I heard the news today*… Bowiefest Canada Returns, Letter from David Takes the Stage, Holy Holy’s Final Tour, Visconti on Bowie and AI, Simon Goddard Interview and More
Welcome to my weekly roundup of Bowie news! Read on for summaries of Bowie-related stories that posted this past week, and click on the bolded story names to link to the original articles…
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NEWS
Bowiefest Canada Returns to Toronto. The fourth Bowiefest Canada will celebrate Bowie in fashion, art and music at Ground Control in Toronto on Friday, September 18, at 7 p.m. The event will feature a musical appearance by The Bowie Lives, special guests, rare finds and collectibles at the Bowie Bazaar, and prizes for attendees dressed in their best Bowie-inspired looks.
Letter from David to Run at Santa Monica Playhouse. Albie Selznick’s autobiographical play Letter from David follows a young magician whose quest to work with his idol Bowie becomes a journey of self-discovery, running at the Santa Monica Playhouse from October 18 through December 20 after previews on October 4 and 11.
Holy Holy Sets Out on Its Final Tour. Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey, joined by Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, will celebrate David Bowie’s music during an eight-city UK tour running from September 3–17, 2026. This information is not necessarily new, but if you are interested in attending and haven’t seen the complete schedule in one place, here it is.
Tony Visconti says Bowie would have tried AI but he thinks it is ‘disgusting’. Tony Visconti believes Bowie would have experimented with artificial intelligence because of his curiosity about new technology, although Visconti considers AI-generated music “disgusting,” while Woody Woodmansey argues that music created without meaningful human input lacks the ideas, feelings and communication essential to art.
Callum Beattie announces huge winter tour including 3 shows in Glasgow. After performing at Bowie Live on the Loch with Bowie’s Glastonbury 2000 band, Scottish singer-songwriter Callum Beattie will follow his chart success and major sold-out appearances with an intimate November and December tour that includes three Glasgow shows and two fan-selected setlists.
David Bowie enters a new dimension in ‘extended reality’ documentary. David Bowie: Unseen Unheard, Denis O’Regan’s estate-supported extended-reality portrait at Venice Immersive, combines 12 Bowie songs, commentary, spatial sound and nearly 800 photographs across eight screens to reflect the musician’s lifelong experimentation with technology and multiple art forms. O’Regan will join me on my interview show in coming wseeks, so stay tuned for that!
Rockstar Continues Its Six-Song Rollout With “We Miss You Major Tom”. A.I. Me’s atmospheric new single “We Miss You Major Tom” pays affectionate tribute to Bowie’s enduring influence by celebrating the mystery, glamour, gender ambiguity and convention-defying imagination of his music and image.
Wells Festival of Literature to explore the spiritual side of David Bowie. Peter Ormerod will discuss his book David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God at the Wells Festival of Literature on October 19, exploring Bowie’s lifelong spiritual search and the influence of Tibetan Buddhism, Kabbalah, messianic imagery and other religious ideas on his music and changing identities.
Watch Josh Homme, Chad Smith and Andrew Watt cover David Bowie. Josh Homme joined Chad Smith and Andrew Watt at the 2026 Golf Jam charity event to perform Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” along with covers of songs by INXS, Tom Petty and Warren Zevon, raising money for the Chad Smith Foundation’s efforts to help disadvantaged young people pursue music.
Armstrong brings his show to St. Leonard’s on the Sea. Bowie guitarist Kevin Armstrong will being his one-man show, Absolute Beginner, to Kino-Teatr, 43-49 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea on Saturday, September 12 at 7.30pm. Kevin is not only a great guitarist, but he’s a great storyteller, too.
David Live coming to Gloucester Cathedral.Tribute act David Live will appear for a “Bowie by Candlelight” show on Friday, October 2. David Live frontman Charlie Fowler has appeared as a guest on my show, and his interview is one of the most searched-for among my archives.
Bowie again named a “style icon”. Bowie ranked third, behind David Beckham and Elvis Presley, in a British survey of the greatest male style icons of all time.
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FEATURES AND REFLECTIONS
David Bowie dazzles in new ways in immersive installation. Bowie: Unseen | Unheard, a 25-minute immersive installation at the Venice Film Festival, combines 800 photographs by longtime Bowie photographer Denis O’Regan with narration, Bowie’s music, new material from Mike Garson and spatial sound to recreate the experience of Bowie’s concerts, backstage life and travels.
Producer John Kinsner talks Labyrinth: In Concert. Kinsner designed Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: In Concert to extend the film’s fusion of human performance, puppetry, physical sets and Bowie’s music into an immersive communal experience, with synth-pop musicians dressed to evoke Bowie’s androgynous charisma and his affinity with misfits rather than the film’s characters.
From the Beatles to Bowie, genius is contagious. Digital theorist Tony D. Sampson challenges the idea of creative genius as an innate individual quality, arguing that celebrated figures including Bowie achieved originality by borrowing from and reworking existing influences within social networks whose recognition is also shaped by privilege, access and public reception.
The Psychology Behind Dolly Parton’s Streaming Surge. The enormous surge in Dolly Parton’s streaming after her death reflects the same pattern previously seen with Bowie and other beloved artists, as listeners use music to revive a familiar presence, preserve a now-complete body of work and transform private grief into communal remembrance.
Great music venues of the past. Bowie and The Buzz played the Shoreline Club at the Caribbean Hotel in Bognor Regis in 1966, part of a thriving southern English live music scene that also brought major acts to venues such as Portsmouth’s Tricorn Club.
Quote Of The Day By David Bowie: ‘I Don’t Think We’ve Even Seen The Tip Of The Iceberg …’ Bowie’s stylistic versatility, evolving personae and technological experimentation reflected the same curiosity that enabled him to foresee the internet’s transformative and potentially terrifying social impact while pioneering digital music releases and concert streaming.
REVIEW: The Riot Squad Anthology 1965-1967. The Riot Squad Anthology 1965-1967 is a definitive collection of the accomplished R&B band’s singles, session recordings, acetates, demos and unreleased material, including early tracks that capture Bowie still developing his vocal identity before Ziggy Stardust.
Edinburgh’s ‘worst-rated hotel’ that used to be city’s poshest with A-list guests. Bowie was among the many celebrities who stayed at Edinburgh’s once-fashionable Dragonara Hotel, now the poorly reviewed budget Britannia Hotel.
Ongoing History Daily: The David Bowie-Iggy Pop-Slash connection. Bowie was Iggy Pop’s only visitor during his 1975 confinement at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute and brought costume designer Ola Hudson’s 10-year-old son Saul, the future Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, in hopes that the experience would scare him away from drugs.
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PROFILES
Eric Barrett. Eric Barrett, Jimi Hendrix’s roadie and confidant from 1968 to 1970, recounts his career in Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond, which extended to nearly five decades of behind-the-scenes work with artists including Bowie, Madonna and Aerosmith.
May Pang. May Pang’s photographs document John Lennon’s productive 1973–75 “Lost Weekend,” when he recorded three albums, reconnected with Paul McCartney and Julian Lennon, and collaborated with Bowie and other major artists.
Tina Turner. This is actually more about the significance of the date September 1 than a profile of Turner per se. Her song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” hit #1 on 9/1/84. Twelve years earlier Bowie released “John, I’m Only Dancing.”
Signal Meridian. Signal Meridian’s debut album Signals in Autumn reimagines overlooked Strawbs songs with a collective of accomplished musicians and vocalists including former Bowie collaborator Holly Palmer, who performs “Don’t Try to Change Me.”
Guy Garvey. Inspired by a London exhibition devoted to Bowie and convinced that a song like “Life on Mars?” requires musicians to share a room, Guy Garvey urged Elbow to replace much of its remote file-sharing process with live collaboration in smaller groups.
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THIS WEEK IN THIS BLOG
August 30: Last Week’s News
August 31: David Bowie Cover of the Week: Paul Marinaro performs “Shadow Man”
September 1: Drive-in Saturday Tuesday Movie Review: Star Wars (1977)
September 2: Mapping “Heroes”: Hans Meertens on Bowie, Berlin and the Art of Connection
September 3: Is “Dancing in the Street” Actually Bad?
September 4: Simon Goddard preview and re-posting of previous interview.
September 5: Simon Goddard on Bowie’s 1976 Odyssey
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LISTS
3 Rock Songs From 1983 That Still Make Me Smile Today.American Songwriter is one of several online publications that finds new and (not so) creative ways to repackage references to things, like “Let’s Dance,” that someone might search for and come upon a list like this three-item list that appears to be part of a “makes me smile” series.
