Following on from the earlier, David Bowie Outside Tour which ended on 20 February 1996.
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David Bowie 1995-1996 Outside Tour
The Outside Tour, with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails co-headlining, opened on 14 September 1995 at Meadows Music Theatre – Hartford, CT with Prick as support band. On selected dates Reeves Gabrels performed songs from his album, The Sacred Squall of Now in addition to performing with Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie. The opening of the concert tour preceded the release of the 1. Outside album which was released on 25 September 1995.
In a 2012 Rolling Stone reader’s poll, the tour (pairing Nine Inch Nails with Bowie) was named one of the top 10 opening acts in rock history.
Tour history
This tour was Bowie’s first since he retired his hits with his previous Sound+Vision Tour (1990). Bowie said, “We’re going to play some older material, sure, but not obvious things. I found, while rehearsing for the [Outside] tour, that older songs I haven’t played for years suddenly fit in with this new material quite well – things like … “Joe the Lion.” So I’m quite looking forward to it.” Other songs from Bowie’s back catalog that he performed during the tour include “Scary Monsters”, “Look Back in Anger”, “Andy Warhol” and “Breaking Glass”.
Bowie spoke on why he chose to tour with Nine Inch Nails:
I personally did like the combination of NIN and me, but my fans didn’t. Bad luck!! It also was an extremely young audience, between about 12 and 17 years old. My starting point was simply: I’ve just made an adventurous album, what can I do now to turn the concerts as adventurous. Looking at it in that way, it seemed logic to confront myself with the NIN audience. I knew it would be hard to captivate them by music they never heard, by an artist whose name was the only familiar thing.
Trent Reznor has gone on record numerous times as being heavily influenced by David Bowie,[5] and further collaborated with Bowie by remixing “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” and later on 1997’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” single. When asked in 1995 if his album Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered, “the band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland call The Young Gods … I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails.”
Set design
For the tour, Bowie went with a modest stage design (“some banners, some mannequins”) and avoided the theatrical presentation like his previous Glass Spider Tour in 1987 and Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.
Performance note
Bowie opened an interview for the tour with USA Today on the opening day of the tour, on 14 September 1995 with the question “How do you commit commercial suicide? Well, you do this: play songs from an album that hasn’t been released yet, and complement it with obscure songs from the past that you’ve never done on stage.”
During the tour, as Nine Inch Nails reached the conclusion of their performance, the two bands played together with both Nine Inch Nails and Bowie and his band performing “Subterraneans”, “Hallo Spaceboy” and “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, followed by two Nine Inch Nails songs “Reptile” and “Hurt” after which Bowie continued with his own set alone.
Early in the tour, the “almost 100% Nails audience” provided a challenge to Bowie, who said “In those first weeks, we had to adjust emotionally to the fact that we were going to be challenged every night to get in sync with what people were coming to the show for. But then you start to recognize that if you’re going to continue, you’d better enjoy what you’re doing. The more we did that, the more it communicated to the audience. That’s how it went from survival to being a good tour.”
Other opening acts
For the European leg of the tour, Morrissey was enlisted to provide support until his disappearance before the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre performance on 29 November 1995. The support slot was filled on later dates by The Gyres, Echobelly, Placebo and a variety of local bands.
Live recordings
The 13 December 1995 performance at the National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) – Birmingham, England, billed as the Big Twix Mix Show with Alanis Morissette, Lightning Seeds and Echobelly supporting was filmed by BBC TV with excerpts broadcast at a later date.
Tour band
• David Bowie – vocals
• Reeves Gabrels – guitar
• Carlos Alomar – guitar, backing vocals
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, vocals
• Zack Alford – drums
• Mike Garson – piano
• Peter Schwartz – synthesizer, musical director
• George Simms – backing vocals, keyboards
Tour dates
The Outside Tour, with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails co-headlining, opened on 14 September 1995 at Meadows Music Theatre – Hartford, CT with Prick as support band. On selected dates Reeves Gabrels performed songs from his album, The Sacred Squall of Now in addition to performing with Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie.
The opening of the concert tour preceded the release of the 1. Outside album which was released on 25 September 1995.
In a 2012 Rolling Stone reader’s poll, the tour (pairing Nine Inch Nails with Bowie) was named one of the top 10 opening acts in rock history.
Tour history
This tour was Bowie’s first since he retired his hits with his previous Sound+Vision Tour (1990). Bowie said, “We’re going to play some older material, sure, but not obvious things. I found, while rehearsing for the [Outside] tour, that older songs I haven’t played for years suddenly fit in with this new material quite well – things like … “Joe the Lion.” So I’m quite looking forward to it.” Other songs from Bowie’s back catalog that he performed during the tour include “Scary Monsters”, “Look Back in Anger”, “Andy Warhol” and “Breaking Glass”.
Bowie spoke on why he chose to tour with Nine Inch Nails:
I personally did like the combination of NIN and me, but my fans didn’t. Bad luck!! It also was an extremely young audience, between about 12 and 17 years old. My starting point was simply: I’ve just made an adventurous album, what can I do now to turn the concerts as adventurous. Looking at it in that way, it seemed logic to confront myself with the NIN audience. I knew it would be hard to captivate them by music they never heard, by an artist whose name was the only familiar thing.
Trent Reznor has gone on record numerous times as being heavily influenced by David Bowie, and further collaborated with Bowie by remixing “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” and later on 1997’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” single. When asked in 1995 if his album Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered, “the band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland call The Young Gods … I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails.”
Set design
For the tour, Bowie went with a modest stage design (“some banners, some mannequins”) and avoided the theatrical presentation like his previous Glass Spider Tour in 1987 and Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.
