Setlist (2.5 hours):

01 Rebel Rebel
02 New Killer Star
03 Reality
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 Afraid
07 All The Young Dudes
08 China Girl
09 The Loneliest Guy
10 The Man Who Sold The World
11 Hallo Spaceboy
12 Sunday
13 Under Pressure
14 Life On Mars?
15 Ashes To Ashes
16 The Motel
17 Loving The Alien
18 Never Get OId
19 Changes
20 I'm Afraid Of Americans
21 "Heroes"

----- Encore -----
22 Bring Me The Disco King
23 Slip Away
24 Heathen (The Rays)
25 Five Years
26 Hang On To Yourself
27 Ziggy Stardust

Review from www.bowielive.com
The Dandy Warhol's have been and gone (they just didn't seem in the mood tonight), the roadies have done their setup, and the sell-out crowd of 12,000 wait in anticipation of Bowie's first Point gig in 8 years (since then, he's played a secret small rehearsal show, a couple of theatre gigs, and a club gig). The stage set looks simple but intriguing - a couple of thick "walk the plank" type raised walkways flank the stage, and small railless staircases lead up to the large screen behind the stage. The sound system is playing odds and sods from Bowie's current favourites such as the Flaming Lips, and then comes Queen Of All The Tarts. The screens light up slowly from right to left with a computer animated version of Bowie and band - a blond Gerry Leonard, a seated Gail Ann Dorsey, a drumming Sterling Campbell, a harmonica playing Bowie, a headphoned Mike Garson and a guitar playing Earl Slick, accompanied by an instrumental drone which shudders to a halt after a minute or so, then the clear voice of Bowie says "No, that was good Gerry, let's keep it going". The crowd cheers thinking Bowie has arrived, but it slowly dawns that we're still listening to a pre-recorded tape. The instrumental continues, then slowly, again from right to left, the computer animated figures become real on the screen, and we see the end of the jam. Then band members stroll across the raised walkway in front of the screen and down the railless staircase to assume their positions, and bang, they launch into a high energy Rebel Rebel. The crowd goes wild. Bowie is looking in astonishing good shape and form, playing guitar and the band go straight from Rebel to New Killer Star, on which a sea of hands count out "Ready set go" when it gets to that part.

Bowie then welcomes the crowd in Irish with "Tiocfaidh ar la, Baile Atha Cliath" ("Our day will come, Dublin"). "Tiocfaidh ar la" means "our day will come" and is, famously, the slogan of the IRA. Bowie then introduces "another song from the new album" and the band keep the energy levels up with Reality. This is followed by Fame, done in the style he's been doing it since 97 or so (Is It Any Wonder?), then a song he says comes from a band who were very popular in Ireland (the Pixies), Cactus. With piledriver following piledriver, the crowd have barely time to draw breath, but they don't care, swept along by the occasion. Another piledriver, Afraid, then Bowie says "I'm no eejit, I'm going to play this now" and the band go into yet another crowd-pleaser, All The Young Dudes. Bowie looks in great form and is chattier than usual. China Girl, then a slimmed down band (Bowie, Gerry and Mike) do a dramatic version of The Loneliest Guy. Accompanied by atmospheric film footage on the giant screen, this is a tour de force, and the crowd bays their appreciation at the end.

Bowie introduces the next song as "from the time when I was starting to make an impact, it's a song I'm glad we're doing again" and then belts out a great version of The Man Who Sold The World. At the end, Bowie seems to disappear stage right with a sly grin on his face, but as the familiar intro to Hallo Spaceboy is played, he re-appears on one of the walkways. He performs the song jumping about on this railless slippy-looking walkway, at one point running to the edge and peering down into the audience. Better him than me - I had nightmarish visions of him skidding to a multiple fracture.

It's time to slow things down again, so they do "Sunday" from Heathen. Bowie follows this with the band intro - Earl Slick on guitar, a "big man called Mike Garson on keyboards", Cat Russell on keyboards, backing vocals and guitar, Sterling "Monsta" Campbell on drums, local boy Gerry Leonard (who gets the biggest cheer) on guitar, and Gail Ann on bass. He compliments Gail Ann on her dress and says "I can't wear those any more" with mock sadness. Then he corrects himself and says "Well, I *could*. I just don't want to".

