LIVE REVIEW & GALLERY: Absolute Bowie @ Epic Studios, Norwich
When I first heard that, there was a David Bowie tribute act coming to Norwich, I had mixed feelings as it would take something extremely special, to pay tribute to such an iconic star. After reading up about the tribute act, that it was in it’s 17th year of touring and not only toured throughout the UK & Australia, but had also won an award, for best band at the National Tribute Music Awards. I thought that I would have to check this out for myself.
Upon arriving at the venue, there was a fairly large queue with more and more people of all ages, arriving by the second. I got talking to a few people, many were local, whilst others had travelled from Hertfordshire and London. Door staff were very professional and were pretty fast at getting people in, which was great to see. After a short wait the band came on. Vocalist John O’Neill as David Bowie, Andy Marr on guitar, Telegram Sam on bass, Varo Sisti on keyboards, Alessandro Riccardi on the drums.
The attire wore by John O’Neil was as close to Ziggy as you could get and styling / makeup was nailed spot on. The first song of the set was the 1972 hit “Hang on to yourself”. From the opening line you just knew that you were going to be in for a great night. With various attire changes, The first set also included Changes, The Jean Genie, Starman. With a pretty packed venue showing their appreciation at full force, started playing All the young dudes, for which everyone sang along. The first set closed with Life on Mars, for which the crowd went nuts for. There was so much crowd interaction throughout.
After a short interval, the band came on in different attire for the second set. Songs included Fashion, Ashes to Ashes, China Girl and Let’s dance. When the band left the stage, you just knew there was going to be an encore. To everyone’s surprise they played 3 extra songs, Hallo Spaceman, Space Oddity, and then John O’Neil said that the fans were helping keep Bowie’s memory alive, and that we were all Heroes, for which the closed with that very track.
It is easy to see why this tribute act is so popular, everything from the sound to the styling was done immaculately. So much credit to every member of the band and the stylists involved, as everything was done to perfection. Also credit to the Sound and Lighting team, as well as all the staff at Epic, for their hard work.
I was never lucky enough to see the late great David Bowie live, but the amazing Absolute Bowie, will surely have Ziggy & his Spiders, smiling from above. If you ever have chance to see this fantastic show, then I highly recommend you do so.
