David Bowie Terminal 5

David Bowie band members playing NYC tribute on 1-year anniversary of his death

David Bowie, who sadly passed away just two days after releasing his album Blackstar (which is appearing on many ‘best of 2016’ lists), will be celebrated with a tribute show happening on the one-year anniversary of his death. It’s at NYC’s Terminal 5 on January 10 and it features musicians who have played in Bowie’s band over the years, including Mike Garson, Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Mark Plati, Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell, Zachary Alford, Holly Palmer, Emm Gryner, and “a massive touring ensemble” plus “very special guests.” Tickets are on AmEx presale now and the general on-sale begins Friday (12/9) at noon.

Here’s a bit of background on how the show came together:

The concept grew out of two informal large ensemble shows with 70+ musicians in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the spring of 2016 including Gary Oldman, Seal, Ewan McGregor, Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, and Bowie band alumni from Space Oddity to the latest Blackstar album. Both generated a great deal of press and fan praise from around the world.

Bowie’s close friend Gary Oldman, who delivered an emotional speech about David at The BRIT Awards, and this giant ensemble from Los Angeles and New York City are opening the tour in London with former Bowie band members Mike Garson, Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Mark Plati, Gerry Leonard, Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell, Zachary Alford, Holly Palmer and Catherine Russell, along with many other special guests to be announced. This show at 02 Academy Brixton (capacity 5000) sold out in just two hours.

The core ensemble includes former star Bowie band members Mike Garson, Adrian Belew, Earl Slick, members of David’s last two touring bands, Angelo Moore from Fishbone, Latin Grammy Award Winner Gaby Moreno, Bernard Fowler from The Rolling Stones, Joe Sumner, Scrote, and a vast extended musical family who play with or have played with Tom Waits, Sting, Seal, Herbie Hancock, De La Soul, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, Smashing Pumpkins, B52s, Dr. Dre, Burt Bacharach, David Byrne, Todd Rundgren, Prince, Neil Young, and Lenny Kravitz make up the core ensemble.

Individually these former Bowie band members performed, wrote and recorded together with David through several decades including the 1973’s Ziggy Stardust tour, the Diamond Dogs tour, Isolar II (Heroes) tour, to the hugely successful Serious Moonlight tour, the Sound And Vision greatest hits tour to Glastonbury 2000, Heathen, his final A Reality Tour and many of them appeared on Bowie’s triumphant comeback album, The Next Day.

Watch Adrian Belew play “Heroes” with David Bowie in 1978: