Concert Review: "Celebrating David Bowie"

Graphic for the "Celebrating David Bowie" tour.

The musicians at the "Celebrating David Bowie" concert at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis, February 21, 2018. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Last week I saw the David Bowie tribute show “Celebrating David Bowie” at the Pantages Theatre. Organized by Bowie’s longtime piano player Mike Garson, the show gathered lots of musicians who played with Bowie at different stages of his career to play some of his best songs. Garson was a member of Bowie’s band at various points from 1972 to 2004, and he played on some of Bowie’s most famous records, like Aladdin Sane and Young Americans. 

Bernard Fowler was the lead singer for most of the songs. He’s sung backing vocals for the Rolling Stones since 1989. His voice is superb, and his style is different enough from Bowie that I wasn’t constantly reminded of Bowie, or comparing him to Bowie. Other band members included guitarist Earl Slick, who first played with Bowie on one track on the Diamond Dogs album, and was the lead guitarist for the Diamond Dogs/Philly Dogs tour in 1974. He then went on to play on the Young Americans and Station to Station albums. Slick also did the Serious Moonlight tour in 1983, supporting Bowie’s Let’s Dance album. Slick returned to the Bowie fold for the 2002 album Heathen, 2003’s Reality, 2013’s The Next Day, and the 2003-4 Reality tour, which proved to be Bowie’s last. Other guitarists were Gerry Leonard and Mark Plati, who both played with Bowie in the 1990’s and 2000’s. The bassist was Carmine Rojas, who played on Let’s Dance, Tonight, and Never Let Me Down. Drums were handled by Lee John Madeloni, one of the only band members who didn’t play with Bowie. Gaby Moreno handled lead vocals superbly on songs like “Space Oddity,” “Aladdin Sane,” and “Five Years.”

It was very cool to see so many people who were very closely connected with Bowie. It wasn’t like, oh, this guy played tambourine on one song in 1973. These were musicians who worked and collaborated with Bowie over extended periods of time. 

Joe Sumner, the son of Sting, sang lead on a few songs, like “Let’s Dance,” “All the Young Dudes,” “Life on Mars,” “Ziggy Stardust,” and “Lady Grinning Soul,” one of my own personal favorite Bowie songs. I also saw Joe Sumner when he toured with his dad in 2017. (I reviewed that show here.) Sumner has an excellent voice, and he held some notes for a very long time. 

The band did a fantastic job of playing Bowie’s greatest songs live. If you’re a Bowie fan and you have the chance to see “Celebrating David Bowie,” go see it, it’s a great chance to relive some of Bowie’s magic again.