Plymouth musicians and lovers of music pay tribute to one the world's greatest stars - David Bowie, who today died of a battle with cancer at the age of 69.
Simon Dobson - composer and trumpet player in Antimatador
Oh man ... so so sad.
I remember watching this, god knows how many years ago, and thinking that David Bowie was basically the coolest guy ever. I stand by this. A true British gent, artist and musician to the last. David Bowie was my life long yardstick for integrity and invention. WWDBD.
RIP Ziggy. Taken too soon.
Matthew North - singer/ songwriter
I got up today to the worst news, we have lost a hero a true hero. Everyone had there Bowie stories I only saw him once, and at the time I didn't enjoy the show as I wasn't in the best place that night, on reflection and seeing the Bootleg it was amazing. But for me it will always be the day my dad, who never got Bowie, walked into the house with the first Tin Machine album because he thought I might like it. So true that was. It was a totally life changing album. It's still one of the albums I play more than any other. Gutted. Im just thankful that he did what he did and made the world a much better place. My sympathy goes to all that knew him which is a lot of people.
SW1 Productions
So sad to hear about the passing of David Bowie. He's had a huge impact on those of us here at SW1 over the years. Whilst working with him, Katy once made the great man a coffee (milk, two sugars) and kept the mug for years, until the cleaners pinched it. He kept turning up out of the blue at Julie's rehearsal studio much to her surprise and whilst enjoying his Glastonbury performance in 2000 Liam was convinced of the hedge next to him that he might go and have a lean on .. .turns out he might have been high on more than Bowie's incredible performance as the hedge didn't exist. RIP Bowie
William Telford - Business editor for the Plymouth Herald
I only saw David Bowie once and it was one of the strangest gigs I ever attended. It was in 1995 and Bowie was touring the Outside concept album. He played Westpoint Exeter, where they hold the Devon County Show and where the word culture usually has the prefix agri.
I haven't been there since, so can't say if it's changed, but back then the gig was staged in some sort of cowshed. There was no bar, no heating, in fact no facilities to speak of, and the audience seemed to be nearly all families with small kids, probably expecting Bowie to do a greatest hits package. What they got was a run through of one of his more challenging albums with few of the familiar classics. I do recall a brilliant Moonage Daydream and an excellent Strangers When We Meet. He may also have done The Man Who Sold the World and Under Pressure. Just to make it even weirder, Morrissey was the support act.
But then, I expected nothing else from Bowie, he rarely served up what the public was expecting. If he had, he'd have been Phil Collins, which he wasn't. No, Bowie was a true artists and originator, probably the most adventurous and courageous experimenter British music has produced outside the Beatles. Just when his fans had settled into his latest persona and sound he served them up something different. But because it always had the hallmark of Bowie's quality aesthetics and song-writing craftsmanship, and his knack of picking exactly the right collaborators, it was always listenable as well as ground-breaking.
Bowie was a one-off, the like of which we won't see again. He leaves an enormous gap in the musical firmament, but also leaves us hours of wonderful music to remember him by.
The Poet Junkies
Plymouth Pavilions
Paying tribute to an absolute legend today...
"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring."
David Bowie 08/01/47 - 10/01/16
Clare Robinson - music writer
I was surprised at my emotional reaction to the passing of David Bowie – it's strange to feel such grief for someone you've never met. But through his inspirational music you feel such a strong connection, it's almost as if you knew him personally.
Arguably the most influential artist in popular culture since the Beatles, for the best part of 50 years - nearly all of my life - he has been an iconic presence, constantly challenging himself and us, his audience, with innovative output. It seemed as if he would be there forever leading the way.
Always putting artistic creativity ahead of commercialism, it's a real testament to the quality of his music that nearly all of his 24 studio albums charted high in the UK top ten and eight went to No 1. And it's sort of fitting, in a way, that his 25th, Black Star, was released, just a couple of days before his untimely death – the perfect finale to a brilliant life.
I'm so glad I got to see him, live, back in the 80s on the Serious Moonlight tour. I've seen few shows to match it since, but always hoped I'd get to see him again some day. Ideally headlining Glastonbury. Sadly that will never be.
PATRONS
