i know of one person who went to see bowie last night here in minneapolis but they haven't made a testimonial as to how the show went (can't wait to hear about it, endo!), so i'ma go ahead and post this review from the star tribune...read on:

Review: Bowie has fun with Target Center crowd
Jon Bream, Star Tribune

Published January 12, 2004 BOW12


For his concerts, David Bowie usually chooses an exotic name -- Diamond Dogs Tour, Glass Spider Tour, Serious Moonlight Tour -- and elaborate staging and outfits.

His current trek, which came to Target Center on Sunday, is called "A Reality Tour" because his latest album is "Reality," but also because it's the real Bowie: Spectacle-free, straight-ahead, almost informal. And it was wonderful.

Rock's chameleon king seemed very comfortable in his own skin. He was casual (jeans, tennis shoes, T-shirt and short jacket) but caring, delivering all songs with conviction and conversing with individual fans (such as Steinar with the leather-and-fur viking hat). The most affected aspect was his parted-down-the-middle blond hairdo; but when you've got the best enduring hair in the history of rock 'n' roll, why not have some foppish fun with it?

David Bowie performs at Target Center. Bowie, who turned 57 Thursday, also had fun with the crowd. He invited the 5,500 fans to sing along on the chorus of "All the Young Dudes," the 1972 hit he wrote for Mott the Hoople.

"That was so well executed," he said afterward, "that there's no point in me singing anymore. It's yours." So the excellent six-member band went into the 1983 Bowie hit "China Girl," and he let the fans sing as he sat down on the stage.

After the opening stanza, he stood up, sporting a devilish smile, and interrupted, "That was terrible." He signaled the band to start over, and he took charge and proved that, in concert, he is a better singer than on CD/record -- more intense, more dynamic, with more range and power. He sang as if the songs mattered to him as much as they obviously did to his fans.

Whether a Bowie devotee from his '70s and '80s radio hits, a hard-core disciple dating back to the "Ziggy Stardust" days or a recent convert, there was enough in the 2 1/4-hour performance to satisfy. The repertoire was divided roughly into thirds: hits, obscurities and recent material. Even Bowie himself wasn't sure which album certain songs came from; when he changed plans and called an audible for "The Battle of Britain," he asked fans which album. And he guessed that the encore "Be My Wife" was from 1977's "Low," and he was right.

Bowie was right almost all night long. The highlights were many: the slashing, soaring "Reality," the Pixies' punkish, falsetto-voiced "Cactus," the bracing rocker "Hallo Spaceboy," the crowd-pleasingly baroque "Under Pressure," the dramatic ballads "Life on Mars" and "Sunday," the menacing "I'm Afraid of Americans" and the wham-bam "Suffragette City." Only "Fashion," the 1980 disco sensation, and "Fame," the 1975 dance hit, sounded dated, but he delivered the latter with such brazen cynicism that it was worthwhile.

All told, it was a generous, well-paced, 28-song show, complemented by understated artistic images on a back video screen. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had enough arena-anthem choruses to keep the crowd rocking and enough genre-expanding experimentation to please the aging hipsters. In other words, the real David Bowie was cool to all his constituencies.

Jon Bream is at 612-673-1719 or popmusic@startribune.com.

Thanks for posting this, Dansa! It really was a great show.

I wish you could've gone Dansa.

TRON said:

i probably would've, since i live about 5 blocks away from the target center... but i was broke!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

me too.

CarrieMpls said:

Thank Goodness Jon Bream wrote that review cos I don't think I have enough brain power left today to do a all-out review!

We ended up getting there later than planned so we missed Macy Gray. But I was on-time for the main event. Thank goodness cos Bowie rocked it. The song choice was fabulous. He may not have played Sound & Vision, but by the end, I didn't care since he'd played so many other kick-ass songs...

THANK YOU TRON for making me the CDs last year and giving me the heads-up on tickets for the show! It was a great time and a fabulous way to start my 2004 concert experiences!

bowie was the best!!! macy gray was fine too. but bowie utterly blew me away

he played the soundtrack for my life, old stuff, new stuff. he looked great and seemed really comfortable dressed casually. sneakers!!! he wore sneakers!!!

at first when he first came out he seemed a bit tired, but when he noticed how much minneapolis adores him (we were cheering, screaming, clapping so much he made a joke of getting us to cut it out) and then he started really getting into the performance, joking, laughing. he even stripped down to his t-shirt and hurled his gold sparkly jacket to some lucky person in the first row. . .
his band was slick too. i think he forgot to introduce the drummer? but he's still touring with some folks he worked with back in the 70s.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I'm cumming!

XxAxX said:

I wanna know where he gets his clothes, because he looked awesome. I wish I had been close enough to catch his jacket.

I'm pretty sure he did introduce his drummer, but he almost forgot the bassist.

dude...i went to the show too last night. and im tellin ya...it was fucking awesome. my parents always listened to bowie when i was growing up...and i have always really like him as an artist/actor...but i never got all that into the music..til very recently. and this concert is exactly what i needed to get my ass in gear to start my way of getting as much bowie as possible. he truly is amazing. im soo glad that i made a point to see him...cuz im sure he wont be back here again. bowie
i wish the rest of the kitties were there!!

endorphin74 said:

That is so fucking awesome. It seems like he's giving everybody what they want. I'm glad that you had a good time and I'm glad that I could help you out. Hopefully next time we'll be going together.

violett said:

Better late than never! I hope he keeps putting out albums every year and touring behind them. He's on such a roll. What a wonderful time to be a Bowie fan. That more than I can say for some other artists.

violett said:

me too. i was a kid when i saw his movie 'the man who fell to earth' when it came out and much later in 1982 i saw him in 'merry christmas mr. lawrence' with sakamoto ryuichi and i've lost touchwith him in recent years. i'm gonna go sign aboard his website and rent whatever movie he's been in lately.

did you love the light show or what? and the set? simple but grand. two walkways out on either side like arms so he could get close to the audience. i also liked the animation/slideshow playing behind the band some of the songs. and the hanging up-side down spray-painted white trees on either side of the runways were cool.

HobbesLeCute said:

well, i gues i missed the drummer's name. i had a feeling he forgot one of them. at times his accent precluded me from taking the meaning of his words. which was tricky because he wanted us to repeat after him that time and i had no idea whatever what he was saying. . .

and say, did you notice how during macy's song 'oblivion' the guitarist was chosen to try and hold up cue sheets for the audience that matched the lyrics macy as was singing them? which was odd since the lyrics were also displayed overhead on the screen.
problem was, the words on the cue cards were written kinda small and he was trying to read them upside down. plus the cards were big, bulky and awkward to handle so he fell behind a bit then a bit more and at one point he was kinda tossing the cards left and right in a desperate attempt to catch up with macy's words before the song ended but alas! too late! and when he found himself holding 4-5 cards and macy'd wrapped things up he finally just shrugged and kinda tossed the rest of the cue sheets onstage like 'man, i'm a guitar player. not a cue card guy' or something. i was rflmao because i was watching his face through my binocs the whole time.

mind you, i was not laughing in a hostile fashion and it's not like he felt bad about it anyway

The concert kicked my ASS. Best show EVER.

I don't think that Bowie threw his jacket to a fan...it looked like one of the security guys caught it...and I could have sworn he wore it toward the end of the show under his black coat...But I could be wrong!!!