The Bowie Contingent is a Sheffield-based band that pays homage to the music of David Bowie. They are not a tribute act in the same sense as Absolute Bowie, where you get the full theatrical costumed appearance. The Bowie Contingent clearly has huge respect for Bowie’s music and they play it supremely well. The focus for tonight’s show was the much-acclaimed Berlin Trilogy. Although as the singer Jason said, we all know that not all of that music was recorded in Berlin. (‘Low’ was recorded in France and Berlin, ‘Lodger’ in Switzerland and New York. ‘Heroes’ was the only one of the famous album triptych to be recorded completely in Berlin.) The Bowie Contingent promised deep cuts from this era and they delivered. The band played for a little under two hours, what a show!
They played some of the instrumental tracks from the period. The highlights of those were “Sense Of Doubt”, “A New Career In A New Town,” and a magnificent rollicking version of “V2-Schneider” (yes, I know the latter has some vocal elements, but it is mostly instrumental. I really loved that the focus wasn’t on big hits, although some of those did get aired. I must applaud the Bowie Contingent for their spot-on and respectful takes on “DJ”, “Be My Wife”, “Blackout”, “Beauty And The Beast” and “Joe The Lion”. These tracks showcased just how good this band is. I know how much the Spiders From Mars were revered and they were a brilliant band, but I believe the strongest band in Bowie’s career was with him during those three albums, I am talking of the DAM trio (Dennis Davis, Carlos Alomar, and George Murray). If you shut your eyes during this set you could almost imagine that the DAM trio were in full force at the Fully Arms.
Some of the arrangements were very clever. It felt like “Always Crashing In The Same Car” was played in a slower tempo, “Sound And Vision” was more acoustic than electronic and how could you not love the slow start to “Let’s Dance”. The main highlights for me, and there were many, were the superb vocals from Jason and the piano accompaniment on “Life On Mars”, the enormous fun the band had during “Boys Keep Swinging” and “Scary Monsters” and perhaps best of all using the bass intro for “Under Pressure” as the start of “Heroes”. The latter was a work of sublime genius. Whatever you feel about tribute acts, if you’re a Bowie fan you will love the Bowie Contingent!
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