It had been quite a while since I last filled a seat at the Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames. It was even further back in the mists of time that I experienced live music.
A recent night out killed those two birds with that one legendary stone, and, as you’ve probably guessed, it was at this place:

Through a very resourceful friend, I got hold of a ticket to see a live gig by the David Bowie tribute band ‘Absolute Bowie’.
The friend in question was a huge Bowie fan, and, as she had roped in a few more of her likeminded mates, it turned out that there was quite a crowd of us going along.
It was nice being back at the Rose, but one fly in the ointment was the drinks prices.
After meeting up as agreed in the bar, the purchase of the first round revealed that those booze prices had been hiked up – they were charging £6.50 for just under a pint of beer!
My friend was philosophical about it (her glass of wine cost even more!), saying that the bar earnings were helping fund the charity that runs the theatre.
With our overpriced drinks transferred safely into plastic glasses, we made our way to our seats.
The gig literally burst into life dead on the start time in a blast of sound and flashing lights.
There is no doubt about Absolute Bowie’s status as devout David Bowie fans – they replicated the look, the sound and the mannerisms of the man perfectly.
The level of detail was strictly adhered to and required frontman John O’Neil to make several costume changes, some of which were shown below:

Yeah I don’t know what he’s wearing either! All I can tell you is that it’s from the 70s.
The one below is from the same era and is a portrayal of the Bowie alter ego Aladdin Sane:

The costumes changes continued as they followed the Bowie songs through the decades – here is one from the 80s:

‘Diamond Dogs’, ‘Space Oddity’, ‘Changes’, ‘Modern Love’ … all the classics were sung, sounding eerily like the man himself – the only favourite of mine that was left out was ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ which was a bit of a shame.
The audience was definitely loving it – more and more people took to the aisles, enticed to dance by the beat.
By the end of the act, the whole audience were on their feet, moving and grooving away – the only exception was my good self. Feeling a bit self-conscious of my innate lack of dance ability, I stayed firmly in my seat. It did feel a bit lonely!
Despite not being the biggest Bowie fan, the energy of the performance and the audience rapport made for a very engaging evening, where the bulk of my Bowie favourites were sung.
I would advise anyone to go to an Absolute Bowie gig – its well worth a look in.