Gig review: The D.A.M Trilogy at Sheffield Octagon Theatre
The David Bowie alumni sprinkle fresh stardust over songs that the Thin White Duke wrote almost 50 years ago.
Some David Bowie historians will have you believe the Berlin Trilogy and subsequent tours were a stark, minimalist, neo-industrial drone of improvisational instrumental jams and that the funk didn’t arrive until Nile Rodgers shed some serious moonlight on Bowie’s commercial career.
May I reintroduce you to Carlos Alomar and George Murray. Alomar, the funk and soul of Bowie, the credibility behind the ‘Plastic Soul’ of Young Americans, Murray the thumping rhythm of Fame, Breaking Glass, Heroes and more. Take a moment to listen to the Cracked Actor and The Soul Tour live albums and thank me later.
The performance – flanked by a band that included Lea Loren, Cunio, Kevin Armstrong and Tal Bergman – wasn’t a greatest hits showcase, and nor should it have been. For every Fashion and Golden Years that were selected as single cuts, there were the deep cuts Yassasin, Red Sails, Secret Life Of Arabia and Breaking Glass. Bowie had not touched many of these tracks for the last 40 years of his career. Yet they are not just Bowie’s tracks, they are Alomar and Murray compositions that are still deserving of a live airing.
When two musicians lock in, get in the pocket of the groove and still flawless after over 50 years on the road and recording, there is a dynamite that can not be underestimated. Alomar and Murray were still at Nassau Coliseum or the Philadelphia Tower, they weren’t playing to a room on a wet November Sunday in Sheffield.
The all-seated venue became a bustling dancefloor, people vacating their seats and making room to put on those red shoes and dance the blues.
Bowie’s presence and physical form may have left us, but he left behind his soul as his final gift. Carlos Alomar and George Murray, the beating heart that continues to pulse and make sure the boys – and indeed girls – keep swinging.