The enigma that was David Bowie, is worth celebrating, for so many reasons. Bowie the fashion icon, the white boy funk purveyor, the prog noodler, the Eno compatriot, the theatrical song cycler, is responsible for the soundtrack of many music fan’s youth. Mine included. So I was happy to view this ragtag cadre of Bowie acolytes plow through 2 hours of hits. The cast of characters was curious; Todd Rundgren on guitar and vocals, Royston Langdon from the 90s indie outfit Spacehog on keys ,guitars, and vocals, Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals, Angelo Moore, lead singer for Fishbone, a non-famous rhythm section with bass, drums, keys/sax, and a bandleader with the unfortunate uni-moniker “Scrote” on guitar. The setlist was epic and expansive: Moonage Daydream, Young Americans, John I’m Only Dancing, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Space Oddity, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Fame, Golden Years, Ashes to Ashes, Sound and Vision, Fashion, DJ, Stay, Hallo Spaceboy, I’m Afraid of Americans, Let’s Dance, ended with All The Young Dudes, and encored with Suffragette City and Heroes. I’m sure I’ve missed some, but you get the idea. Todd Rundgren is a fantastic artist who I’ve seen many times back in the day. If this blog started in the 80s, it may well have been named “Just Another Onionhead blog”, or The Sons of 1984. Todd took on the theatrical Bowie, hamming up Space Oddity and going through a variety of costume changes. Langdon sang Ziggy Stardust playing tasteful acoustic. Spacehog carried the glam mantle in the 90s, and Langdon gave off the aura of an aging indie star. Belew is a master on guitar and was the only one on stage with a direct line to Bowie. He played on the under the radar Lodger, from which DJ was the hit. Fishbone is a 90s ska-funk outfit from LA. Frenetic frontman Moore took on the fashion icon Bowie, by wearing a wide variety of garish costumes. He prowled the stage and hopped in to the crowd, looking like some Tasmanian devil poofter with a Bowie delivery. The near capacity crowd sang along, just as they did in the 70s, after popping that new Bowie cassette in their Datsun’s tape deck. Bowie was taken from us too soon, but his fan base remains.
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