Roger Bowie, long-time supporter of New Zealand musicians, curates a beggars banquet featuring some of the cream of these artists, for invited guests and family.
This may be the last time croons Roger, sensing the pull of mortality. Curiously, the Rolling Stones provided the genesis for these special shows.
Ten years ago, the planned tour to New Zealand by the group was cancelled due to the sudden death of Mick Jagger’s partner. Roger found himself with a whole lot of tickets for the show for friends.
What eventuated was a private show on his deck with some of the local support artists booked for that show. That’s how Brett Adams came to play at that gig, being a touring guitarist for the Exponents at the time.
Dianne Swann was also there, and they did some numbers as the Bads of course.
What I did not know was that these two had formed a band much earlier in London called the Julie Dolphin, and they gained some cult recognition and following, especially amongst fellow artists.
They supported the likes of Radiohead and Oasis (!) in concert, as they toiled away in one of the meccas of popular music.
This afternoon Adams and Swann play a Dolphin song, Birthday. You’re a very good friend. It is also close to Roger’s birthday.
They drop in a Bads song, Him and Her, to start the set as a duo. The guitar rings and shimmers as I’m sitting less than the covid 2.5 metres away.
The Come Together ensemble are not strictly a band but a loose collective of the country’s best artists, who have been performing superlative tribute shows honouring great artists over the last five years. The first one was for Neil Young’s Live Rust, and I raved about it to everyone I knew.
There are close to two dozen performers who have appeared, but a core group are here.
Jol Mulholland musical director and guitar, Alistair Deverick drums, Mike Hall bass and Matthias Jordan keyboards. Along with Adams on guitar and Swann representing the many singers.
They run through a cherry-picked selection of songs covering those many shows.
Neil Young gets three out of a baker’s dozen selection. Harvest Moon, Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl.
Jenny Mitchell is a great Country artist from the heartland home of the genre in Gore.
She has with her a younger sister Nicola Mitchell, who also performs as the Mitchell Twins in recent times with her other half sibling Maegan.
I first saw them playing as a trio at the Auckland Folk Festival, where Jenny was one of the headline acts.
She has gone from strength to strength, and recently collaborated with Tami Neilson on an award-winning song, Trouble Finds a Girl.
Begins her set with the title track of another award-winning album, Wildfires. Family harmony singing is one great hallmark of country music.
Grew up in a family immersed in the genre, and they were performing publicly at an early age.
Jenny tells us she was four years old when she had a go at Johnny Cash’s I Walk the Line. They give it a good workout tonight.
Nicola gets a chance at lead vocals with one of the twin’s tunes, Reasons.
Their harmony singing stands out on Simon & Garfunkel’s The Boxer. This was a bit of a back-hand slap to Dylan at the time when Simon was feeling the pressure. I have squandered my resistance/ For a pocketful of mumbles.
Then follow that immediately with solo Paul Simon and Love Me Like a Rock.
Jenny and Roger are also on the management board of the Tussock Country Music Festival, an annual event in Gore and generally held in the middle of winter. Reflects the dour, hard bastard Scottish heritage of the deep south.
It is also home to the New Zealand Gold Guitar awards, highly regarded by musicians and reason enough to brave the chill and catch the festival.
Sonia & Nigel are a Folk Pop duo with music that bleeds out into many genres.
Sonia Wilson is of French and American parentage and was born and raised in Paris.
Nigel Gavin is a guitar virtuoso who predominantly plays a seven-string acoustic. He can play everything with everyone. Jazz, Folk, Blues, Cajun, Klezmer, Country, and blends of all. Heads a guitar orchestra, Gitbox Rebellion with up to 10 acoustic guitars and he has been a member of Robert Fripps all-acoustic guitar ensemble.
This afternoon they play French songs, after Gavin gives a masterclass opening on a tune containing multitudes.
Then its La Mer, the French version of the familiar signature Bobby Darin song Beyond the Sea.
They released an album accompanied by a book Sweet Paname in 2023 and they perform the title track.
Rise Up Singing is an original written by Sonia and takes inspiration from the lyrics to the Gershwin’s Summertime.
Plenty of Gypsy Jazz and fast swinging guitar.
This BowieFest was superlative music delivered in a casual and relaxed manner, where we were all up close and personal. It started with the Rolling Stones, which means it should keep going at least as long as those elders are still active.
Rev. Orange Peel
Here’s a little gallery of shots from the day.
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