The Band Was All Together

Fumbling through some Youtube videos mindlessly for the past two hours (when I should be doing some other work), I stumbled across the clip of the 2016 Brit Awards, when Annie Lennox and Gary Oldman started a 15 minute tribute (eulogy of sorts) for David Bowie. The award show had to quickly put a full act together for his (passing) honoring. The last 7 minutes or so was the actual performance, and I'm so glad the producers got the full band together for this. Whoever Lorde is, she did a decent job at Life On Mars?; I've got to give this girl some credit as she gave a (nervously) better job than some blonde 20 something. 

This is what has been needed for some time. It's the reference I wanted when I was looking for reasons why nobody was on Blackstar that should have been on Blackstar. Not that Bowie's passing is a reason to make the world come together and the old boys (and girls... GAD & Cat Russell) play together, but it just seems so... I don't know... not "seems"... I suppose it's the wrong word... uhm... it "makes up for" the lack of cohesiveness? Again, not the right wording.Nothing makes up for any person's passing. I guess it makes people think a little more clearly, since none of the usual suspects had the opportunity to record on the last album, this is their way of saying "see you later"? Not so much "goodbye" because "goodbye" legitimizes everything. Yes, death is final, but there was a point made in this telecast which both Lennox and Oldman stated (I'm paraphrasing) Bowie is the epitome of "icon" (which is true) because he transcended everything anyone has ever known; he will live on through his music and continue to inspire the future of sound and vision (the world). 

When Ziggy announced "this is the last tour we'll ever do", who would think The 2016 Brit Awards would be the last time "the band" got all together, and the grand master wasn't there to officiate? "The last tour" with everyone was in 2004, before the (not so secluded) retirement... {sad face}







Songs heard through the telecast (coincidentally both are the title tracks from the last two albums produced):
Blackstar off of ★ (Blackstar)
The Next Day off of The Next Day


Songs played by the band (in order) (but not in order of published year):
Space Oddity off of Space Oddity
Rebel Rebel off of Diamond Dogs
Let's Dance off of Let's Dance
Ashes To Ashes off of Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Ziggy Stardust off of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Fame off of Young Americans
Under Pressure off of two separate greatest hits: Queen's The Platinum Collection and Bowie's Platinum Collection
Heroes off of "Heroes"
Life On Mars? off of Hunky Dory (This is what's performed by Lorde)



See also:
Lorde's page via Amazon
Street Corner Symphony ft Amanda Taylor covering Lorde's Royals (my new favorite a cappella group)
Annie Lennox's page via Amazon
Annie Lennox's sneaky allusion to Sound + Vision
Gary Oldman's page via Amazon and IMDB


Be good to yourselves.

Cheers;