Performance notes
Bowie opened an interview for the tour with USA Today on the opening day of the tour, on 14 September 1995 with the question “How do you commit commercial suicide? Well, you do this: play songs from an album that hasn’t been released yet, and complement it with obscure songs from the past that you’ve never done on stage.”
During the tour, as Nine Inch Nails reached the conclusion of their performance, the two bands played together with both Nine Inch Nails and Bowie and his band performing “Subterraneans”, “Hallo Spaceboy” and “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, followed by two Nine Inch Nails songs “Reptile” and “Hurt” after which Bowie continued with his own set alone.
Early in the tour, the “almost 100% Nails audience” provided a challenge to Bowie, who said “In those first weeks, we had to adjust emotionally to the fact that we were going to be challenged every night to get in sync with what people were coming to the show for. But then you start to recognize that if you’re going to continue, you’d better enjoy what you’re doing. The more we did that, the more it communicated to the audience. That’s how it went from survival to being a good tour.”
Other opening acts
For the European leg of the tour, Morrissey was enlisted to provide support until his disappearance before the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre performance on 29 November 1995. The support slot was filled on later dates by The Gyres, Echobelly, Placebo and a variety of local bands.
Live recordings
The 13 December 1995 performance at the National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) – Birmingham, England, billed as the Big Twix Mix Show with Alanis Morissette, Lightning Seeds and Echobelly supporting was filmed by BBC TV with excerpts broadcast at a later date.
Tour dates
North America
14 September 1995 Hartford,Connecticut,United States,Meadows Music Theatre
16 September 1995 Mansfield,Massachusetts,Great Woods Arts Center
17 September 1995 Hershey,Pennsylvania,Hersheypark Stadium
20 September 1995 Toronto,Ontario,Canada,Skydome
22 September 1995 Camden, New Jersey,United States Blockbuster Center
23 September 1995 Burgettstown,Pennsylvania,Star Lake Amphitheater
27 September 1995 East Rutherford,New Jersey,Meadowlands Arena
28 September 1995 East Rutherford,New Jersey,Meadowlands
30 September 1995 Cuyahoga Falls,Ohio,Blossom Music Center
01 October 1995 Tinley Park,Illinois,New World Music Theatre
03 October 1995 Auburn Hills,Michigan,The Palace of Auburn Hills
04 October 1995 Columbus,Ohio,Polaris Amphitheater
06 October 1995 Bristow,Virginia,Nissan Pavilion
07 October 1995 Raleigh,North Carolina,Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
09 October 1995 Atlanta,Georgia,Lakewood Amphitheatre
11 October 1995 Maryland Heights, Missouri,Riverport Amphitheatre
13 October 1995 Dallas,Texas,Starplex Amphitheatre
14 October 1995 Austin,TexasSouth Park Meadows
16 October 1995 Denver,Colorado,McNichols Sports Arena
18 October 1995 Phoenix,Arizona,Desert Sky Pavilion
19 October 1995 Las Vegas,Nevada,Thomas & Mack Center
21 October 1995 Mountain View,California,Shoreline Amphitheatre
24 October 1995 Tacoma,Washington,Tacoma Dome
25 October 1995 Portland,Oregon,The Rose Garden
28 October 1995 Inglewood,California,Great Western Forum
29 October 1995 Inglewood,California,Great Western Forum
31 October 1995 Hollywood,CA , Hollywood Palladium
Europe
14 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena
15 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena
17 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena
18 November 1995 London,England,Wembley Arena
20 November 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre
21 November 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre
23 November 1995 Belfast, Northern Ireland ,King’s Hall (The Belfast Show Was Postponed as he played the MTV EMA awards show instead – The rescheduled date was 05/12/95 and the opening / support act was local band Peacefrog)
24 November 1995 Dublin,Ireland,Point Depot
26 November 1995 Exeter,England,Westpoint Arena
27 November 1995 Cardiff,Wales,Cardiff International Arena
29 November 1995 Aberdeen,Scotland,Exhibition Centre
30 November 1995 Glasgow,Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre
03 December 1995 Sheffield,England,Sheffield Arena
04 December 1995 Sheffield Arena (Cancelled)
05 December 1995 Belfast Northern,Ireland King’s Hall
06 December 1995 Manchester England (Re-scheduled) Manchester Arena
07 December 1995 Newcastle,upon Tyne Newcastle Arena
08 December 1995 Manchester,Manchester Arena
13 December 1995 Birmingham,National Exhibition Centre (Hall 5) (Big Twix Mix Show)
17 January 1996 Helsinki Finland,Helsinki Ice Hall
19 January 1996 Stockholm,Sweden,Globe Arena
20 January 1996 Gothenburg,Scandinavium
22 January 1996 Oslo,Norway,Spektrum
24 January 1996 Copenhagen, Denmark,Valby-Hallen
25 January 1996 Hamburg,Germany Sporthalle
27 January 1996 Brussels ,Belgium, Vorst Forest Nationaal
28 January 1996 Utrecht, Netherlands, Prins Van Oranjehall
30 January 1996 Dortmund, Germany, Westfalenhalle
31 January 1996 Frankfurt, Festhalle
01 February 1996 Berlin, Deutschlandhalle
03 February 1996 Prague Czech Republic, Sportovni Hala
04 February 1996 Vienna, Austria, Stadthalle
06 February 1996 Ljubljana ,Slovenia, Hala Tivoli
08 February 1996 Milan ,Italy, Palatrussardi
09 February 1996 Bologna Palasport
11 February 1996 Lyon,France ,Halle Tony Garnier
13 February 1996 Geneva, Switzerland Arena
14 February 1996 Zurich,Hallenstadion
16 February 1996 Amnéville ,France, Le Galaxie
17 February 1996 Lille, Le Zénith
18 February 1996 Rennes,Salle Expos-Aeroport
20 February 1996 Paris,Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy