FILE – This is a June 19, 1987 file photo of David Bowie. Bowie, the other-worldly musician who broke pop and rock boundaries with his creative musicianship, nonconformity, striking visuals and a genre-bending persona he christened Ziggy Stardust, died of cancer Sunday Jan. 10, 2016. He was 69 and had just released a new album. (PA, File via AP)
“Something happened on the day he died, spirit rose a meter and stepped aside, somebody else took his place, and bravely cried …” — David Bowie, “Blackstar”
Miles Eichner was laying in bed on Sunday perusing his Facebook when an alarming Pitchfork post popped up. “David Bowie has died,” it read. At first, he couldn’t believe it. A musical legend like David Bowie couldn’t be dead. Not yet. But after doing some research, it was clear Bowie had in fact passed, slipping away peacefully after an 18-month battle with liver cancer. The timing of it all shocked Eichner.
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The night before, a slew of Denver musicians gathered at the Hi-Dive to celebrate the Thin White Duke’s 69th birthday with a special tribute event called BowieFest!. Eichner was there, playing a number of Bowie covers to a sold-out crowd with his band . No one could have guessed the concert would turn in an early memorial show.
“It was so surreal,” Eichner says. “I spent the better part of a week preparing for it and diving into the Bowie world — thinking about how I was going to dress up for the show; really spending a couple hours everyday looking at and listening to Bowie things.”
Ty Baron, another BowieFest! performer, followed a similar routine leading up to the show. Like Eichner, he saw the exact same Pitchfork post on Sunday night, and was equally flabbergasted. But soon, Bowie’s abrupt announcement began to make sense.
“In a way, it felt oddly appropriate given the way he handled his death,” Baron explains. “He was trying to make it more of a celebration of his life than a tragic loss … That last video he released gave some context because I don’t think he told anyone he was sick.”
The music video Baron is referencing is “Lazarus,” the second single off Bowie’s final masterpiece album, “Blackstar.” In it, a bedridden, bandaged up Bowie sings, “Look up here, I’m in heaven, I’ve got scars that can’t be seen, I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen, everybody knows me now.” Although the video dropped Jan. 7, Bowie didn’t make his illness public until after his death three days later, when his publicist on his official Facebook page.
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Always the mysterious performer, Bowie orchestrated his own triumphant finale.
“I was intrigued by the fact that this album seemed to have way more soul in it then anything he’s done in the last 20 years,” says Anna Smith of BowieFest! band . “I figured it would be his last album, but I had no idea it was his final gift to the world. I think he left on an amazing note.”
Although no BowieFest! performers played songs off “Blackstar,” that will likely change next year. At the beginning of 2017, BowieFest! organizer Joshua Christopher hopes to celebrate Bowie’s entire life with a bigger show. “I want to bring in multiple venues, add more bands and get more people involved in the art side of it,” he says.
As an avid Bowie fan, Christopher threw the first-ever BowieFest! in 2014 while he was still living in his hometown of Philadelphia. There, he ran a house venue with a big basement stage where Bowie cover bands played while visual artists decorated rooms propped with Bowie mannequins. Because he was busy moving to Denver to pursue music, BowieFest! didn’t happen in 2015. But, after meeting so many new musicians throughout that year, Christopher decided the show had to go on this year.
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Together, Christopher, Baron, Smith and Eichner can’t remember specifically how or when they found out about Bowie. Some recall their relatives playing songs like “” and “” on repeat. Others heard him over the radio. But all of them remember falling in love with his music and, later, his larger-than-life persona. Perhaps, as Bowie predicts on the title track from “” it’s people like this who will take his place.
“He’s always been there,” Baron concludes. “He has a genuine authenticity to him which is something that people gravitate toward. It’s a rare characteristic in an artist, to really have that genuine aspect and it’s something you can’t fake — an appeal that can’t be contrived.”
Stay tuned for more details on BowieFest! 2017. Listen to Bowie’s farewell album below.
