When Mike Garson put together ‘A Bowie Celebration’ to honour his late, great boss David Bowie, he created something special for Bowie fans. This isn’t a Bowie covers band, it is actually the Bowie band.
Garson kept the sound authentic. He spent decades with Bowie performing on the albums from ‘Aladdin Sane’ (1973) to ‘Reality’ (2003). His piano playing was the nucleus of the sound of the title track from ‘Aladdin Sane’.
Mike Garson recreating his #Bowie piano masterpiece Aladdin Sane pic.twitter.com/VAgiybpS2W
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Garson is the orchestra leader. He brought in Mark Plati who produced ‘Earthling’ (1997), Carmine Rojas bass player for Bowie on ‘Let’s Dance’ (1983) ‘Tonight’ (1984) and ‘Never Let Me Down’ (1987) and Gerry Leonard was on ‘Heathen’ (2002), ‘Reality’ (2003) and ‘The Next Day’ (2013).
On vocals, Bernard Fowler (Rolling Stones), Corey Glover (Living Colour), Guatemala singer Gaby Moreno and Sting’s son Joe Sumner deliver the four individual and unique vocal sounds needed to recreate the diversity of the Bowie sound. “It takes a village to sing David’s songs,” Mike Garson told Noise11.com.
A Bowie Celebration with Joe Sumner son of Sting Let’s Dance pic.twitter.com/DpaPStCYXE
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Songs from the setlist were sourced mainly from the songs still active in Bowie setlists from his later years. However, the occasional rarity was included. Bowie had only ever performed ‘Win’ once in 1974 and you have to go back to 1974 for a Bowie live version of ‘Sweet Thing’. (A live version by Bowie is on the David Live album). ‘Where Are They Now?’ from the 2013 comeback record ‘The Next Day?’ was never performed live by Bowie.
While Bowie did appear live at two more special events (Condé Nast Fashion Rocks, 2005 and Live Rocks Black Ball in New York in 2006).
Bowie’s last ever official concert was 25 June, 2004 at the Hurricane Festival in Germany. 11 of the songs from A Bowie Celebration in Melbourne were last performed by David at that show.
As a reference I’ve included the dates for the last time Bowie played each of the songs included in ‘A Bowie Celebraation’.
A Bowie Celebration setlist, Melbourne, 11 May 2019
Bring Me the Disco King (from Reality, 2003) (17 April, 2004, Berkeley, California)
Rebel Rebel (from Diamond Dogs, 1974) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Moonage Daydream (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972) (12 July, 2002, New York, USA)
Fame (from Young Americans, 1975) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Young Americans (from Young Americans, 1975) (27 September, 1990, Santiago, Chile)
Space Oddity (from Space Oddity, 1969) (14 March, 2004, Hong Kong)
Quicksand (from Hunky Dory, 1971) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Five Years (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972) (8 September, 2005, New York)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972) (13 July, 1990, Philadelphia, USA)
The Man Who Sold the World (from The Man Who Sold the World. 1970) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Ashes to Ashes (from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), 1980) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Win (from Young Americans, 1975) (1 December, 1974, Atlanta, USA)
I’m Afraid of Americans (from Earthling, 1997) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Where Are We Now? (from The Next Day, 2013) (never performed live by Bowie)
Time (from Aladdin Sane, 1973) (1 October, 1997, Boston, USA)
Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise) (from Diamond Dogs, 1974) (5 October, 1974, St Paul, USA)
Wild Is the Wind (from Station to Station, 1976) (9 November, 2006, New York, USA)
Aladdin Sane (from Aladdin Sane, 1973) (8 January, 1997, New York, USA)
Let’s Dance (from Let’s Dance, 1983) (2 June, 2004, Uncasville, USA)
Under Pressure (from Queen’s Hot Space, 1982) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Ziggy Stardust (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Suffragette City (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
All the Young Dudes (from David Live, 1974) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
Encore:
Andy Warhol (from Hunky Dory, 1971) (25 July, 1997, Malmö, Sweden)
Life on Mars? (from Hunky Dory, 1971) (8 September, 2005, New York)
“Heroes” (from “Heroes”, 1977) (25 June, 2004, Scheesel, Germany)
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