David Bowie

19th July 1997   Phoenix Festival, Long Marston Airfield, Stratford-upon-Avon  CV37

Artwork Title: David Bowie - Tao Jones Index secret show - Phoenix Festival 1997

Photographed during Bowie’s unannounced late-night performance as Tao Jones Index, the experimental alter ego created for a small number of Earthling-era appearances.

 Performing in the BBC Radio 1 Dance Tent, Bowie and his band presented a stripped-back, electronic set quite different from the main-stage performance that followed the next day.

The Tao Jones Index shows were deliberately kept low-key and anonymous, with the audience not told who was performing.

For me, this photograph captures something of the intimacy and intensity of that unusual Saturday-night appearance — Bowie before a relatively small festival audience, exploring the more experimental side of the Earthling period.

As a more down to earth(ling) aside here’s a brief glimpse into the world of the global megastar slumming it at the Summer Festival:

"David Bowie requested some odd items on his Phoenix rider but came close to not getting a few," recalled promoter Neil Pengelly.

"An urgent, eleventh-hour delivery of his bullworker and carrot juicer required a dash through the arena in a golf cart – not a problem until a plucky punter nicked the cart from under the nose of the briefly distracted driver.

A Benny Hill-style chase ended when the man dumped the cart and ran off into the crowd.

Adding insult to injury, three girls spotted the key still in the cart and ram-raided a cigarette stall."

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