It's My Life Tour

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It's My Life Tour
Tour by Tin Machine
"It's My Life" Promotional Band Image
From L to R: David Bowie, Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, Tony Sales
Associated albumTin Machine II
Start date5 October 1991
End date17 February 1992
Legs3
No. of shows69
Tin Machine concert chronology
David Bowie tour chronology
Sound+Vision Tour
(1990)
It’s My Life Tour
(1991–1992)
Outside Tour
(1995–1996)

The It's My Life Tour was a concert tour by the Anglo-American hard rock band Tin Machine. The tour commenced on 5 October 1991 after two warm-up shows, one press show and three trade-industry shows, visiting twelve countries and concluding after seven months and sixty-nine performances, a larger outing than their first tour in 1989.

Tour details[edit]

The band rehearsed and warmed up for the tour in Dublin in August 1991.[1] Joined onstage by guitarist Eric Schermerhorn,[2] Tin Machine presented songs from the Tin Machine album and the Tin Machine II album, augmented with cover versions of songs from the Pixies, Neil Young and The Moody Blues.[3]

To start the show at some venues, an old TV was placed on stage, playing old sitcoms while the prelude to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde played over loudspeakers.[2]

The band purposefully booked intimate venues of a few thousand seats or less so that they could focus on the music without any theatrical trappings, a stark change from lead vocalist David Bowie's previous Glass Spider and Sound+Vision tours;[4] Bowie also wanted to avoid playing larger venues and arenas lest his fans show up "hoping I'd be doing old songs or something. We don't want that feeling at all."[5]

Bowie claimed that the setlist for the tour was made on the fly each night, saying "We have no setlist whatsoever. We have a complete list of all our songs on the floor of the stage and we yell it out as we feel it. If you catch us on a bad night, it can be one of the most disastrous shows you've ever seen. But on a good night – and fortunately with this band most nights have been good nights – it really happens".[6]

Critical reception[edit]

The review of the performance at the trade show at Slim's in San Francisco was not kind: "It's hard to imagine people walking out on a David Bowie show at Slim's, but all you had to do was look around the room Thursday at the end of the appearance by Tin Machine. (...) Bowie and his associates gave a more than hour-long display of his latest incarnation, and the music turned out to be nearly unlistenable."[7]

The show in Seattle was met with positive reviews: "Let it first be said that on every level, Tin Machine is an outstanding band. (...) [they] may well represent the next evolutionary step in rock and roll – or just another blind alley. In any event, it is powerful stuff."[2] During the show, Bowie played alto and baritone sax and electric, acoustic and 12-string guitar.[2]

The Los Angeles Times had a positive review of the first New York show, complimenting the band on their desire to tinker with songs' arrangements and appreciating Bowie's "theatrical gift" for performing.[8]

Live recordings[edit]

Their performance on 1 September 1991 at the Los Angeles airport was taped for broadcast in America as part of the ABC In Concert series, and was aired on 6 September 1991.[9]

Tin Machine were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live's 17th season on 23 November 1991.[9]

The show in Hamburg on 24 October, 1991, at Docks, was filmed and later released on the video, Oy Vey, Baby: Tin Machine Live at the Docks, with the song "Baby Can Dance" from the same performance appearing on the compilation album Best of Grunge Rock.

Songs from the concerts in Boston, New York City, Sapporo and Tokyo were recorded and released on the live album Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby (1992).

Setlist[edit]

The following set list was obtained from the concert held on 30 October, 1991, at Le Zénith Paris in Paris. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.

  1. "Bus Stop"
  2. "Under the God"
  3. "A Big Hurt"
  4. "Baby Can Dance"
  5. "Shopping for Girls"
  6. "Stateside"
  7. "Goodbye Mr. Ed"
  8. "I Can't Read"
  9. "Go Now" (Bessie Banks cover)
  10. "Baby Universal"
  11. "Sacrifice Yourself"
  12. "I've Been Waiting for You" (Neil Young cover)
  13. "Betty Wrong"
  14. "You Can't Talk"
  15. "Debaser" (Pixies cover)
  16. "If There Is Something" (Roxy Music cover)
  17. "Heaven's in Here"
  18. "One Shot"
  19. "You Belong in Rock 'n' Roll"

Tour dates[edit]

