May 15 2019 – Let us start off by stating that the best tribute show company in the planet in our opinion is England’s CMP Entertainment. Their shows are top-notch productions both on the sight and sound experience scales with huge entertainment value. We have seen and reviewed their spectacular The Classic Rock Show A to Z, the iconic Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, and the absolute best tribute show we have ever seen Brit Floyd.
Well when we got word that the company is bring over to North America a critically acclaimed UK born show celebrating David Bowie- Live On Mars! we took immediate notice.
The 20 date tour will hit the following locations with of course June 6th is the Toronto stop and the one we are most interested in. Ticket info can be found here.
Sat 25 May 19 Huber Heights Rose Music Center at The Heights
Sun 26 May 19 Milwaukee Pabst Theatre
Wed 29 May 19 Erie Warner Theater
Thu 30 May 19 Portland Aura
Fri 31 May 19 Rochester Auditorium Theatre
Sat 1 Jun 19 Hampton Casino Ballroom Hampton Beach
Sun 2 Jun 19 Westbury NYCB Theatre
Tue 4 Jun 19 Wilkes-Barre FM Kirby Center
Wed 5 Jun 19 Syracuse Crouse Hinds Theater
Thu 6 Jun 19 Toronto George Weston Recital Hall
Sat 8 Jun 19 Lewiston Artpark Amphitheater
Sun 9 Jun 19 Washington D.C. Warner Theatre
Wed 12 Jun 19 Jacksonville Florida Theatre
Thu 13 Jun 19 Miami The Fillmore Miami Beach, Jackie Gleason Theater
Fri 14 Jun 19 Fort Myers Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall
Sat 15 Jun 19 Clearwater Capitol Theatre
Sun 16 Jun 19 Pensacola Saenger Theatre
Tue 18 Jun 19 Knoxville Bijou Theatre
Wed 19 Jun 19 Atlanta Buckhead Theatre
Fri 21 Jun 19 Chicago Park West
Below is the full press release we received on the show:
A Tribute to David Bowie
LIVE ON MARS
The Very Best of David Bowie live!
Following its hugely successful 2018 UK tour, LIVE ON MARS, visits North America in 2019 to continue its amazing journey celebrating the very best of iconic pop hero David Bowie; his music, artistry, style and showmanship…
Influenced by Bowie’s legendary concert performances, LIVE ON MARS fuses sound and vision to portray the essence of Bowie, his alter egos and creative muses, with a stunning light show and state of the art visuals and animation.
Featuring the electrifying vocals and uncanny likeness of singer and lifelong Bowie fan Alex Thomas, with a hand-picked world-class band, and covering the Bowie back-catalogue from Space Oddity to Let’s Dance and everything in between, LIVE ON MARS is the definitive show that all generations of Bowie fans have been waiting for.
So express your inner space oddities and join us to become part of the LIVE ON MARS experience!
Set list includes The Jean Genie, Space Oddity, Life on Mars, Ziggy Stardust, Heroes, Ashes to Ashes, All The Young Dudes, Let’s Dance, The Man Who Sold The World, Changes, China Girl, Fashion, Moonage Daydream, Fame, Starman, Rebel Rebel, Sound & Vision, Modern Love, Young Americans
We had the opportunity to catch up with Alex Thomas who will have the daunting task of imitating David Bowie for the show.
T-Mak World: Alex, thank you so much for the time, can you tell our readers a bit about your background (musical and non)?
I’ve been a musician performing in musical projects since I was a teenager and was raised on a healthy diet of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie by my parents. As a songwriter and performer Bowie had a huge impact on my musical and visual identity so it felt like a natural leap for me to take part in a show that honours his legacy. Living in famously liberal/creative Brighton, UK I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by weirdness, androgyny and experimentation. This helped fuel my love of Bowie and experimental music and art in general.
T-Mak World: We know that Live on Mars is produced by CMP who have presented us with top-notch production shows such as Rumours of Fleetwood Mac and Brit Floyd. Can we expect the same type of experience both visually and aurally?
It definitely has the care and keen eye for detail that all the CMP shows have, This show is perhaps a little more raucous than some and hopefully has a real exciting rock n roll show feel. Those who have seen Brit Floyd and Rumours etc can rest assured that the technical production and musical direction definitely lives up to the CMP name.
T-Mak World: David Bowie has certainly impacted the musical landscape with his musical evolution. Is there a particular era that stands out for you more than any other where what Bowie accomplished stands through the ages?
Visually and sonically I find the Berlin era albums the most exciting as an adult. I think the incredible oppressive atmosphere of late-1970s Berlin with the foreboding wall and divided city helped feed an incredible experimental time in Bowie’s career. Teamed with the work of Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, it makes for a totally unique feel.
T-Mak World: Who are the other musicians in the band?
James Cole – guitar, vocals. Mike Gay – guitar, vocals. Edgar Jones – bass, vocals. Phil Murphy – drums. Henry Burnett – keyboards, vocals.
T-Mak World: Tribute shows are interesting because you are essentially playing someone else’s music to fans of the original band and these hardcore fans will pick up and variation immediately. Having said that, is your focus to be a carbon copy of the original Bowie records or are you ok with some artistic freedom?
Sonically we aim to recreate the instrumental tones and parts as close as we can to the recordings but there is a real freedom to the performance and we get to give the music a real live show feel. I don’t adopt any pretense that I am David Bowie during the show but the music naturally seems to dictate his characteristics and that comes through with everyone’s performance.
T-Mak World: How did you guys come up with the setlist? Was there any themes or patterns you were trying to present?
There’s a roughly chronological order for the most part and we aim to cover as many albums as possible but obviously there’s so much great stuff to choose from that you inevitably have to cut some. It’s been really interesting bringing the show to the Canada/the US that there were very different big hits for the man over here so we’ve had to take that into consideration too.
T-Mak World: Thanks for your time Alex, any last words for our readers?
If you come along I really hope you enjoy the show, and we can’t wait to explore Toronto!
Cant wait Alex and thanks for taking the time out of rehearsals for us. To celebrate the show CMP has given our readers a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Toronto show! To enter send an email to contests (at) tmakworld (dot) com and include LIVE ON MARS in the subject line and tell us your favorite David Bowie song and your name. Bonus entry for liking the T-Mak World Facebook page! Winners will be selected June 3rd.
A Very Classy Tribute To The Man Who Changed The World
LONDON TIMES
https://www.facebook.com/LIVEONMARSSHOW/
https://twitter.com/LiveOnMarsShow
