Bowie.Starman, Auckland NZ, 2017

Bowie.Starman
(The Auckland Philamonia Orchestra, feat. Jon Toogood, Julia Deans, Laughton Kora and Anna Coddington)

6th April 2017
Aotea Centre, Auckland, New Zealand

Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.

It has been just over a year since the world lost the beautiful enigma that was David Bowie. Tonight, four of New Zealand’s finest contemporary artists joined the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and a tremendous backing band to deliver us a delicious selection of Bowie’s songs. Our four artists for the night are the very well-known Jon Toogood (Shihad), Julia Deans (Fur Patrol), Laughton Kora (Kora/Fly My Pretties) and Anna Coddington (Fly My Pretties).

As the artists strode out tonight they were greeted with a solid but reserved round of applause. Wasting no time at all, Kora stepped up to the microphone as the orchestra behind him played the opening notes of the absolute classic ‘Space Oddity’. Kora, dressed head to foot in white (including his fingernails) was visibly nervous and a slight trip on the lyrics in the first verse certainly did not help to calm them. Kora is an accomplished vocalist; however he was not quite strong enough to carry such a formidable track and was rather out shined by Toogood on backing vocals. While it was a bit of a shaky start to the night, it was completely forgivable. Deans then steps up to the plate dressed in a stunning sequined pant suit; she is such a confident singer that her version of ‘Starman’ is easily a triumph and prompts the first crowd clap-a-along of the night.

It’s the powerhouse that is Toogood who really kicks the evening into gear with his double header of ‘Rebel Rebel’ and ‘The Jean Genie’. It was good to see Toogood let loose on Bowie’s work, his voice and mannerisms well suited to both songs that have that gorgeous swaggering undertone to them. Anna Coddington’s first attempt at taking the lead was with a cover of ‘Stay’ off the 1976 album ‘Station to Station’. While not a well-known track among many of the audience, it suited Coddington’s surprisingly deeper vocal range.

And so the night progressed in this fashion with each artist taking a turn as lead and the remaining three performing the role of back-up singers; every so often a duet would be thrown in for good measure. The first of the night being that of Toogood and Deans pairing up to sing the larger-than-life track ‘Ziggy Stardust’; for many a song that was the epitome of who Bowie was. The only detractions from the arrangement was the rather stilted comedy between the pair as they introduced the song and the misplaced single bass drum that was slightly out of time.

While the arrangement of the songs were tight and of course it’s Bowie’s music so you can never go wrong; something was lacking with the atmosphere tonight. It certainly did not have the feel of the joyous celebration that we saw here last year with artists such as Zaine Griff and Alastair Riddell. Slowly towards the end of the first half the artists seemed to visibly relax more and began to let loose; none more so than Kora himself. With a shy grin he addresses the audience asking them how their night is going to which he is met with raucous cheers – Kora certainly has a few fans in the house tonight. His grin widens upon hearing the support and he confesses to being “still pretty nervous”. But as he begins to sing ‘China Girl’, we watch Kora blossom before our eyes as bathed in red spotlights he absolutely owns the song, obviously enjoying every second of it. We are taken into the interval by Deans singing the classic ‘Life on Mars’ again proving that she is no stranger to the limelight as she lets herself become one with that famous chorus.

The second half of the show has a far more upbeat tempo despite kicking off with ‘Station to Station’ sung by Toogood. Again while not classed as one of the big hitters in regards to Bowie songs, there is a high degree of difficulty with performing this tune and Toogood nails it. Deans and Kora’s duet – “sparkling duet” Kora jokes at the beginning of the song in reference to Deans outfit – of ‘Absolute Beginners’ was a highlight of the night. Kora’s intensity and pure honesty drew you in while Deans harmonised perfectly in a falsetto. Looking over even Toogood was lost in those wonderful lyrics, a small smile playing on his face as they washed through him. At the end of the song the crowd erupted and Kora leant over and hugged Deans before kissing her on the cheek, a moment of pure love and friendship that spoke volumes.

And while speaking of volumes, even though the orchestra were fantastic and the band for the night even more so it was disappointing that there didn’t seem to be more volume to the set. It felt strangely muted especially (and unfortunately) during one of the very talented Jol Mulholland’s guitar solos.

A run of some of the more radio friendly hits of the 80’s such as ‘Modern Love’, ‘Let’s Dance’ and a fantastically funky version of ‘Fashion’ sung by Kora brought us home for the final tracks of the evening. Deans took us through her favourite Bowie song ‘Ashes to Ashes’ which she handled exquisitely. And as she receded off to the side of stage along with Kora and Coddington; Toogood respectfully delivered an outstanding version of ‘Lazarus’ from David Bowie’s last ever recorded album ‘Blackstar’ his interpretation of the lyrics flawless.
From the side came forward a sax player (Martin Kay) he plays a fervent solo, full of yearning; Toogood slowly fading back into the darkness. The song was rewarded with a standing ovation from the crowd, followed by demands for an encore which were answered by Deans with a stirring version of ‘Five Years’ where she was once again joined by her fellow artists.

Upon its end, Toogood thanked both the audience and musicians and of course the man himself that had gifted us with the music we were hearing tonight. ‘Heroes’, was a fitting end to the evening, each of the artists taking a verse while encouraging the audience to get up and dance which they did so with relish.

We still miss you David.

Bowie.Starman, APO, Performed live in Auckland 2017.

Julia Deans / Fur Patrol

Were you there at the the Aotea Centre for this brilliant tribute to such a fine man? Or were you lucky enough to have seen David Bowie perform live during his long career? Tell us about it in the comments below!