A Reality Tour (film)

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A Reality Tour

Live album by David Bowie
Released	2004
Recorded	2003

A Reality Tour is a DVD released in 2004 of David Bowie's performance in Dublin, Ireland in 2003 during the Reality Tour.

1 Repertoire
2 Track listing
3 Cinematography
4 Performers
5 References

[edit] Repertoire

The set list includes tracks spanning Bowie's 30 plus years in the music business, from Space Oddity (1969) all the way to Reality (2003), along with collaborations such as "Sister Midnight" (with Iggy Pop) and "Under Pressure" (with Queen). There is a bit more focus, however, on tracks from the albums released since the Earthling World Tour in 1997, Heathen (2002), and Reality, whose tracks constitute 10 of the 30 songs performed.

The only exception from his latest albums is 'hours...' (1999); no tracks from this album were included on this DVD, possibly due to poor reception of the album, and no songs from the album were included in his touring repertoire. Other albums with no appearance included the cover album Pin ups (1973), the ill-received Never Let Me Down (1987), the albums produced with the band Tin Machine, and Black Tie White Noise (1993). Aladdin Sane (1973) also made no concert appearance in the video, although songs from the album appeared on the tour.

A notable inclusion into the performance was the set of three songs from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust as the final encore. Though Bowie had performed the pieces many times through his career, the pieces had not been toured since 1978 when the live interpretations were featured on the Stage album.

The interpretations presented presented often a heavier and more complex sound than those of the album releases to suit the band for which the Reality album had been written; a more dynamic "Rebel Rebel" which later saw a release as a bonus track was arranged as an opener which included notably some audience participation. Use of audience vocals appear in a number of tunes, including "All the Young Dudes", in which Bowie's voice was somewhat out of range to sing the chorus, and "Life on Mars?", which the audience faithfully sang along to.

[edit] Track listing

The track listing for this concert by DVD chapter is as follows:

Concert Introduction – 2:42
"Rebel Rebel" – 3:25
"New Killer Star" – 4:55
"Reality" – 4:21
"Fame" – 4:11
"Cactus" – 2:34
"Sister Midnight" – 4:37
"Afraid" – 3:26
"All the Young Dudes" – 3:25
"Be My Wife" – 3:12
"The Loneliest Guy" – 4:00
"The Man Who Sold the World" – 4:04
"Fantastic Voyage" – 3:06
"Hallo Spaceboy" – 5:27
"Sunday" – 5:49
"Under Pressure" – 4:17
"Life on Mars?" – 4:47
"Battle for Britain" – 4:40
"Ashes to Ashes" – 5:29
"The Motel" – 6:00
"Loving the Alien" – 5:16
"Never Get Old" – 4:18
"Changes" – 3:48
"I'm Afraid of Americans" – 5:19
""Heroes"" – 7:25
"Bring Me the Disco King" – 8:03
"Slip Away" – 6:23
"Heathen (The Rays)" – 6:01
"Five Years" – 4:40
"Hang on to Yourself" – 2:59
"Ziggy Stardust" – 4:40
Concert Exit and Credits – 2:09

[edit] Cinematography

The film was a relatively straightforward presentation of the performance in Dublin Ireland, with footage of all the musicians in Bowie's band as well as the lighting/staging effects used, such as the large platforms onstage, the hanging head tree branches, and the artistic footage played on the background video screens. Several different angles were used of Bowie onstage including cameras placed behind Bowie as well as cameras from the audience, and footage was also included of backstage preparations for the performance during the opening, intermission, and ending credits.

Artistic effects were often used as well, amongst them color distortions (most notably during "Ashes to Ashes") the altering of footage speed (in the opening before "Rebel Rebel"), and rhythmic repetition of footage (the thrashing in "Hallo Spaceboy"). Many were simply embellishing, although some blurred the staging and caused the music to become desynchronized with the musicians. Some interludes into the background footage were used, such as an artistic film of a forest during "The Loneliest Guy" and an introductory clip from The Uncle Floyd Show to "Slip Away" to provide context for the lyrics.

The film has been edited from its original concert appearance; the two sets performed in Dublin on November 22 and 23 do not match entirely with the set from the film. Bowie's signature greeting to every city during the tour, "Hello... you crazy bunch of motherfuckers" was not included in the film, and was possibly intentionally cut or omitted from the performance for censorship purposes.