I knew I would be happily entertained when I went to the Bowie concert at Jones Beach on Friday night, but I didn't expect the Show of Shows that I experienced. He was so relaxed, suave and poised. Full of humor, joking and talking with the audience between every song, and totally giving of himself thoughout the evening. He was the epitome of the King of Cups in Tarot. He went everywhere with his song choices for the night, and wherever he went, he was completely into it. He had great presence. THe band was also in top form, and Earl Slick was on guitar, nailing every riff and solo to a tee.
Bowie opened with "Rebel,Rebel" and then totally tickled us with "Queen Bitch." He did some new songs, all of which were great, but among some of the oldies he did were: Diamond Dogs; Quicksand; Five Years; Ziggy Stardust; Suffragette City; The Man Who Sold the World; Station to Station; Heroes; Under Pressure; Ashes to Ashes; China Girl; Modern Love; All the Young Dudes; and I'm Afraid of Americans.
I so much loved him for doing "I'm Afraid of Americans (I'm afraid I can't Help it.)" This after saying that Texas is no longer one of his favorite places.
It was so good to see him enjoying being David Bowie so much and giving so much of himself, and everyone loving it so much back. We were sitting back so far, and yet we and everyone around us was still feeling the intensity of his and the bands performances.
He came back with a long encore that also featured the Velvet Undergrounds' "White Light, White Heat" that had everyone rockin hard. He finished with a song about Uncle Floyd of NJ UHF fame. Very surprising. My favorite highlights were: Diamond Dogs; Station to Station; Suffragette City; and The Man Who Sold the World. A few times he said to the audience "It will irritate me immensely if you all sing along." There were many times when we could not help ourselves. We had a lot of fun singing out background vocals like the "Hey Mans" in Suffragette City, or the Doggie Howls in Diamond Dogs, or the "Aaaaaaaaahh...."s in Ziggy Stardust.
I love David Bowie more than ever and it was so good to see him in such great shape, and such a seasoned performer who has learned so much from a lifetime of performing and has just improved like a good wine. I don't think I could ever miss another chance to see him in the future.