It's My Life Tour

The It's My Life Tour was a concert tour headlined by Anglo-American hard rock band Tin Machine. The tour commenced on 5 October 1991 after two warm-up shows, one press show and three trade-industry shows, visiting twelve countries and concluding after sixty-nine performances, a larger outing than their first tour in 1989. The band purposefully booked intimate venues of a few thousand seats or less so that they could focus on the music without any theatrical trappings, a stark change from Bowie's previous Glass Spider and Sound+Vision tours.[1] Bowie also wanted to avoid playing larger venues and arenas lest his fans show up "hoping I'd be doing old songs or something. We don't want that feeling at all."[2]

It's My Life Tour
Tour by Tin Machine
"It's My Life" Promotional Band Image
From L to R: David Bowie, Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, Tony Sales
Associated albumTin Machine II
Start date5 October 1991
End date17 February 1992
Legs3
No. of shows69
Tin Machine concert chronology
David Bowie tour chronology
Sound+Vision Tour
(1990)		 Outside Tour
(1995-96)

Tour details

The band rehearsed and warmed up for the tour in Dublin in August 1991.[3] Joined onstage by guitarist Eric Schermerhorn,[4] Tin Machine presented songs from the Tin Machine album and the Tin Machine II album, augmented with cover versions of songs from the Pixies, Neil Young and The Moody Blues.

To start the show at some venues, an old TV was placed on stage, playing old sitcoms while the prelude to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde played over loudspeakers.[4]

Bowie claimed that the setlist for the tour was made on the fly each night:

We have no setlist whatsoever. We have a complete list of all our songs on the floor of the stage and we yell it out as we feel it. If you catch us on a bad night, it can be one of the most disastrous shows you've ever seen. But on a good night - and fortunately with this band most nights have been good nights - it really happens.[5]

Live recordings

The Hamburg Docks performance on 24 October 1991, was filmed and later released on the video, Oy Vey, Baby: Tin Machine Live at the Docks, with the song "Baby Can Dance" from the same performance appearing on the compilation album Best of Grunge Rock. Songs from the Boston, Chicago, New York City, Sapporo and Tokyo performances were recorded and released on the July 1992 album Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby.

Contemporary reviews

The review of the performance at the trade show at Slim's in San Francisco was not kind: "It's hard to imagine people walking out on a David Bowie show at Slim's, but all you had to do was look around the room Thursday at the end of the appearance by Tin Machine. ... Bowie and his associates gave a more than hour-long display of his latest incarnation, and the music turned out to be nearly unlistenable."[6]

The show in Seattle, Washington was met with positive reviews: "Let it first be said that on every level, Tin Machine is an outstanding band. ... [they] may well represent the next evolutionary step in rock and roll - or just another blind alley. In any event, it is powerful stuff."[4] During the show Bowie played alto and baritone sax and electric, acoustic and 12-string guitar.[4]

The Los Angeles Times had a positive review of the first New York show, complimenting the band on their desire to tinker with songs' arrangements and appreciating Bowie's "theatrical gift" for performing.[7]

