On This Day: David Bowie Throws a 50th Birthday Bash Concert With Lou Reed, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Foo Fighters, and More

“I tried to evade it but it’s impossible,” joked David Bowie on turning 50. A day after celebrating his 50th birthday quietly with friends and family on January 8, Bowie held a star-studded birthday celebration, and concert, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, saving the “razzmatazz” for MSG. “I’m having a ball, and I like where I’m at,” added Bowie, “and this show is looking like an occasion to remember, for me especially.”

On the evening of January 9, 1997, David Bowie and Friends: A Very Special Birthday Concert featured a night of performances celebrating Bowie’s golden birthday with a collection of special, hand-picked guests.

The 25-song set included performances by Bowie, joined by Lou Reed, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Reeves Gabrel (then Bowie’s guitarist), Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, Foo Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl, and Pat Smear, Pixies’ Frank Black, Sonic Youth, Placebo’s Brian Molko, and William Goldsmith (Sunny Day Real Estate), along with other members of Bowie’s band, Mike Garson, Gail Ann Dorsey, and Zack Alford.

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As a black and white screen flashed the names of the guests for the night, Bowie appeared center stage singing his then-recent Earthling single “Little Wonder.”

“Good evening, we’re your rock band for the night,” said Bowie to the crowd. “We’re gonna get party-fied with a bunch of fantastic guests,” added Bowie before backtracking to his 1995 album Outside with “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” which was featured in the thriller Seven.

The Pixies’ Black was the first guest to join Bowie on a Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) pairing of the title track and “Fashion.” More Earthling songs were freckled in—”Telling Lies,” “Battle for Britain (the Letter), along with “I’m Afraid of Americans” with Sonic Youth, and “Seven Years in Tibet” with Grohl. Foo Fighters also joined Bowie on the Outsider song “Hallo Spaceboy.”

After Bowie pulled out “The Man Who Sold the World,” Smith stepped out for “The Last Thing You Should Do” from Earthling before duetting on an older Hunky Dory track, “Quicksand.”

Regaling the audience throughout the evening, the set crept mostly between Outside and Earthling with “The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)” and “Looking for Satellites,” before the second half took him further back in time. First stop: “Under Pressure,” his 1981 hit with Queen, then “Heroes” before breaking.

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The first encore nearly entirely featured Reed who joined Bowie on “Queen Bitch” from Hunky Dory before covers of the Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat” and “I’m Waiting for the Man” and Reed’s own New York classic “Dirty Boulevard.” “It’s been a really great trip,” said Bowie after closing on “Moonage Daydream” and introducing the band.

For the second encore, Bowie returned to a serenade of “Happy Birthday” performed by the band and sung by the audience. The final guest for the evening was Corgan on “All the Young Dudes” and “The Jean Genie.” Bowie closed the evening with an acoustic rendition of “Space Oddity” marking the first time he performed it live since 1990. He performed the song one final time on July 5, 2002, at the Horsens Festival in Denmark.

“It’s been an extraordinary 35 years of this 50 years,” said Bowie after receiving his birthday cheer. “For those of you who have come and see me … it’s been a fantastic ride, so thank you very much. For those of you who have maybe just found my music, I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t bore you.”

Setlist: David Bowie and Friends: A Very Special Birthday Concert, January 9, 1997

1. Little Wonder
2. The Hearts Filthy Lesson
3. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)(with Frank Black)
4. Fashion (with Frank Black)
5. Telling Lies
6. Hallo Spaceboy (with Foo Fighters)
7. Seven Years in Tibet (with Dave Grohl)
8. The Man Who Sold the World
9. The Last Thing You Should Do (with Robert Smith)
10. Quicksand (with Robert Smith)
11. Battle for Britain (The Letter)
12. The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)
13. I’m Afraid of Americans (with Sonic Youth)
14. Looking for Satellites
15. Under Pressure
16. Heroes
    
    Encore 1
17. Queen Bitch (with Lou Reed)
18. I’m Waiting for the Man (with Lou Reed)
19. Dirty Blvd (with Lou Reed)
20. White Light/White Heat (with Lou Reed)
21. Moonage Daydream
    
    Encore 2
22. Happy Birthday (Performed by Gail Ann Dorsey)
23. All the Young Dudes (with Billy Corgan)
24. The Jean Genie (with Billy Corgan)
25. Space Oddity

Watch David Bowie’s full 50th birthday concert here.

Photo: David Bowie at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, January 9, 1997 (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)