It has become a tradition for my partner and I plus a couple of old friends to go see the Bowie Celebration band at this time of year.
The first one was at Brixton Academy on what would have been Bowie's 70th birthday a year after he died. That had an amazing lineup of star guests. In 2018 we were at Shepherds Bush Empire for a more limited lineup that still included numerous former Bowie musicians. For 2019 we flew out to Berlin for the gig and also visited the Hansa Sound Studios.
This year we were back at Shepherds Bush where we saw Bowie about 20 yeas ago.
These gigs are organised by pianist Mike Garson who did over 1000 gigs with Bowie. This time we had guitarists Gerry Leonard and Kevin Armstrong, bassist Carmine Rojas, drummer Alan Childs and sax player Clare Hirst. The singers were Mr Hudson, Corey Glover and Sass Jordan with Simon Westbrook doing a couple and Kristina O'Connor on backing vocals.
These are more than just tribute gigs as you have some of the musicians who originally played these songs around the world and recorded with Bowie.
We saw Corey Glover last year and I have seen him with Living Colour years ago. He has the most amazing voice and really showed it off on Young Americans.
I know less about Mr Hudson, but I know he works with top acts. He manages to emulate Bowie quite well.
I did not know Simon Westbrook, but he was rather good. This is not my video.
There was a guest drumming spot by nine year old Nandi Bushell who is apparently an internet sensation. She did a good job on Five Years and Let's Dance. She even got to do a solo. Not my video either. I prefer to just watch the show, but did take a few snaps.
We really enjoyed the gig and so did the rest of the audience who were singing along. They started by playing the whole of Diamond Dogs and some people knew all the words for that. Of course it is an older audience, but there were some younger folk they who may not have seen Bowie himself play. This is the nearest you can get and I find it more classy than the tribute acts I have seen.
Rock on David.
The geeky guitarist and facilitator of the 10K Minnows Project.
- I'll buy guitar picks for Steem.
- Get a Wirex Debit Card to spend your crypto.
- Get some passive income with Mannabase.
- Get paid to search at Presearch.
- Battle for cards on Steem Monsters and I will lease to small accounts.
- I have Steem accounts to give away to worthy people!