The Auckland Philharmonia playing David Bowie’s music in a beautiful concert, celebrating the star.
This is a happy story. Although it starts with a death that happened on January 10th, 2016. That day a huge number of people felt great sadness and a sudden onset of nostalgia. That day Starman died.
What's your connection to David Bowie? I can't think of many people who weren't touched by his music in some kind of way. It's truly extraordinary.
Personally, I'm influenced by his approach to writing music and his drive to reinvent himself. There's no album on which he hasn't explored a new sound or changed the way he structured his songs. The creativity of that man is mind-blowing and so inspiring.
His music certainly lives on, which is why a year after Bowie died, I was very excited when a special one-off concert was announced - four of New Zealand's greatest pop and rock singers joined the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and a band of fabulous NZ rockers to perform Bowie's greatest hits. What a blast! And I was there to record it all for broadcast. The singers were Jon Toogood from Shihad, Laughton Kora, Anna Coddington and Julia Deans.
This is one of the few concerts that I wished I could mix forever, it was such a joy. Mixing their performance of Heroes brought me to tears every time I listened to it. Wow!
The concert is still online on the Radio New Zealand homepage for you to listen to as audio-on-demand. I strongly suggest you do. Right now! CLICK HERE.
Enjoy! :-)
Adrian