Gutted by Bowie's shoulder

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:13 pm

Sod this. I've splashed out to fly to Dublin to see Bowie at the two-day Oxegen event there, and he's had to cancel all his July dates due to shoulder trouble of some sort. This extravagance was my treat to myself for surviving 40 years and as some of my Irish in-laws were keen to go... The awful thing is that the organisers, MCD, have made The Darkness the headline act. They were already on the bill, so it's just a case of bumping them up the list. Why couldn't they do everything to get a replacement of some stature? Grrr. The other devastating thing is that Franz Ferdinand (who sounded great on the Glastonbury footage) are playing on the Saturday, which I'm not attending.

I wanted to go to my crave saying I'd heard Station To Station live, especially played by his cracking band, and as it's been included on recent dates. Oh well, these things happen...

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:24 pm

I'm quite pissed off about that too. I'll be there both days and Saturday looks like a real treat: Strokes, Cure, Franz, Scissor Sisters, PJ Harvey, NERD with new kids the Killers and Razorlight. Sunday seemed like a bit of a waste of time and I was looking forward to seeing Wilco only and relaxing at the back while Bowie did his thing, but bumping the Darkness is a swizz. The fact that they announced that they'd found "new headliners" was arse. Sunday also has Pink and the Black Eyed Peas, who should be avoided. The Shins are on Sunday, they'll be good. As are Muse and Michael Franti who were quite good on GlastonburyTV, I thought. Anyone see this sad thing: http://www.nme.com/news/108988.htm

So are you still gonna go? Should we organise a summit? Any Foyles going?

DrJ

PS These might help...
http://www.oxegen.ie/mb/viewtopic.php?t=6051
http://www.oxegen.ie/mb/viewtopic.php?t=6015

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:27 pm

Sometimes you wish they'd play anyway and sometimes you wish they hadn't: A friend of mine went to see the awful hairsprayed leprechauns Magnum in the the mid-eighties, and they were late on stage because, said the promoter, the singer was feeling sick. "Boooo!" cried the audience until the band came on, and despite the poor singer being bright green in the face he soldiered on through about six songs before he slowly shuffled out again with about twice as much in the back of his ex-white Spandex as he had when he came on. And the audience still got their money back, which sort of belittled his effort.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:07 am

King Hoarse.....I experienced the same at a Pearl Jam concert in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where Eddie V. was fucked up and they had to stop the show after 6 songs...BUT then Neil Young, who happened to be backstage, came on stage with the rest of Pearl Jam, and blew us all away and gave a huge concert!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT was an incredible event!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:02 pm

Dr J: given that they are giving refunds, I am gonna go for this and switch the Ryanir booking to another time. I would have gone if they weren't refunding, but I'd have been regretting not seeing Bowie so much it would all have been really tainted. Saturday does look good, especially to see the wonderful Franz F. Have fun!

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:31 am

Bowie also blew Roskilde Festival off...............what happened to his shoulder???

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 5:49 pm

Trapped nerves. Painful, apparently. Dr J can give a more detailed prognosis. 57 and a half is old for strutting your stuff round the world for a good few months. Maybe he should go back on the drugs to forget the pain.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 6:40 pm

And, excuse me for sounding preachy, being a heavy smoker can't have helped either.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:00 pm

Wow, you don't know what happened in Oslo??!

It's unbelievable - this girl in the front row is waving her arms enthusiastically while holding the too-often-ignored rock accessory, a lollipop. A guy thumps into her from behind (stop drooling, Cope), which makes her throw the lolly towards the stage, inadvertantly. It hits Bowie in the eye, making him twitch, which was why the nervy shoulder popped.

This makes him sound like a bit of a weakling, but that's before I saw the pictures in the paper with the 'stick/shaft' (don't know the correct word for this in English) of the lolly STUCK IN HIS EYEBALL!!!

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:28 pm

Genuine pix...

http://www.neptuners.com/davidbowie-wit ... is-eye.htm

DrJ

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:58 pm

Naughty language, David! I'd heard about the lollipop, heard it hadn't hurt him per se (though that photo is pretty gruesome!), but didn't realise it led to the dodgy shoulder. I guess he had his fill of eye problems in his younger life.

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 7:59 pm

Bowie has emergency angioplasty...

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainmen ... _2989.html

...so the shoulder pain was probably a slightly atypical presentation of angina. Don't mind him cancelling. He now has to stop smoking, and avoid cocaine, in case he does an "entwistle"

DrJ

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:47 pm

Wow, Dr J, I hadn't heard that yet. Here's another, story just a little longer article but basically the same news:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 2:20 pm

I thought he was completely off the fags these days. Seemed to me a reason why his voice was sounding so great of late. I had a strange dream last night where Bowie was playing a smallish hall. I was at the back, and he walked right past me when he went off pre-encore. As he walked past me to resume, I screamed 'I love you', which he accepted appreciatively. Shame I won't be able to do the same in Dublin this weekend, but I think he has a good enough excuse. Let's hope he's able to tour again soon. As he says, he's been loving it of late, and it really shows.

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:03 am

Just to say, the festival was a blast.