Festivals where music legends live on. The Dublin Bowie Festival expanded its celebration of Bowie’s music, art and influence in 2026 with concerts, exhibitions, talks and Q&As commemorating Station to Station and Blackstar, while confirming a 2027 return as similar events continue to develop internationally.
Baby Names Inspired By The Biggest Blonde Superstars In The Music Industry. “Bowie” is an increasingly popular androgynous baby name inspired by Bowie’s distinctive stage surname and his memorable image, including the blond hairstyles he wore during periods such as the Serious Moonlight tour and Labyrinth.
10 perfect albums that failed to break the top 20 in the charts. Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust is an initially underappreciated masterpiece whose cinematic, shape-shifting vision profoundly influenced music despite peaking at only No. 5 in the UK and No. 75 in the United States.
3 Rock Songs From 1975 That Bring Joy. Bowie’s 1975 song “Fame,” from Young Americans, blends rock, funk and soul, features a distinctive opening riff, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 17 in the UK.
13 of the weirdest songs ever to reach the Top 10. Bowie’s whimsical 1967 novelty single “The Laughing Gnome” initially failed to chart but reached No. 6 when reissued after his breakthrough and later inspired an unsuccessful 1990 campaign to force the song onto his Sound+Vision Tour setlist.
These 6 legends somehow stayed relevant. While making the case that Bowie “stayed relevant,” the latest innovation actually mentioned on this list was Scary Monsters from 1980. He actually “stayed relevant” after that, too, FYI.
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CHURNALISM
This section separates genuine Bowie news and original writing from recycled “churnalism” stories that offer little original reporting and often use vague click-bait headlines to repackage familiar information, but may still be of interest if readers have not seen it before.
1970 Glam Rock Track Was Reimagined on MTV. Bowie’s initially unsuccessful 1970 song “The Man Who Sold the World” gained mainstream American recognition through Nirvana’s haunting 1993 MTV Unplugged performance after former drummer Chad Channing introduced Kurt Cobain to Bowie’s early work.
Robert Fripp Wasn’t Prepared When David Bowie Asked Him to Play Like Ritchie Blackmore. Robert Fripp recalls recording Heroes with Bowie and Brian Eno in Berlin in 1977 as a spontaneous, joyful collaboration defined by improvisation, immediacy, play and laughter at a transitional moment in all three musicians’ careers.
How working with David Bowie helped lure Robert Fripp out of an early retirement. Another repackaged story based on Robert Fripp’s recent Guitar World interview recounts how Bowie lured him from a temporary retirement to create his innovative, feedback-driven guitar work on “Heroes,” initiating a collaboration that continued on Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
The singer David Bowie was never interested in. Bowie valued adventurous, innovative music that could remain accessible, but despite admiring Frank Zappa’s potential, he found Zappa less substantive and compelling than an artist such as Charles Mingus and was not sufficiently intrigued to explore his work more deeply.
The Story of Peter Gabriel’s Terrifying Day Off During David Bowie’s 1983 Tour. Peter Gabriel nearly drowned in a riptide while windsurfing in Vancouver between shows on Bowie’s 1983 Serious Moonlight tour, but lifeguards rescued him in time for him to perform that night and thank them from the stage.
How a 17-year-old schoolboy played guitar “like the devil”. After Bernard Butler left Suede in 1994, 17-year-old guitarist Richard Oakes joined the band and helped shape the more direct, pop-oriented sound of the successful 1996 album Coming Up, which Bowie admired and predicted would help establish Suede as a lasting British rock institution.
The story of “Golden Years.” Released in 1975 during a transitional period in Bowie’s career, “Golden Years” paired funk-inflected American pop with themes of isolation and uncertainty, reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and foreshadowed the experimentation of his Berlin Trilogy.
3 Hall of Fame Rockers From the 1970s Whose First Bands Never Got off the Ground. Another three-item “list” designed more to show up in searches than really to inform mentions Bowie’s bands, the Konrads and the King Bees, but not other early bands like the Mannish Boys. But yes, the Konrads and King Bees never for off the ground.
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And with that, “we’ve finished our news…”**
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*“I’ve heard the news today” is Bowie’s adaptation of the Beatles lyric, which is heard in “Young Americans.”
** “We’ve finished our news” is a line from “Oh You Pretty Things.”