The day after David Bowie’s death, hundreds of people gathered at The Opera House in Toronto to say goodbye to a fallen legend. Originally scheduled as a normal, everyday concert, the David Bowie tribute band Holy Holy and an advertised ‘special guest’ were set to perform The Man Who Sold The World in its entirety. Tony Visconti, longtime friend and legendary producer of Bowie, and Woody Woodmansey, the former drummer for a long stretch of Bowie’s career, both decided that they would press on with the show following the news of the Starman’s passing, instead turning the concert into a memorial celebration. Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17 was on vocals, Terry Edwards from Madness was on the sax, but the special guest never showed.
That’s because the special guest was supposed to be Bowie himself.
Visonti, who produced Bowie’s final release Blackstar, has revealed that in the final week of his life, Bowie showed no signs of slowing down. Supposedly Bowie had begun demoing new songs as a follow-up to his 2016 release, and had spoken to Visconti about plans for his next record. They also made plans for something a little more immediate. Via Alan Cross at A Journal Of Musical Things:
It is said that Bowie called up Visconti. “Here’s what I want to do. Play your set as usual and when it comes time to play ‘The Man Who Sold the World,’ I’ll step out of the wings, sing that one song and then immediately slip away. There’s to be no notice, no hints. I want this to be a grand surprise.”
This was supposed to take place at the Holy Holy show in New York on Friday, but Bowie cancelled, and wanted to reschedule: “I still want to do this. Let’s do it Tuesday in Toronto.” As we all know, he didn’t make it that far.
Before the show was about to start, the friend I went with rushed over as I was in line to sign the guestbook. “Do you know who the special guest was supposed to be?” he said, breathlessly. “BOWIE. It was supposed to be BOWIE.” The secret was out, but it was obviously much too late. The show went on, though the band was still visibly shaken. The sold out crowd sang, and danced, and cried, and we all celebrated the life of someone who had come to each of us in different ways at different times, affecting us just as deeply as the stranger next to us. It was an experience unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of, but can you imagine, just for a second, if things had gone as planned? A grand surprise indeed.
(via NME, A Journal Of Musical Things)
