In London, an immersive experience of David Bowie’s performances, ten years after his death

Ten years after his death at age 69, the mythical David Bowie returns to London for an immersive multimedia experience, allowing the viewer to experience some of the star’s most memorable performances.

1990: Bowie delivers a deafening version of Rebel Rebel in front of a delirious audience. We rewind again: in 1973, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, he sang Rock’n’Roll Suicide in his final gig as Ziggy Stardust, the androgynous and flamboyant persona he created for himself.

Skip the ad

The immersive show at London’s Lightroom, which opened on Wednesday April 22, shows extracts from the British singer’s concerts, with never-before-seen images, accompanied by rarely broadcast interviews. Images and videos are projected on 11 meter high screens on four walls, as well as on the floor. Combined with a 360 degree sound system, the device is ideal for transmitting “genius of Bowie on stage” and recreate the feeling of being in the heart of the audience, assures author and director Mark Grimmer. “It’s a social event. There is a crowd of people, you are there, among other human beings”he explains to AFP.

To design David Bowie : You’re Not AloneMark Grimmer and co-director Tom Wexler have sifted through countless hours of archives from Bowie’s vast collection.

Icon and human

In addition to the concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, which remained famous thanks to the film by D. A. Pennebaker Ziggy Stardust : The Motion Picture (1983), another highlight is his interpretation of Heroes in 1978 at the Earl’s Court in London, when the Briton was then “truly at the peak of his power”comments Mark Grimmer.

Other images show him at Live Aid in 1985 or performing Starman in the British show Top of the Pops on the BBC in 1972, wearing a colorful jumpsuit and extravagant boots. The excerpts are interspersed with numerous statements from Bowie himself. The singer, whose first big success was Space Oddity in 1969, describes the bleak atmosphere of his London childhood and his quest for “color, exaltation”. “One of our intentions was to give insight into Bowie as a human being, as well as Bowie the icon.”explains Mark Grimmer. After listening to his many interviews, what emerged was a character “very funny and full of self-deprecation”he adds.

Bowie laughs while describing himself as a rock star « improbable »compares to a “emperor penguin” and confesses a burning curiosity about everything in life “except country (music), of course”. Mark Grimmer also focuses on the star’s creative process, marked by a constant reinvention of himself.

Skip the ad

“Float in life”

Fundamentally ” shy “Bowie had difficulty getting on stage in his early days and invented personas to overcome his inhibitions. And behind all “theatrical side”he said he was “a writer”attracted by weird and marginal people, “not ordinary guys”. The one-hour show, scheduled until at least October, includes around 40 songs by the singer, who sold at least 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime.

Also read

Ten years after his death, David Bowie continues to inspire creation

It concludes with the words of Bowie, who died of cancer on January 10, 2016 in New York, on his belief in a “form of energy”. “We float through life as we get older, we no longer really know where we are but it’s not unpleasant.” “I’m quite happy in chaos”he added, before concluding: “life and the universe” are “really very messy”.