Reality's killing me

So, the momentum's building nicely. Heathen's getting great notices and Bowie's touring hard through 2002, playing crazily-lengthy sets, especially in London, Paris & Germany. The band are very tight and soon another album looms, Reality, breaking in the autumn of 2003.

Bowie's on a roll. A world tour starts. The shows are sprawling sets of new songs mixed with material from everywhere. Good humour abounds.

Bootlegs are rife with high-quality sound capturing most of the tour.

Then he gets a lollipop in the eye. Not too much damage. Already have some issues with that! But at a German festival, it all stops. Bowie's finished. As MIA sang, "Reality's killing me!" Everything grinds to a halt. Bowie's gone....forever! This is 2004. There are some sporadic public appearances afterwards, while he recovers from surgery, but the consensus is that Bowie has retired, and, unlike the fake Ziggy palava, it is finite.

My friends constantly ask if I hear anything, assuming I have some telepathic phone-line into the Bowie psyche, but I can only offer my unswerving, if unlikely, faith in Bowie's muse. Then, about a year after the leaking of the glorious Toy (as if Bowie spotted a web opportunity, like a dry-run), out of nowhere came the sounds, the public shock and the tsunami across the media.

and…..the Next Day………

I had a chuckle. Never in doubt.

Reality's killing me.......