Got down at 3 on Saturday just in time to only see the Scissor Sisters do one song, which was a pity. Then the brill FranzF, for the Divine Comedy it rained really bad so we ran around not getting shelter. Went to se Snow Patrol who the crowd liked but I found underwhelming. Did one fairgound ride, which was enough and then went to see Paddy Casey, who is a popular guy here, but is just a busker in disguise to me.

Back to the main stage because I really wanted to see The Strokes. I went to the festival as someone who quite liked their albums, now I think they're the greatest band on the planet. If lucky, you'll get to see one or two gigs a year that leave you babbling with excitement. They were phenominal. Did a cover of the Clash's Clampdown, made it their own.

The Cure came on at 11.30pm and we watched them for an hour. They were great, Robert Smith is exacty as you'd expect him to be. We wandered off before they finished and went into the new band tent just in time to see The Killers perform their big hit single which was pure fun. Still just a ripoff of Queen Bitch, but fun. Had a quick look at Belle & Sebastian and went home.

Unfortunately on Sunday the girlfriend had work to do so we got down at 4.30, saw Bic Rungra do her two perfect singles, strolled around, I wanted to wait for Keane to come on so I could boo and throw filth at them, but that's against my better nature. So, just as began to rain verrrrrry heavily we went back to the tent for the only reason to go to the festival on Sunday: Wilco. Got up the front and they were phenominal. Lot of "Ghost..." played which I haven't fully digested but they ended on Spiders(Kidsmoke) which is my fave so I was happy. Next up were Muse on the main stage and Jimmy Cliff in the tent but we had to go (well, one of us has to work) so off we went. In the carpark we could hear JC belt out "Many Rivers to Cross", which I guess is how we were meant to hear it.

I had a ball, in spite of the weather, and I'd go back next year, it's a pity Bowie pulled out because we probably would have stayed for that. What's amazing is what you miss. Because of other things, I missed PJ Harvey, NERD and one or two other curios.

And I now feel I have to do Glastonbury, before I get too old.

DrJ

Next gig stop: Todd Rundgren in London on Thursday. Bring it on!!!

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:38 pm

I managed to make it out yesterday, I was probably right beside you at Wilco. They played a neat 1 hour set. It was a bit sluggish at first, but when they kicked in, they kicked in. I can't wait to see a full show by them soon. Basement Jaxx were incredible, really working the crowd. You haven't lived till you've screamed out WHERE'S YOUR HEAD AT repeatedly in a field full of slightly demented people. One to remember. The other highlight was a fine crowd pleasing performance by, of all people, Pink. Great voice, mainly lame songs, skillfully executed by a true performer. She even did an impromptu wet tshirt show when it rained. What more could you ask for? Bowie, I guess

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:58 pm

Martin, you weren't the guy who told my girlfriend how great Wilco were and that Jeff was "just out of rehab". I was dead centre, just behind the line against the barrier...

Yeah, I couldn';t hang around for BJaxx, which is a pity coz they looked great at Glasonbury.

I forgot to mention that Cait walked past me on the Saturday afternoon, which was very cool. She's cool.

DrJ

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:10 pm

Wish I'd been there! Bastard Ryan Air charge £15 for re-booking EACH WAY and don't refund any saving on the ticket, so I had to wave bye-bye to my £75 worth of ticket. Reading the above, I wish I'd been there, but it wouldn't have been the same. Hope Dave's heart gets back to full strength and I see him again before long. I was gutted by the shoulder, but his metaphoric shoulder has been a great one to lean on over the years.

I thought Basement Jaxx looked great at Glasto too. Great live.

I spent time this weekend with T in the Park on BBC3. FF looked great there too, and it was fun to see a bit of the Pixies. Only saw a minute of The Strokes. Would love to hear them do Clampdown.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:11 pm

No, Dr J, I talked to just about nobody all day, pure bliss. Great to see Cait back performing, methinks I'll see more of her work than you know who.
Sorry to hear about your Ryanair woes, Otis. You really do get what you pay for from them, try aerlingus.com next time.

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:15 pm

In fairness, I don't know any airline who refunds ticket money.

Last week I booked Ryanair flights to Stansted and on to Venice and back for two for under a hundred Euro. Seemed like a deal to me. Although I recently flew to Bristol with 'em and the pilots seemed to be enjoying the turbulence. You get what you pay for. I wonder when the oxygen masks fall down do you have to pay for them? (not my joke)

Got a great quality mp3 of the Strokes doing Clampdown on t'internet. Might you be using gnutella/limewire/poisoned for 'borrowing' internet music? It's on there.

DrJ

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:47 am

Next up, no suitcases on Ryan Air. Should check out Aer Lingus, easy to forget the old classics are now having to offer good deals to be competitive. Would they charge £30 for a re-booking?

I'm a Limewirer, myself, especially since it got upgraded, much less clunky now. Will check out Clampdown. Gitalong, gitalong.

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:14 am

This is true, aerlingus.com have dropped their prices, but as someone who has been going back and forth between Dublin and London I have to recommend British Midland/bmi (http://www.flybmi.com) cheaper than Aer Lingus on the Dublin Heathrow route and they give you a sandwich.

Ryanair did charge me £30 for a heavy bag earlier in the year, I mean they're chancers, but you get what you pay for.

DrJ