The late, great David Bowie died on January 10th 2016. To mark his seventh anniversary, we look back on a gig that defined his special relationship with Dublin.
David Bowie and Dublin is a marriage that will forever be consummated by Bowie's 2003 live DVD for A Reality Tour.
Bowie's guitarist on that tour, as well as several others, Gerry Leonard said that Bowie had a "real affinity" with the city, hence why he chose to record the Dublin leg of his last big tour over any other city.
That affinity can be seen in the David Bowie Festival which occurs annually in our nation's capital.
Bowie was a maverick in every facet, not least his penchant for turning up and playing gigs in small and intimate venues that you'd hardly fathom a superstar would play.
One such instance was in 1997, where he played to 300 of Dublin's drum-n-bass kids in The Factory in Ringsend.
Bowie was rehearsing in Dublin ahead of his Earthling Tour, spending most nights in a variety of Dublin nightclubs after being impressed by producer Goldie's opinion on the city's dance scene.
Bowie performed the whole set which would make up the 83 leg tour to a 300 strong crowd in Ringsend, with tickets for the gig only available the night before at The Kitchen nightclub (the basement venue of the Clarence Hotel which is owned by U2). Subsequently, gig goers then had to ring up the on the day to see where the venue was.
The gig could apparently be heard up to a mile away, with a legion of guards descending on the venue until the gig finished at around 5am.
It wasn't the first time that Bowie had played at an intimate venue in South Dublin.
The Baggot Inn and The Waterfront were the two venues venue that Bowie's Tin Machine band performed warm up shows in before embarking on a proper tour.
At The Baggot Inn, Tin Machine were the support act for Dublin band The Blue Angels.
Amazingly, someone has managed to secure footage of the night in question. The wonders of the Internet, ay?
You can watch a snippet of the performance below:
This article was originally published in 2021.
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