“I was in tears”: the performance David Bowie never forgot
The mark of any good artist is their ability to perform. Even though some bands thrive on getting into the studio and making something truly weird for the world’s ears, someone like David Bowie managed to master both mediums by daring his audience to dream bigger behind the glass and opening their eyes when on a platform. But when looking at some of his iconic performances, ‘The Starman’ knew that there were those odd gigs that were never going to happen the same way once he got off that stage.
Then again, the whole point behind any great Bowie performance was that there were no rules to some degree. He had some fantastic moments where everything was working correctly, but in the midst of the glam-rock movement, some of his stage moves were almost too scandalous for some members of the straight media to put up with. And as far as Bowie was concerned, that was a compliment.
He was always looking to challenge the status quo whenever he played, even if that meant going against his own fans. It’s not hyperbole to say that he gave fans a mini-heart attack when announcing that his show at the Hammersmith Odeon would be his last back in the 1970s, but that turned out to be only the last chapter of one part of his musical life before moving on to other strange musical characters.
By the time he reached the 1980s, he had become the kind of plastic pop star that most people would have had no problem falling in love with. Let’s Dance was a damn fine pop album with Nile Rodgers at the helm, but anyone who knew Bowie’s work realised that they shouldn’t become too attached to what he was doing since he would probably go in a wildly different direction later.
“I’ll never forget that. It was one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever done. I was in tears.”
David Bowie
As long as he had the ear of the public, though, he figured he’d try to do some good when performing gigs like Live Aid. He was already daring enough to strut up and down the stage in front of that massive Wembley crowd, but compared to the massive relief fund happening at the time of that performance, being there at the Berlin Wall singing the song ‘Heroes’ would be forever etched in his mind.
‘Heroes’ is already a wrecking ball of a tune and one of the finest records he ever made, but Bowie remembered being choked up when seeing that cultural divider be reduced to rubble, saying, “I’ll never forget that. It was one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever done. I was in tears. Things like that really give you a sense of what performance can do. They happen so rarely at that kind of magnitude. Most nights I find very enjoyable. These days, I really enjoy performing. But something like that doesn’t come along very often, and when it does, you kind of think, ‘Well, if I never do anything again, it won’t matter.’”
Also, given the lyrics and Bowie’s personal experience in Berlin, it was one of the most pertinent tunes that could have been played. He had been living there to work on his most eclectic albums, and when he sang lines like ‘I was standing by the wall and the guns shot above our heads’, it was as if every single person in that crowd knew exactly what he was talking about.
But ‘Heroes’ is about more than being free from the shackles under which the German forces kept the public for years. It was about knowing the impact that one person can make on the world. While not all of us can manage to have the same kind of charisma that Bowie did, this song can give anyone the right amount of confidence to become the best version of themselves.
