REVIEW: Stardust at Bowie tribute

But what do you do when it comes to singing the songs of a man who changed the face of pop music?

In the case of Michael King’s ‘Bowie Starman’ tribute, just keep it simple and therefore extremely effective.

Michael and his band of excellent musicians pick songs from Bowie’s ridiculous rich back catalogue and just play them through without any onstage bricolage.

In fantastic voice throughout Michael rarely adopts any obvious Bowie vocal affectations. Yes, he does throw a few patented Bowie shapes from time to time, and very occasionally his hammy theatre background glints through. But wasn’t Bowie himself a bit on the hammy side?!

As well as the obvious hits the band also pick a few perhaps lesser-known songs like The Man Who Sold The World, Drive-In Saturday and Sound And Vision, though this particular Bowie nerd would have liked at least one really obscure album track or b-side – The Hearts Filthy Lesson for example would sort the men from the boys – and Bowie’s last two decades are completely missed out, but those are minor quibbles.

This was an excellent tribute to a much-missed artist. Other shows may try to do more of a straight forward Bowie impersonation, but you won’t find another that’s so obviously heartfelt.