The band then do Under Pressure, followed by a stunning Mike-and-Bowie Life On Mars?. This is followed by something I'd never seen before at a concert (it won't be the last) - a 5 minute standing ovation as the whole place, including the thousands seated, rose as one to acclaim a stunning piece of singing by Bowie in which he hit all the notes with power and conviction. On a night of surprises, the biggest surprise is not the near pronunciation perfect Irish (Gaelic) he peppers through the night, but just how powerful and impressive "the voice" is. After the cancellation of Toulouse, there had been question marks and suspicions all might not be well, but I can say with total certainty that his voice has never been as powerful.

The standing ovation is starting to look like it might go on forever, so Bowie cuts it short and says "C'mon, let's play some more music".

After a version of "Ashes To Ashes", he points to the camera crew filming the gig and tells us we're all being filmed for the DVD. "As you know, Dublin is the place to film the DVD, so these guys will be here tonight and tomorrow night. I hope they're not in your way. But at least it means your ugly mugs, excuse me, I mean your beautiful mugs will be on the DVD".

He introduces the next song as a favourite from the Outside album "which we rehearsed here in Dublin", and the band do a wonderfully atmospheric version of "The Motel". He introduces the next song as "another old song that Gerry and I reworked for a New York thing, I really like it, perhaps this is how the song should always have sounded". He then does a stunning version of Loving The Alien accompanied only by Gerry on guitar. He sings the song gentler than the original, and the lyrics take on an added poignancy. This is followed by another rousing Reality song, Never Get Old, and then Changes, followed by the second standing ovation of the night. Then a high energy almost angry version of "I'm Afraid Of Americans", a song that has grown in potency since Bowie first started performing it, then "Heroes", followed by the third standing ovation of the night.

Bowie then says "Go raibh maith agat" (Thank you), and he and the band troop off. They don't leave us waiting long, before Mike comes strolling back on. Then "You promised me that the ending would be clear" and Bowie is at the back of one of the raised walkways, singing "Bring Me The Disco King". He totters unsurely along the walkway, struggling through the stage shrubbery, the song gradually growing in power and coming to its "I don't know about you" stirring climax. The rest of the band then re-appears, Bowie disappears and re-appears clutching a stlophone, and the screens are showing clips of Uncle Floyd and Augie. Bowie watches till it ends, then starts into "Slip Away". The screens continue to show Uncle Floyd and Augie before seguing into a "deep space" motif, and then the lyrics appear on screen as Bowie sings them, a small ball of Augie doing the karaoke duties. A great way to get the crowd singing a song they might not be all that familiar with. This is followed by the tour de force Heathen title track, the crowd and band keeping hand clap time together. At the end of this, a blind Bowie is led off stage, his hand on Gail Ann's shoulder. Gerry remains on stage, so it's clear they're coming back, and so they do. The night ends with the 1-2-3 Ziggy sucker punch - Five Years, Hang On To Yourself and Ziggy Stardust. As the crowd draws its breath, Bowie gathers his band around him on the centre of the stage, and they do a series of theatrical bows to all corners of the place. They leave to rapturous acclaim, then Bowie comers bounding back for some solo bows.

An incredible concert from rock's greatest showman. That's not to say the show was without its flaws. Ashes To Ashes in particular was a pale shadow of former tours. Funky bass is central to this most subtle of Bowie's number one singles, and strange as it may sound, Gail Ann just doesn't stack up in this department compared to whitey (aka Mark Plati). Musically, there aren't the same surprises or leaps forward we've seen on other recent tours. In essence, this tour is a crystallisation of everything this band has done since they've been together - the crowd pleasers from other tours are present here with the same arrangements. The Reality songs are done straight as per the album version as, for the most part are the new "old" songs like Fantastic Voyage (Loving The Alien is an exception here). This of course is not a surprise. This tour is aimed at a more general audience than any since Sound And Vision, and in that context Bowie is taking as much risk as he possibly can by including 13 songs from the last 5 albums and some obscure oldies.

So what makes this tour better is not the band, the setlists or the arrangements, but Bowie himself. For the first time in a long time, he's put a lot of thought into the visuals and the stage set, and he's come up with a tasteful winner, the perfect antidote to some of his past over-the-top excesses. He's in the best form vocally and performancewise of his life, he looks re-invigorated and rejuvenated, and the infamous Bowie charisma has never shone brighter.

So in summary, Bowie proved himself to be the one true God of rock. All who believe otherwise are heretics. He grabbed the audience by the scruff of our collective necks, shook and rocked us to within an inch of our lives, and after 2 and a half hours that felt like two and a half minutes flung our bloodied pulps of bodies out onto the streets, reeling from the spectacle and experience we'd just witnessed.