Rebel Rebel

This clip would seem to have nothing to do with birthdays but through a fortuitous train of birthday–related cyber-stalking (and the discovery that Kim Gordon and I share the same birthday. YES!), I found this clip and discovered this concert. In 1997, David Bowie celebrated his 50th birthday by playing live in Madison Square Gardens, New York. With a line-up consisting of Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan, The Cure, Placebo (relatively unknown at the time but already long lauded by Bowie as the next big things), the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, Frank Black and, of course, the thin, white duke himself, I can't imagine what this gig must have been like. Bowie apparently once said, 'I shall welcome it!' when asked how he would feel when he turned 50. I personally love how he picked artists of the time to do this instead of harking back to some past era as if he was relevant then but not now. The real classics are everlasting. – Erin Kitchingman