David Bowie – Brilliant Live Adventures (1995-1999) box set artworkRecorded: 13 October, 13 December 1995; 18 July 1996; 10 June, 20 July, 15 October, 2 November 1997; 14 October, 19 November 1999
Producer: David Bowie

Released: 30 October, 20 November 2020; 15 January, 12 February, 12 March, 2 April 2021

Personnel

David Bowie: vocals, guitar, saxophone
Reeves Gabrels: guitar, synthesizer, vocals
Carlos Alomar, Mark Plati, Page Hamilton: guitar
Gail Ann Dorsey: bass guitar, keyboards, vocals
Mike Garson: piano, keyboards, synthesisers
Peter Schwartz: keyboards, synthesisers
Sterling Campbell, Zachary Alford: drums
Emm Gryner, Holly Palmer, George Simms: vocals

Brilliant Live Adventures (1995-1999) is a David Bowie box set, containing six live albums recorded during three tours in the 1990s.

The box set was announced on 2 October 2020, along with the physical release of Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95).

Unusually, the Bowie estate chose to release the live albums individually, and the empty box separately. Fans were disappointed at having to pay individual shipping for each item, which raised the total cost of the set considerably.

Furthermore, demand for the empty boxes was underestimated, and they sold out within hours of going on sale on 2 October, despite the price of £12/$18 for the CD box and £17/$28 for the vinyl.

In response, on 7 October davidbowie.com posted news of a second run of the boxes to meet demand:

As you are more than aware, last week we posted details of the Brilliant Live Adventures six album live set and the first release from it, Ouvrez Le Chien.

Along with other associated merchandise, we also offered LP and CD sized slipcase boxes to house the releases for those that intended to buy the full set of six albums.

Of course, estimating the demand for such a thing is far from an exact science. Even when trying to gauge quantities by asking people to register their interest beforehand, as did the DIG! site.

Clearly we underestimated and all copies from both the Official David Bowie Store and the Dig! (Rhino) store have now sold out.

HOWEVER… Due to the incredible interest and the fact that so many of you have been left disappointed, we will be manufacturing more of both slipcase boxes to meet the demand.

The new batch won’t go on sale till the new year, around the time of the sixth and last release of the Brilliant Live Adventures campaign. We’ll post details of how to pre-order well before then.

Thanks again for your enthusiasm and apologies for any distress caused.

The albums

Each of the Brilliant Live Adventures releases sold out quickly after going on sale. 6,000 compact disc and 4,000 vinyl editions were made available of each title.

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Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95)

The first Brilliant Live Adventures album was Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95), which had initially been available only on digital services from 3 July 2020.

On 10 October 2020, a limited edition physical release was announced. The compact disc and vinyl editions were released on 30 October 2020.

Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95) contained sixteen songs, fourteen of which were recorded at the Starplex Amphitheater in Dallas, Texas, on 13 October 1995, during the Outside Tour. Two additional bonus tracks – ‘Moonage Daydream’ and a second version of ‘Under Pressure’ – were taped on 13 December at the NEC in Birmingham, England.

No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95)

The second album in the set, No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95), was announced on 9 November 2020, and was released on 20 November.

It was recorded on 13 December 1995 at the Birmingham NEC, on the final night of the Outside Tour. The title comes from a line in the song ‘Strangers When We Meet’, which originally appeared on Bowie’s albums The Buddha Of Suburbia and 1.Outside.

liveandwell.com

The third BLA album, liveandwell.com, was originally released in September 2000 as a two-CD set which was given away to BowieNet subscribers.

In December 2020 a new vinyl and CD edition was announced, to be released on 15 January 2021. The reissue featured new artwork, including a cover photograph of David Bowie taken by Scarlet Page while rehearsing for his June 1997 shows at London’s Hanover Grand.

Look At The Moon! (Live Phoenix Festival 97)

The fourth BLA title was Look At The Moon! (Live Phoenix Festival 97), recorded in England on 20 July 1997. It was announced on Friday 29 January 2021 and went on sale the same day, ahead of its 12 February release.

Bowie performed an 18-song set at Phoenix, opening with ‘Quicksand’ from 1971’s Hunky Dory. The main set closed with ‘Little Wonder’, and was followed with encores of ‘Dead Man Walking’, covers of the Velvet Underground’s ‘White Light/White Heat’ and Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’, and finishing with ‘Stay’ from Station To Station.

Look At The Moon! was longer than the previous Brilliant Live Adventures, and was released as two-CD and triple vinyl sets.

