GeekForce

I saw David Bowie in Kansas City. The Starlight Theater is a “modern” (circa 1950) version of St. Louis’s Muny (circa 1920) and the stage is framed in brick and tasteful 2-story Shakespearean balconies flanking it. It also has an ambitious and permanent scaffolding atop the stage’s exterior that’s apparently used for occasional circus and/or acrobatic acts. This proud venue is primarily used these days for musical productions (i.e., Fiddler on the Roof) and live theater, much like our Muny. It’s outdoor spacious seating and cavernous stage space lends itself perfectly for concert events like this one.

One can’t discuss this show without mentioning how terrific Bowie looks. He’s in absolutely great shape and Bianca, my 19-year-old daughter (my date) crooned on a regular basis throughout the performance. She also snuck some shots of him with her mini-pixel camera-tsk tsk…Bowie posesses a wonderfully relaxed strut and swagger, not to mention highly competent guitar playing, and casually understates himself in blending in with the fabulous musicians that back him up. He still has that beautiful falsetto and he’s fearless and generous in unleashing it.

Star legends like Bowie get the pick of the session musians and snap them up on tours. A couple of them were about Bianca’s age. One was a very tatoo’d and talented guitarist who traded leads with an Irish guitarist more of, uh, my vintage. The bassist, who did an absolutely brilliant job of taking Freddy Mercury’s vocal part in “Pressure” was about the youngest on the set. An extremely talented young lady keyboardist/guitarist/synthesizer artist lent effects with her voice as well as singing all the chorus portions of the set that spanned some forty years.

Among the best numbers (well, my favorites) were “Fame” - it featured a funk beat that totally revitalized the melody, pounding a sway into the five thousand-or-so fans. He performed “Up the Hill Backwards” (Scary Monsters) with very cool lighting effects–the set’s tri-screen background projection system goes beyond this two dimensional e-mail can adequately describe–this particular number, he explained, he hadn’t performed prior to this tour in eons. Another great was “Quicksand” (Hunky Dory–I’m getting this CD for Bianca for Christmas) which featured a theme video with hats blowing in the wind(you had to see it). He performed “All the Young Dudes” (that he wrote for Mott the Hoople way back when) and an oldie “White Light/White Heat” that crowned the best of the best that he performed.

More and more as the media of live music is brought to increasingly discriminating audiences, the colors and textures of the performance embed themselves into the presentation and become as meaningful as the sounds. Sorry, but country and western will never tgranscend an accomplish art form on this level, and never mind that Garth Brooks used to tour with 26 semi’s. That side of the music entertainment business can mix (and mix and mix) the sound, but won’t ever catch the flow and delivery that IS the genre of live rock musiic. Not just any rock music, either; this is among the best there is or will ever be.l

Finally,k it was my pleasure to meet a man roughly my forty-low-number-something age who sat next to us. He and his wife also took along their daughter–I’m thinking that these ladies crooned, also–and he was kind enough to pass us his binoculars throughout the show. We were pretty close to the stage as it was, but good ole’ magnification really brings faces and expressions to life and adds an element of completion to the experience. My only regret is not buying hime a beer–he deserved one or two (Coors Lite on draft, though? How wierd is THAT???? thanks, Mike!)

Phil Baker