Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie - Under Pressure (Live) (2017)

Released in September of 1995, David Bowie's Outside album would inspire a tour that would both confuse and confound his existing fan base at the time, yet has since been re-evaluated as one of his most daring moves. It was a tour containing many of the most frighteningly intense performances of his career, and to up the ante he would invite Nine Inch Nails to co-headline. The previous year, Bowie had begin collaborating with Brian Eno again, revisiting the experimental territory they first explored during the late 1970s on Bowie's now famous Berlin Trilogy of Low, Heroes, and Lodger. In many ways these albums, which contained proto-industrial elements and the searing guitar work of Robert Fripp, were a precursor to Nine Inch Nails, so road working it together wasn't as outrageous as it may have seemed to fans of both camps at the time.

Outside was essentially a concept album, revolving around the story a detective on the hunt for an art killer. It was a tale of murder in a noir setting and was clearly more artistic than anything Bowie had attempted for a long time. It also embraced an angrier industrial pallet of sound for Bowie, and by 1995, Nine Inch Nails, who were riding high on the success of The Downward Spiral, had become the absolute masters of the raging industrial sound. With singles like "Closer" and "Hurt" now embraced by the alternative scene as well as MTV, they were arguably more popular than Bowie at the time. However, front man Trent Reznor reportedly felt uncomfortable having one of his major influences open, so they developed a program that featured Bowie and his band members joining NIN toward the end of their set which would then directly segue into Bowie's set without a break or intermission. Bowie would recruit into his band two key collaborators from the '70s and '80s, guitarist Carlos Alomar and pianist Mike Garson, in addition to guitarist Reeves Gabrel, a critical element in the sound of Bowie's early 1990s project, Tin Machine. Together, they were a serious force and Bowie, who many now perceived as lost in a sea of commercial trends, had suddenly becoming relevant again while rebelling against his own superstardom.

The Outside/Dissonance tour began on September 14, 1995 at the Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford Connecticut and pummeled its way across the country. One of the most memorable performances of the tour occurred five weeks later when the tour landed at the scenic outdoor Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. Here we present the Bill Graham Archive master recordings of David Bowie's performance from that legendary night. The recording actually begins toward the tail end of the Nine Inch Nails set, with the hauntingly atmospheric guitars and rumbling drums of "Subterraneans." Featuring Reznor on sax and Bowie improvising lyrics unrelated to the track, this segues directly into Bowie's "Scary Monsters," with Bowie and Reznor trading verses amidst pummeling drums and screaming guitars. The two bandleaders also share vocals on the more haunting "Reptile" which follows, fueled by dissonant synth work and chugging slow-paced rhythms. They then head in the opposite direction with new Bowie material in the form of "Hallo Spaceboy," a frenetic rush of swirling guitars and synthesizers, industrial percussion, and pounding bass to end the Nine Inch Nails portion of the show. Reznor remains on stage for the transition song, which finds Bowie presenting his own interpretation of the NIN song "Hurt." Given a slower arrangement and now featuring the duel guitars of Reeves Gabrel and Carlos Alomar, this is a highly intriguing performance that serves as a final collaboration between the two groups before the launching point for Bowie's set proper.

TRACKLIST

01. Subterraneans (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
02. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
03. Hallo Spaceboy (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
04. Hurt (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
05. Look Back in Anger (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
06. I'm Deranged (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
07. The Heart's Filthy Lesson (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
08. The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty) (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
09. I Have Not Been to Oxford Town (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
10. Outside (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
11. Andy Warhol (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
12. Breaking Glass (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
13. The Man Who Sold the World (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
14. We Prick You (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
15. A Small Plot of Land (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
16. Nite Flights (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)
17. Under Pressure (At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Ca 1995)