Review: Sound and Vision David Bowie: Wham Bang Thank You Guys for a great night at Harlow Playhouse
Entertainment / Sun 16th Jul 2023 at 06:55pm
SOUND and Vision: A Tribute to David Bowie were a huge success at the Harlow Playhouse on Saturday night.
What they brought was bucketloads of energy and top class musicianship.
This reviewer felt that the key man in this band was lead guitarist, Jeff John, who really embodied the spirit of Mick Ronson. From the opening wham bang of Moonage Daydream, he established the character and credibility of the performance.
Songs such as the Jean Genie could have gone on forever.
In fact we felt that Chris Burke was a very democratic Bowie. Chris was clearly certain of how good his band was and how they performed as a unit. That is not to understate the quality of Chris’ excellent performance.
They brought their own character to each and every song as they went from Space Oddity in 1969 through to Absolute Beginners in 1985.
And we were delighted to hear a great version of Queen Bitch. We still don’t know what a “bippertty bopperty hat” looks like!
It is not easy to be faithful to such a range of styles. Hang Onto Yourself is very different to Fame is very different to Let’s Dance. But they did it!
They also entertained by playing some “lesser known” Bowie songs such as Blue Jean, Boys Keep Swinging and Scary Monsters.
The saxophone was David Bowie’s original instrument and an important part of each period so Mike Davies’ contributions especially the Young Americans material was very welcome.
This band also worked so hard. Starting at 7.30, they had a short 15 mind break and went right up to the 10pm finish.
Every number was met with joy by the audience who were up on their feet early on and stayed there. They ended with Modern Love and All The Young Dudes but they could have gone on all night.
Again much credit to the whole band who were such a great unit. John Wilmott on bass, Colin Ellward on keyboards (a great Life on Mars), Simon Harry on rhythm guitar and a powerhouse drumming performance by Gareth Addey.
David Bowie and the Spiders graced that stage in April 1972. Colin and his band did the Bowie legacy proud.
Yasmin Gregory
2023-07-17 03:00:36
For those of us who were lucky to see David Bowie perform live, it brought back great memories. The band and the audience were enjoying every minute of the show - we certainly got value for money for the price of the tickets that night. Hands up who went home and got the vinyls out.
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