Listen and watch the Eurythmics Live By Request from January 2000 recorded in New York.

It seems hard to believe that the infamous Live By Request recording in New York on the 19th January 2000 was 20 years ago, how did that happen?  It is remembered for the phone in from David Bowie making his request. We’ve uploaded the audio for you here as well as a video playlist put together by Mauricio Avelino. In the gallery we have an advert from Rolling Stone, a rare promo DVD of the show and an access all areas pass.

We don’t hae the final 3 tracks that were for the webcast only which included Dave Stewart performing the Lou Reed classic, Take A Walk On The Wildside. The other tracks were Who’s That Girl and When Tomorrow Comes. A few peeps including Brendan were lucky to have been in the audience that night.

Vibber summed the event up so well at the time:

It was almost two hours of enjoyable moments in the company of two talents last night on US TV-show “Live by request” (+ live webcast), when Eurythmics and band managed to get a sleepy crowd off their seats with a string of hits.

On top of all the music, Eurythmics and the people on the show managed to create an easy and relaxed atmosphere as Dave Stewart cracked the jokes and Annie Lennox took the serious role telling about her involvement in various human rights efforts. Viewers called in with requests, but that held no real surprises – only the biggest hits were played. Apart from that the sound was warm and rich – as was Annies voice. New arrangements were tried out, the performance was by no means flawless, but that did not seem to matter as the enthusiasm and will to experiment was a far more interesting viewing experience than technical perfection ever is.

The producers of the show had a few surprises up their sleeve as they let a certain “David” through on the telephone. “David could you tell us your last name” asked the host, and when the reply “Bowie” rang out in the studio Annie suddenly got too shy to take the mic and talk to him. Instead the two Daves started the banter, talking about the flu he can’t rid himself of, Sting’s sexual prowess, and the fact that Eurythmics have been performing Life On Mars recently.

When later in the show an “Aretha” was presented on the telephone Annie just managed to say how stunned and honoured she felt, while Aretha expressed her joy about the reunion of Eurythmics.

Meanwhile Dave Stewart had a few surprises in store for anyone not familiar with his eccentric impulses. While telling a tale of the humble economic situation during the early years of Eurythmics he made up a little song, the chorus going “It was so bad / it was so bad it made me sad”. When asked about the title of the album “Peace”, he replied “We were going to call it ‘Carrots’, but Peace fitted better on the cover …”.

Annie quietly laughed and let him entertain the crowd, and unlike some periods during the previous incarnation of Eurythmics in the 80s there was only affection and no tension in the air between them.

A rocking rendition of Power to the Meek closed the show letting Annie throw caution to the wind and belt it out from the top of her lungs. That voice plus the energy and warmth of two passionate performers made this one of the most memorable Eurythmic moments on US TV.