Tour band

Tour dates
Date City Country Venue
Tour rehearsals
10 August 1991DublinIrelandFactory Studios
11 August 1991
12 August 1991
13 August 1991
14 August 1991
15 August 1991
Warm up shows
16 August 1991DublinIrelandThe Baggot Inn
19 August 1991The Waterfront
Press show
1 September 1991Los Angeles, CaliforniaUnited StatesRockit Cargo @ LAX Airport
Trade shows
7 September 1991Minneapolis, MinnesotaUnited StatesMarriott
10 September 1991Los Angeles, California
12 September 1991San Francisco, CaliforniaSlim's
Europe
5 October 1991MilanItalyTeatro Smeraldo
6 October 1991
8 October 1991FlorencePalazzetto Dello Sport
9 October 1991RomeTeatro Brancaccio
10 October 1991
12 October 1991MunichGermanyCircus Krone
14 October 1991OffenbachStadthalle
15 October 1991LudwigsburgForum
17 October 1991BerlinNeue Welt
19 October 1991CopenhagenDenmarkFalkoner Teatret
21 October 1991StockholmSwedenCircus
22 October 1991OsloNorwayOslo Konserthus
24 October 1991HamburgGermanyDocks
25 October 1991HanoverMusic Hall
26 October 1991CologneE-Werk
28 October 1991UtrechtNetherlandsMuziekcentrum Vredenburg
29 October 1991ParisFranceOlympia
30 October 1991Le Zénith
31 October 1991BrusselsBelgiumAncienne Belgique
2 November 1991WolverhamptonEnglandCivic Hall
3 November 1991ManchesterInternational 2
5 November 1991Newcastle upon TyneMayfair
6 November 1991LiverpoolRoyal Court
7 November 1991GlasgowScotlandBarrowlands
9 November 1991CambridgeEnglandCorn Exchange
10 November 1991BrixtonBrixton Academy
11 November 1991
North America
15 November 1991Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaUnited StatesTower Theater
16 November 1991Washington, D.C.The Citadel
17 November 1991Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaTower Theater
19 November 1991New Haven, ConnecticutToad's Place
20 November 1991Boston, MassachusettsOrpheum Theater
24 November 1991Providence, Rhode IslandNew Campus Club
25 November 1991New Britain, ConnecticutThe Sting
27 November 1991New York CityAcademy of Music
29 November 1991
1 December 1991Montreal, QuebecCanadaLa Brique
2 December 1991
3 December 1991Toronto, OntarioThe Concert Hall
4 December 1991Detroit, MichiganUnited StatesClubland
6 December 1991Cleveland, OhioAgora Metropolitan
7 December 1991Chicago, IllinoisRiviera Theatre
9 December 1991Dallas, TexasBronco Bowl
10 December 1991Houston, TexasBack Alley
12 December 1991Hollywood, CaliforniaHollywood Palladium
14 December 1991San Diego, CaliforniaSpreckels Theater
15 December 1991
17 December 1991San Francisco, CaliforniaThe Warfield
18 December 1991
20 December 1991Seattle, WashingtonParamount Theatre
21 December 1991Vancouver, British ColumbiaCanadaCommodore Ballroom
Asia
29 January 1992KyotoJapanKaikan Dai Ichi Hall
30 January 1992OsakaFestival Hall
31 January 1992
2 February 1992FukuokaKyusyu Kouseinenkin Kaikan
3 February 1992HiroshimaKouseinenkin Kaikan
5 February 1992TokyoNHK Hall
6 February 1992
7 February 1992YokohamaBunka Taiikukan
10 February 1992SapporoKouseinenkin Kaikan
11 February 1992
13 February 1992SendaiSunplaza Hall
14 February 1992OmiyaSoniku City Hall
17 February 1992TokyoBudokan Hall

Songs

Notation:

  • CD Included on the Oy Vey, Baby album
  • VHS/LD Included on the Oy Vey, Baby video album
  • CD/VHS/LD Included on both versions of the Oy Vey, Baby album

References
  1. "David Bowie Music Interview" by George Varga for The Star Entertainment Weekly, 1–7 January 1992, pp 2 & 10
  2. di Perna, Alan (1991), "Ballad of the Tin Men", Creem, 2 (1): 50–59
  3. Murray, Charles Shaar (October 1991), "And the Singer's Called Dave...", Q magazine, no. 61, pp. 56–64
  4. "Bowie, Tin Machine offer what may be rock's new frontier" by Cary Smith, Journal-American, December 1991
  5. "Beaming Bowie excited about current direction of his life, music" by Patrick MacDonald, The Seattle Times, 20 December 1991
  6. "Bowie's Band Unimpressive at Slim's" by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 September 1991, C4
  7. Pareles, Jon (30 November 1991), "Review/Rock; For Bowie, One More Change of Pace", Los Angeles Times, retrieved 29 October 2013
  • Nicholas Pegg, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2004, ISBN 1-903111-73-0
  • David Buckley, Strange Fascination: The Definitive Biography of David Bowie, Virgin Books, 1999, ISBN 1-85227-784-X
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