Last Friday I was lucky enough to see David Bowie and the Polyphonic Spree here in Berkeley. It's always nice to finally be able to walk to a show from our house rather than deal with the bridge and parking.
What to say about it? I liked the Spree more than I was prepared to, considering that unrelenting uplifting sacharrine feel-good melodies usually make me break out in a rash. But they're the hardest working "band" I've seen in a long time, and the girls shook their heads back and forth for 40 minutes straight and didn't fall down, they're like the Flaming Lips crossed with Yes, and they won me over, even if I think their record is a bit much to take.
As for DB: well, when you see an icon of this stature at this point in his career you'd better be willing to accept a certain amount of Hollywood cheese in the proceedings, and that was there, but it managed to be pretty understated most of the time. The "big show" aspect was undercut by his friendly, personable stage manner. While the Berkeley Community Theatre isn't exactly intimate, it's smaller than the Shoreline, which was the last place I saw him. Having gone back on his word to retire all his old tunes was probably a good thing this time around; when he toured Outside it was great to hear that album in almost its entirety (I happen to really like that album, leave me alone), but Reality has a fair amount of weak or slow tracks, so interspersing them with rearranged unexpected songs like China Girl (! which of course everyone used to hate when they were into being "legit", but you just can't deny the song's merits) or just plain bizarre surprises like the Supermen (which he introduced as something from his "twerp goth days" and then mocked the lyrics of the rest of the night) was a brilliant decision. The Heathen tracks that got an airing still sound like modern classics. He played for 2 1/2 hours, he encored with an elaborate version of Slip Away with all of the Spree on stage and a backing film of the Uncle Floyd Show as well as Changes and Ziggy Stardust... couldn't ask for more!