David Bowie performed a warm-up show for the Earthling Tour at Factory Studios in Dublin, Ireland, on 17 May 1997.
The three-hour show was seen by just 300 fans, and featured two sets – a 45-minute drum and bass set followed by a two-hour rock show. Among the guests were Joe Elliot and Rick Savage of Def Leppard, and members of Garth Brooks’s band.
Tickets for the show were sold to clubbers at the Kitchen nightclub the previous night, with the location remaining a secret until shortly before the Factory opened its doors. The gig was organised by the Quadraphonic drum and bass collective, whose club nights at the Kitchen and Andrew’s Lane Theatre were often visited by Bowie.
Bowie had spent much of the previous month rehearsing in Dublin with his band. There were two further warm-up shows in London before the tour began properly on 7 June in Lübeck, Germany.
The setlist
- ‘I’m Deranged’
- ‘Pallas Athena’
- ‘V-2 Schneider’
- ‘Fame’
- ‘O Superman’
- ‘The Last Thing You Should Do’
- ‘Telling Lies’
- ‘Stay’
- ‘Battle For Britain (The Letter)’
- ‘Hallo Spaceboy’
- ‘Fashion’
- ‘Under Pressure’
- ‘Little Wonder’
- ‘The Motel’
- “Heroes”
- ‘Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’
- ‘Outside’
- ‘Looking For Satellites’
- ‘The Man Who Sold The World’
- ‘Strangers When We Meet’
- ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’
- ‘Quicksand’
- ‘Seven Years In Tibet’
- ‘The Jean Genie’
- ‘White Light/White Heat’
- ‘Queen Bitch’
- ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’
- ‘All The Young Dudes’
- ‘Dead Man Walking’
- ‘Fame’
Also on this day...
- 2004: Live: Benedum Center, Pittsburgh
- 1983: Rehearsal: Forest National, Brussels
- 1976: Live: Pavilion de Paris, Paris
- 1973: Live: Caird Hall, Dundee
- 1970: Recording, mixing: The Man Who Sold The World
Want more? Visit the David Bowie history section.