- Title: Former bandmates mark Bowie's birthday
- Date: 8th January 2017
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOWIE GUITARIST EARL SLICK SAYING: "It's a little funny, not haha funny, but you know being together and there's no David here and doing the show but it's a great opportunity to get the band, it just feels good to be with the band."
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2017 23:31
- Keywords: David Bowie music tribute Brixton Academy Iman red carpet photographs Gary Oldman singing singers band
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA0025Y7ZPS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A sell-out charity concert to remember David Bowie was held on Sunday (January 8) on what would have been his 70th birthday - almost a year since he died.
'Celebrating David Bowie' was held at a venue in Bowie's birthplace of Brixton in south London and was organised by his friend, the Hollywood actor Gary Oldman, who also sang on several numbers including Sorrow.
Among the performers were Bowie's friends and former longtime band members; keyboardist Mike Garson and guitarist Earl Slick.
"It's a little funny, not haha funny, but you know being together and there's no David here and doing the show but it's a great opportunity to get the band, it just feels good to be with the band," Slick said.
Despite being close to Bowie, neither Slick nor Garson had known he was seriously ill when he died from liver cancer on January 10, 2016.
"You know I am a fan like anyone else and I went into total shock. The only thing that gave me any consolation was, as a close friend of his, he told me in the mid-nineties that he had seen a psychic somewhere in the late seventies or early eighties who told him he was going to die when he did, and he told it to me like we are talking and it was like he had no doubts," Slick added.
Classics on the set list included Golden Years, Rebel Rebel and Starman - with other guest performers including La Roux and Guatemalen singer Gaby Moreno.
Asked how he felt to be performing so close to the anniversary of Bowie's death, Garson said: "I don't know, I will probably be crying most of the set, the piano's going to be soaked. I will just be thinking of him and I think he will be with us." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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