March 2016 - Follow-Up: David Bowie
A dark room with floating pieces of Jareth’s castle, the Labyrinth baby holding a bubble, glitter on the floor, and a bubble machine made Friday night’s tribute to David Bowie unusual and a little magical.
Multiple screens showed the making of Labyrinth, as well as the movie itself. Behind the scenes of the movie flashed by, showing David Bowie smiling as he practiced dancing with Jennifer Connelly just as the first band of the night took the high stage at The Library.
The tribute was a brilliant and wonderful idea. Many I spoke to were happy to be there to pay their respects to the man in their own way, and to donate to a great cause, the UNM Cancer Center.
The bands that played were also thrilled to have the honor of playing David Bowie covers. Albuquerque Underground Zine brought in multiple bands. My favorite was Kyle Martin, who is normally a Western-rock player. His rendition of Fame nearly brought the house down!
However, the switch between each band took so long, the lull left some people barhopping, then coming back later. For example, it took more than ten minutes for Kyle Martin’s band to set-up and warm-up, and they only played one song. Then it was on to wait for the next band to set-up. He would have liked to play more songs, but all the good ones were chosen already. “I told them I’d only play if I was able to play Fame. They said yes, and all the other great songs had already been claimed.”
I’d say if they ever produce another tribute, keep the awesome room design ideas but limit the number of band changes or have two stages, and perhaps have a back-up PA system. But all-in-all a pretty good idea for a Friday night on the town.