David Bowie turns 65 today, and while he’s hitting what’s traditionally seen as retirement age, the Thin White Duke seemingly — and with no actual announcement or farewell tour — ended his musical career a few years ago. So to celebrate this peerless musical legend, and thanks to the miracle of YouTube, we present eight full Bowie concerts, filmed between the years of 1978 and 2004. That’s more than 13 hours of footage. Dig in.
VIDEO: David Bowie, The Beat Club, Bremen, Germany, 5/21/78
VIDEO: David Bowie, Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan, 5/16/90 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, Loreley Open Air Festival, Germany, 6/22/96 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK, 8/12/97 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, 10/15/97 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, Astoria Theatre, London, UK, 12/2/99 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, L’Olympia, Paris, France, 7/1/02 (Setlist)
VIDEO: David Bowie, Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 3/9/04 (Setlist)
Happy Birthday, David. You are probably retired for good at this point but thank you for all of your years of great music.
He has been incredibly quiet these past few years. If he is finished producing music, he will be missed…
A very happy birthday to David, my musical hero hands down! And am feeling like it’s my birthday with the ’04 Tokyo show I attended here in its entirety! Many thanks, Matt!!! And a huge thank-you to David for the music, memories, inspiration, and more!!!
If he is indeed retired – and i REALLY hope he isn’t – at least I can say that I saw three shows on the Reality tour, probably the best tour of his career. Really freaking epic.
Just watched “Luther” (Idris Elba) last night, season 2, w/ a picture of Bowie on his wall.
“There’s a bit more to him than aliens–I’ll make you a tape.”
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, you have been my hero for so many years
since about 1974 when i was 12 years old, wow how you been my
life, so many of your songs i’ve sung into makeshift mics
i yearned so many times to meet you in public one day and pray on that day i may have a camera to take a pic standing
beside you, boy that would be the best day of my life !
as someone who grew up listening to bowie, this album is a total let down. i was expecting lots better from him. he needs to reconnect with IGGY POP. they did some great stuff together.