David Bowie was one of popular music\u2019s most groundbreaking artists. He was the Space Oddity, Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, the Low<\/i>-era Man Who Fell to Earth, the plastic soul man of Young Americans<\/i>, and even the unabashedly commercial pop artist of Let\u2019s Dance. <\/i>Reinventing himself with each successive album and tour, Bowie fully committed to each successive persona, exploring it to his satisfaction and then moving on. In the process, Bowie \u2013 who passed away in 2016 at age 69 \u2013 indelibly influenced the musical and cultural landscape.<\/p>\n
A collective of acclaimed musicians led by associates of the late musician have mounted a touring tribute, Celebrating David Bowie. The tour \u2013 featuring guitarist Adrian Belew as one of its marquee performers \u2013 came to the San Jose Civic October 8.<\/p>\n
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\nAdrian Belew has a staggeringly impressive pedigree as well: concurrent to a solo career, he\u2019s worked with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Nine Inch Nails, Tori Amos and many others. He led art rock\/pop band the Bears through the late \u201880s, and fronted King Crimson for most of its work between 1981 and 2013.<\/p>\n
But as early as 1977, Belew had already proven himself as a superb and technically proficient musician, earning a spot as \u201cstunt guitarist\u201d with one of music\u2019s most demanding band leaders, Frank Zappa. And that gig would lead to another opportunity.<\/p>\n
Bowie\u2019s collaborator of that period, musician\/producer Brian Eno saw Belew play with Zappa at a Cologne, Germany concert. Eno was impressed, and told Bowie, who was looking for a guitarist for his own upcoming tour. \u201cTwo days later,\u201d Belew recalls, \u201cwe were in Berlin, and David came to the show there, and I met him right on stage. By the end of that evening, I was offered to play on his tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belew\u2019s tour with Bowie was supposed to last four months, but ended up lasting a year and half; it was documented on Bowie\u2019s 1978 double live album, Stage<\/i>. Working with Bowie proved to be vastly different than playing with Zappa, Belew explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Frank, it was not about creative latitude,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was about playing what was already written by him. But David was cheering me on, saying, \u2018Do everything you want, and go wild! That’s what I want. I want you to just color as much as you can with the guitar.\u2019\u201d Belew reveled in that creative freedom. \u201cIt was instrumental in setting the pace for a lot of my career,\u201d he reflects. \u201cFrom that moment on, that’s what people called me for: to let me do what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bowie adopted an even more free-form and unconventional approach when he brought Belew into the recording studio to work on sessions for his Lodger<\/i> album. \u201cThat was my first actual studio record,\u201d Belew says with a laugh, noting that the album\u2019s working title was Planned Accidents<\/i>. Belew would be tasked with adding guitar parts to an already-recorded backing track. \u201cI asked, \u2018Can I hear the song first?\u2019\u201d he recalls. He was told no; moreover, neither Bowie nor Eno would reveal the key in which the song was played. Belew\u2019s wild and extemporaneous guitar work on tracks like \u201cBoys Keep Swinging\u201d and \u201cD.J.\u201d are among Lodger<\/i>\u2019s most compelling qualities.<\/p>\n
A decade later, Bowie again enlisted the talents of Adrian Belew, this time asking the guitarist to take on the role of band leader for his Sound + Vision Tour. In keeping with Bowie\u2019s always-changing nature, this time the tour required Belew to learn a long list of demanding songs, and to arrange complex songs in a way that a four-piece band could play them. Belew says that doing so took \u201cmonths of work\u2026 trying to replicate to some degree songs with orchestras, saxophone sections, every manner of thing. It was a lot of work, but it went really smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coupled with his other work, all of those experiences make Adrian Belew an ideal artist to help bring the current Celebrating David Bowie Tour to life. But he\u2019s quick to note that doing justice to Bowie\u2019s body of work takes a team. He\u2019s joined by guitarist and singer Todd Rundgren, band leader Angelo \u201cScrote\u201d Bundini and six other accomplished musicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the beauty of this show,\u201d Belew says. \u201cWe have different people who can [cover] different parts of David’s career and do them well. So, it’s not one singer trying to sound like David the whole time. We have six different people taking on whatever material they’re suited for.\u201d And that seems apropos when paying tribute to a man whose music displayed a myriad of personalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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