonderful to hear the Bowie of old among the Bowie of new. He may be the king of reinvention but he's certainly never forgotten about his past either and it was a glorious moment.

Apparently Bowie hasn't toured since 2004 (nor has he released an album since 2003's excellent Reality). I can certainly understand why he's decided on a more quiet life over the past seven years given that he is now in his 60s, had a heart operation a while back, has a young child and has never really taken much time off before in his 40 year-plus career, but I hope that's not it for Bowie. But if it is I'm definitely glad I got to see him live that one time: he lived up to all my expectations of what a perfect pop star is and more.