LEGENDARY David Bowie producer, Tony Visconti, and drummer, Woody Woodmansey are set to perform a special show at the O2 Academy Bournemouth on June 29.
This will be the first time they’ve been on stage together since 1971. The night will see a performance of David Bowie’s seminal 1970 album, The Man Who Sold the World and a new set of other classic Bowie songs from 1969-73 with very special guests.
Fronting the band is Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and on saxophone and guitars is Spandau Ballet’s Steve Norman. Tony Visconti is best known for producing most of Bowie’s albums, not to mention many other legendary artists such as Morrissey, Iggy Pop and more recently Kaiser Chiefs.
While Woody Woodmansey was the drummer in Bowie’s incendiary backing band, The Spiders from Mars. In the mighty Bowie back catalogue, The Man Who Sold the World is somewhat of an overlooked masterpiece having been overshadowed by Bowie’s glam-rock Ziggy Stardust era.
The sound combines riff-laden heavy rock with futurist synth sounds and Tony Visconti’s innovative production techniques. The distinctive and robust guitar playing which contributed so much to the artistic success of this remarkable record was Mick Ronson, who sadly died in 1993. Mick’s daughter Lisa, his sister Maggi and niece Hannah will perform the album with Tony and Woody.
"One reason I'm looking forward to playing The Man Who Sold The World album in its entirety is because lots of people ask me if I still play bass. I do, but I've since rarely played anything as ambitious and demanding as the music of that great batch of songs conceived by David Bowie,” says Tony Visconti.
“With Woody Woodmansey and Mick Ronson, two of the finest musicians I've had the pleasure of recording and playing with, we set out to create something both new and classic, we called it our 'Sgt. Pepper,' added Tony.
Woody Woodmansey told the Daily Echo: “I’m genuinely excited about these gigs. The first set we’ll be playing is the whole of ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, which has never happened before, though we did do a couple of songs from the album during the Ziggy period. To perform that album with Tony Visconti who played bass on the album and also produced it will be amazing. It’s been a long time since we grooved together.”
n For more information please visit O2academybournemouth.co.uk
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