Something In The Air (Live Paris 99)

The fifth album was Something In The Air (Live Paris 99). It was recorded at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris, France on 14 October 1999, part of the Hours Tour.

The album was initially only on streaming services. It was announced on 6 August 2020, and was eight days prior to it becoming available. The full show was made available on 14 August 2020.

The physical release of Something In The Air (Live Paris 99) was announced on 24 February 2021. It went on sale two days later, ahead of its 12 March release date.

Demand went up with each Brilliant Live Adventures release, with vinyl copies of Something In The Air selling out within 30 minutes in the UK. This led to inflated prices on secondary markets, disappointing some fans who had invested in the previous titles but had been unable to complete the set.

At The Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99)

The sixth and final album in the series was At The Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99). It was recorded on 19 November 1999 in front of an invite-only audience of fans and contest winners.

The album announced on 17 March 2021, and went on sale two days later, ahead of its 2 April release date.

The Kit Kat Klub release was not the full concert, and contained just 12 of the 17 songs performed. Furthermore, the 12-song set had been widely bootlegged previously, having been issued as a promotional CD by Virgin in 1999.

Demand was nevertheless high, and At The Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99) sold out faster than any of the other BLA releases. Vinyl and CDs on Bowie’s online store and Rhino’s webstore sold out in minutes, as did the reissued vinyl slipcases for the complete set. Server crashes on the Warner webstore Dig, meanwhile, meant that many fans were left frustrated and disappointed. Shortly afterwards it was announced that the albums would receive a second pressing to meet demand.

Box set text

The back of the Brilliant Live Adventures (1995-1999) box reads as follows:

Brilliant Live Adventures contains six live albums providing an exciting snapshot of three 1990s Bowie tours, with two albums each from the 1995-1996 Outside World Tour, the 1997 Earthling World Tour and the millennium closing 1999 ‘hours…’ Promotional Tour.

More than 30 years into his professional live career, Brilliant Live Adventures proves just how great a performer Bowie still was, even without the safety net of his most famous compositions. He had purged the majority of the better known songs in his canon following 1990’s Sound + Vision World Tour. A brave move which gave him the opportunity for a fresh start.

And what a palate-cleansing rejuvenation it was, witnessed by the tracks contained herein. Brilliant Live Adventures takes us on a five year journey in which time over 180 shows were performed by an ever-evolving group of incredible musicians.

Aside from songs from the three albums being promoted, enjoy a clutch of never previously played album tracks being aired in public for the first time on these tours, including ‘Teenage Wildlife’, ‘Nite Flights’, ‘Jump They Say’, ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’ and ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’, along with rarely performed songs like ‘Andy Warhol’, ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, ‘Joe The Lion’, ‘Word On A Wing’, ‘Drive-In Saturday’ and ‘Stay’…all represented within Brilliant Live Adventures.

Press release

DAVID BOWIE ‘BRILLIANT LIVE ADVENTURES’ – A SERIES OF SIX DAVID BOWIE LIVE ALBUMS FROM THE 1990s

VINYL, CD AND LIMITED EDITION BOXES TO HOUSE THE COMPLETE SETS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY VIA THE DAVID BOWIE OFFICIAL STORE & WARNER MUSIC GROUP’S DIG! STORE

FIRST LIVE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED IS ‘OUVREZ LE CHIEN (LIVE DALLAS 95)’ CD AND 2xLP TO BE RELEASED ON 30th OCTOBER

Parlophone Records is proud to announce release details for DAVID BOWIE ‘BRILLIANT LIVE ADVENTURES’ a series of six live albums from the 1990s which will be released on vinyl and CD as limited one run only pressings. There will also be special limited edition boxes for both vinyl and CD to house the full collection. The albums and boxes will only be available via the David Bowie official store and Warner Music Group’s Dig! store.

The first three albums and the special limited edition boxes will be released pre-Christmas, with the remaining three albums coming early next year.

The first release on CD and double vinyl is DAVID BOWIE OUVREZ LE CHIEN (LIVE DALLAS 95), previously a streaming only live album which was recorded live at the Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, 13th October, 1995, during the U.S. leg of the Outside tour. The title OUVREZ LE CHIEN (“open the dog” in French) originally appeared in the song ‘All The Madmen’ taken from The Man Who Sold The World album which celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year. Bowie also used the phrase in the lyrics of his 1993 single ‘Buddha Of Suburbia’, once again spelling “ouvre” without a Z. The Z was restored when the phrase and its English translation were prominently featured in the stage set of the 1995 Outside tour.

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