David Bowie is reluctant to make his long-awaited live comeback because he is experiencing nerves over the prospect of returning to the stage, the Standard has been told.
The singer, 66, has not performed since 2006 and stopped touring after a heart attack on stage in Germany in 2004. The clamour for his return has been growing after he received rave reviews and superb sales for this year’s album The Next Day, his first for10 years.
A source close to the star revealed his fears as reports emerged today that concert promoter Live Nation had made a multi-million-pound offer for him to play at the Olympic Park next year. Live Nation’s rival AEG, which owns the rights to host concerts in Hyde Park, is expected to make a counter offer.
The source said: “Bowie knows that the level of expectation for the shows would be huge, and the pressure would be enormous as he would no doubt sell tens of thousands of tickets.”
Bowie has revealed that he created his alter ego Ziggy Stardust to deal with stage nerves. He said: “I’m not particularly a gregarious person. I had an unbearable shyness; it was much easier for me to keep on with the Ziggy thing, off stage as well as on. Who was David Bowie and who was Ziggy Stardust? It was motivated by shyness.”
A spokesman for Bowie said: “There are currently no plans to tour but we are not ruling anything out.”
A spokesman for Live Nation was unavailable for comment.
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