The Return of the Thin White Duke: David Bowie’s Archived Glastonbury Performance Provides Much Needed ‘Modern Love’ Amid COVID-19 Pandemic.
With the cancellation of 2020’s Glastonbury festival, it was a welcome consolation when the BBC announced that David Bowie’s headline set from 2000 would be broadcast in full for the first time. At Bowie’s request only the first five songs of the iconic set were originally broadcast, despite the fact “the weekend was built around Bowie”, as stated by producer Mark Cooper in an article penned for The Guardian. Had the 2020 festival gone ahead as planned, this legendary performance may have remained locked in the Glastonbury archives.
Wading through the fog of unease caused by global uncertainty, David Bowie emerged to provide sonorous escapism. It is a strange sensation, feeling the same excitement as when approaching a night of live music, whilst sat in the confines of your home. The moment the elegant melodies of pianist Mike Garson’s jazz-rendition of Greensleeves hits the eardrums, all eyes are glued to the television. Bowie immediately commands the crowds attention; a white spotlight casting an ethereal glow as he saunters onstage, clad in a lavish floral jacket resembling the ensemble worn at his first Glastonbury appearance in 1971.
The sparkling piano melodies and glistening guitar hooks of opening song ‘Wild Is The Wind’ erase all memory of the outside world, Bowie’s powerful belting of “Let me fly away with you” striking a chord with both the physical audience in 2000, and the virtual audience in 2020. This theatrical kickoff flows into the bouncing keys of ‘China Girl’, the delicate piano sound greatly contrasting the anthemic electric guitars.
The set is brimming with greatest-hits and beloved deep-cuts from Bowie’s extensive discography. The percussive drum beat and metallic guitar riffs of ‘Stay’ create a uniquely atmospheric sound. Bowie’s considered lyrics “This week has dragged past me so slowly/Life is so vague when it sends someone new” becoming painfully relevant for the 2020 audience. Bowie’s genius as lyricist, somehow magically, appears to be more relevant to todays audience than in 2000. The thumping bass lines and resonant backing vocals of ‘Changes’, which Bowie announces “I’d just written this one the first time I played Glastonbury in 1971”, has an undeniable feel-good energy, the lyrics “Time may change me/I can’t trace time” providing warm comfort that has all-but disappeared in this tumultuous period. As a beaming Bowie jumps with glee during the song’s energetic chorus, his movements mimicked by an endless mass of people, it becomes plainly evident that Bowie had an immeasurable passion for performing. The infectious joy of this performance is unlike anything to have graced the pyramid stage in the decades since.
The lights evolve into a romantic pink, as Bowie declares ‘Absolute Beginners’ his “favourite love song of the 80s”. The opening line of the riff-ridden love song, “I have nothing much to offer” further emphasises the importance of this Glastonbury set; Bowie will never know how important this performance was for millions, and could never have imagined an archived performance would provide such blissful escapism. It feels like Bowie is talking directly to this 2020 audience, his serenading vocal “Nothing much could happen, nothing we can’t shake” whispering that even though times are hard, we can get through it together.
Full of momentum and not a dull moment in sight, David Bowie’s astonishing Glastonbury performance cements his status as one of the greatest rockstars of all time, and inspires the virtual audience to focus on the light, whilst continuing to raise community morale. In the words of the late, great icon: “As long as we’re together, the rest can go to hell”.
Photography Credited to Unknown.