Two months after the originally scheduled show was postponed  at short notice due to illness,  the “Bowie Experience” appeared to a 500 seat sell out at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre on a Sunday night.

I am a die hard Bowie fan and an enthusiastic consumer of tribute shows.  Tonight intrigued  me. Previously I had seen Laurence Knight fronting the show, who did very well, but for reasons which are not entirely clear to me Oliver Slee has now taken frontman duties. Laurence continues   to tour with a band badged  “The Bowie Experience”, a distinction which many will not identify in advance, and on the night the frequent wig and costume changes   mean that some in the audience may not even realise the frontman  replacement. But that does not matter, as Springsteen once proffered “You have to prove it all night, every night”. To these eyes the original band  seem to have remained in situ apart from a new rhythm guitarist for a cracking evening.

I recently saw John Mainwarings’ long established  “Jean Genie” show and am seeing “Absolute Bowie” in Derby on Friday. The market for Bowie tributes is a given, the challenge they face is becoming harder. The calibre of tribute acts for numerus artists  in terms of presentation, production, performance and musicianship is improving all the time, audience expectation is rising. The sceptre of Abba’s “Voyager” show has also changed everything. A virtual performance by a band captured in their heyday takes some beating.

Oliver Slee a Bournemouth actor and drama teacher, is 26 years old, the same age  as Ziggy era Bowie enjoying a similar lean physique and frontaas Bowie. “Space Oddity” is an apposite opener. Vocally it is not too stretching, but musically it gives  the band a chance to stretch their muscles. As it draws to a close, we all know that everything is going to be alright.

They do use some backing tracks, most notably on “Life on Mars” adding orchestration, but the eight piece ( Slee on vocals and occasional guitar), lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and two backing singes one of whom plays saxophone, the other a multi instrumentalist make a pretty hefty sound in their own right.

First half

Space Oddity

Queen Bitch

Changes

Life on Mars

Moonage daydream

Ziggy

Man Who Sold the World

Sorrow

John I’m Only dancing

Jean Genie

Suffragette CIty

Rebel Rebel

Second Half

Diamond Dogs

Cracked Actor

Station to Station

Young Americans

Sound n vision

Boys keep Swinging

Fashion

Lets Dance

China girl

Under Pressure

Heroes

All the Young Dudes

The first half is Ziggy era culminating in a rousing “Rebel Rebel” and the amusing sight of a predominantly sixty something audience enthusiastically yelling the chorus. It also reminds you how THAT riff, alongside “jumping Jack Flash”, “Sweet Home Alabama” ,”Don’t Fear the Reaper” “Whole lotta love and “Smoke on the water” is locked into our collective subconscious waiting to explode as soon as those chiming notes ring out.

The surprise highlight was a sublime slowed down waltz paced “Sorrow” segueing into an euphoric “John I’m Only Dancing” cheekily introduced  by borrowing Queen’s  Crazy little Thing called Love” intro. A song that on vinyl struggled to find a home on stage found just that with this spot.

Musical director and lead guitarist Tim Wedlake had a few more surprises up his sleeve too.

In the second half I am always wary of Station to Station being used in any other set position that is not opener. But here, a slightly edited version segues  magnificently into “Golden Years” as the second half. It worked brilliantly. “Ashes to Ashes” is given a reggae intro ( which begged for a “Don’t look Back” sample which didn’t come”), “Boys keep Swinging” goes full rock and “Under Pressure” a song I don’t like, becomes a show highlight with backing singer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Talbot, all glam in a black evening dress with mesh sleeves, taking centre stage for the duet, the song soars.

“China Girl”  performed by Iggy Pop is dark and dirty as envisioned by Nile Rodgers it is light and poppy. Wedlake reinvents it once again as a stretched out hybrid of the two, it was wonderfully realised.

The home straight of Heroes and “Dudes” was euphoric stuff with the crowd baying for more but Slee confessing they had nothing further rehearsed which was  a shame – it cried out for “Rock n Roll Suicide”. Ssaxophonist Westwood was a vital ingredient, her concession to costume change was to chnage from black pvc leggings into black tights for the second half!

With tribute shows it is easy to look for trouble, but the fact is that the band delivered a popular hits heavy set which the audience lapped up with arrangements which were skilful and much helped by five part vocal harmonies, saxophonist Emily Westwood dovetailing nicely with Talbot.