Date City Country Venue
Tour rehearsals
10 August 1991 Dublin Ireland Factory Studios
11 August 1991
12 August 1991
13 August 1991
14 August 1991
15 August 1991
Warm up shows
16 August 1991 Dublin Ireland The Baggot Inn
19 August 1991 The Waterfront
Press show
1 September 1991 Los Angeles United States Rockit Cargo @ LAX Airport
Trade shows
7 September 1991 Minneapolis United States Marriott
10 September 1991 Los Angeles
12 September 1991 San Francisco Slim's
Europe
5 October 1991 Milan Italy Teatro Smeraldo
6 October 1991
8 October 1991 Florence Palazzetto Dello Sport
9 October 1991 Rome Teatro Brancaccio
10 October 1991
12 October 1991 Munich Germany Circus Krone
14 October 1991 Offenbach Stadthalle
15 October 1991 Ludwigsburg Forum
17 October 1991 Berlin Neue Welt
19 October 1991 Copenhagen Denmark Falkoner Teatret
21 October 1991 Stockholm Sweden Circus
22 October 1991 Oslo Norway Oslo Konserthus
24 October 1991 Hamburg Germany Docks
25 October 1991 Hanover Music Hall
26 October 1991 Cologne E-Werk
28 October 1991 Utrecht Netherlands Muziekcentrum Vredenburg
29 October 1991 Paris France Olympia
30 October 1991 Le Zénith
31 October 1991 Brussels Belgium Ancienne Belgique
2 November 1991 Wolverhampton England Civic Hall
3 November 1991 Manchester International 2
5 November 1991 Newcastle upon Tyne Mayfair
6 November 1991 Liverpool Royal Court
7 November 1991 Glasgow Scotland Barrowlands
9 November 1991 Cambridge England Corn Exchange
10 November 1991 Brixton Brixton Academy
11 November 1991
North America
15 November 1991 Philadelphia United States Tower Theater
16 November 1991 Washington, D.C. The Citadel
17 November 1991 Philadelphia Tower Theater
19 November 1991 New Haven Toad's Place
20 November 1991 Boston Orpheum Theater
24 November 1991 Providence New Campus Club
25 November 1991 New Britain The Sting
27 November 1991 New York City Academy of Music
29 November 1991
1 December 1991 Montreal Canada La Brique
2 December 1991
3 December 1991 Toronto The Concert Hall
4 December 1991 Detroit United States Clubland
6 December 1991 Cleveland Agora Metropolitan
7 December 1991 Chicago Riviera Theatre
9 December 1991 Dallas Bronco Bowl
10 December 1991 Houston Back Alley
12 December 1991 Los Angeles Hollywood Palladium
14 December 1991 San Diego Spreckels Theater
15 December 1991
17 December 1991 San Francisco The Warfield
18 December 1991
20 December 1991 Seattle Paramount Theatre
21 December 1991 Vancouver Canada Commodore Ballroom
Asia
29 January 1992 Kyoto Japan Kaikan Dai Ichi Hall
30 January 1992 Osaka Festival Hall
31 January 1992
2 February 1992 Fukuoka Kyusyu Kouseinenkin Kaikan
3 February 1992 Hiroshima Kouseinenkin Kaikan
5 February 1992 Tokyo NHK Hall
6 February 1992
7 February 1992 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
10 February 1992 Sapporo Kouseinenkin Kaikan
11 February 1992
13 February 1992 Sendai Sunplaza Hall
14 February 1992 Omiya Sonic City Hall
17 February 1992 Tokyo Budokan Hall

Songs[edit]

Notation:

  • CD Included on the Oy Vey, Baby album
  • VHS/LD Included on the Oy Vey, Baby video album
  • CD/VHS/LD Included on both versions of the Oy Vey, Baby album

Personnel[edit]

Tin Machine
Additional musicians

References[edit]

  1. ^ Murray, Charles Shaar (October 1991), "And the Singer's Called Dave...", Q magazine, no. 61, pp. 56–64
  2. ^ a b c d "Bowie, Tin Machine offer what may be rock's new frontier" by Cary Smith, Journal-American, December 1991
  3. ^ Pegg, 2004, pp. 594–595.
  4. ^ "David Bowie Music Interview" by George Varga for The Star Entertainment Weekly, 1–7 January 1992, pp 2 & 10
  5. ^ di Perna, Alan (1991), "Ballad of the Tin Men", Creem, 2 (1): 50–59
  6. ^ "Beaming Bowie excited about current direction of his life, music" by Patrick MacDonald, The Seattle Times, 20 December 1991
  7. ^ "Bowie's Band Unimpressive at Slim's" by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 September 1991, C4
  8. ^ Pareles, Jon (30 November 1991), "Review/Rock; For Bowie, One More Change of Pace", Los Angeles Times, retrieved 29 October 2013
  9. ^ a b Tin Machine Rockline Interview 1991. Retrieved 8 August 2021.