Gail Ann Dorsey, Natalie Merchant, Kate Pierson sing “Space Oddity”

I had a busy summer, which actually isn’t over for a few more days. One of the most memorable events I attended was called Democracy Rocks 2, a day-long festival of music and politics in Woodstock, which happens to be about an hour from where I live. As you might imagine, some powerhouse musicians happen to live near Woodstock, and this festival included some heavy-hitters, including Gail Ann Dorsey, Natalie Merchant, and Kate Pierson. Dorsey, in fact, closed out the evening; she had been present for most of the festival and joined Merchant and Pierson on stage.

Anyway, this past week while reviewing Bowie covers for my weekly feature highlighting a “cover of the week,” I came across a video of Pierson performing “Space Oddity.” It occurred to me that Dorsey and Merchant have also covered that song—in fact, I’ve seen Dorsey perform it live. This post captures each of them bringing their own style to Bowie’s first hit. I should add that a “cleaner” audio-only recording of Dorsey performing the song is out there, but I’m including the following apparently fan-recorded bootleg of Dorsey because I was at this performance. I’ll also say that, although it is the same song, the versions are different enough that they are each worth hearing. Finally, I like how each really bears the mark of the performer; these sound like Gail Ann Dorsey, Natalie Merchant, and Kate Pierson singing “Space Oddity,” not trying to imitate Bowie.

As for the closeout of Summer ‘26, the final concert I’m expecting to attend is David Byrne in Saratoga tomorrow night. If he performs “Space Oddity” and someone records it, I’ll post that, too!