Todd Rundgren and Adrian Belew Lead David Bowie Tribute Tour
Todd Rundgren and former King Crimson member Adrian Belew will be part of the 2022 Celebrating David Bowie tour.
Both artists have connections to the late music legend. Rundgren was a contemporary and friend of Bowie’s who shared a parallel career and a similar perspective on music, even if their material was different. “We shared the fact that you don’t settle down to a single style of music and sort of milk it until your career is over,” Rundgren explained to Billboard in 2017. “David had more of that Andy Warhol kind of sensibility, a pop sensibility. He always had a well-cultivated self-image, and I never worked that much on my self-image. He was a character whenever you saw him, and I’m only a persona when I’m onstage — if that.”
Belew was a member of Bowie’s band in 1978 and 1979, which included playing on the double live album Stage. He later rejoined Bowie in 1990 as the musical director of the Sound+Vision Tour.
Royston Langdon, frontman for the ‘90s alt-rockers Spacehog, Fishbone saxophonist Angelo Moore and singer-songwriter Jeffrey Gaines will also be part of the Celebrating David Bowie tour, which will find the musicians delving into material from throughout Bowie's storied career.
“David Bowie was a master,” Langdon said in a statement (via Rolling Stone). “It’s impossible to put into words quite how much he taught me. It gives me a huge thrill to get to honor Mr. B. and to be a small part of this immense celebration of his life and work with these world-class musicians and everyone, who like me feels his energy alive and vital around me now just as it was then and forever shall be.”
The trek is the brainchild of guitarist Angelo “Scrote” Bundini. Following Bowie’s death in 2016, Bundini organized an all-star tribute concert at the Roxy in Los Angeles. The event went so well that the guitarist, along with some surprise guests, held another Bowie concert in San Francisco.
Seeing the excitement generated by these shows, Bundini put together the first Celebrating David Bowie tour in 2017. Rundgren came on board for the 2018 edition. The upcoming trek marks the third Celebrating David Bowie tour.
“One of the things we’re doing differently on this tour is featuring a three-guitar attack,” Bundini noted. “David has always been famous for his spectacular guitarists – the epic solos of Mick Ronson, the bluesy feel of Earl Slick, the funkiness of Carlos Alomar and Nile Rodgers, the bombast of Reeves Gabrels and the otherworldly guitar of Adrian Belew, who is still one of the most original guitarists working today. To explore all of these guitar sides of Bowie’s songs, we’re highlighting Adrian’s brilliance, Todd’s guitar wizardry and whatever guitar mayhem I can muster in between.”
You can see the dates below.
Celebrating David Bowie 2022 North American Tour
Oct. 6 – San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre
Oct. 7 – Beverly Hills, CA @ Saban Theatre
Oct. 8 – San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic
Oct. 9 – Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove
Oct. 13 – Prior Lake, MN @ Mystic Lake Showroom
Oct. 17 – Quebec City, QC @ Le Capitole
Oct. 18 – Montreal, QC @ Olympia
Oct. 31 – Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head On Stage
Nov. 3 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
Nov. 5 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
Nov. 7 – Nashville, TN @ Schermerhorn Symphony Ctr
Nov. 10 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
Nov. 11 – Albuquerque, NM @ Kiva Auditorium
Nov. 12 – Tucson, AZ @ TCC Music Hall
Nov. 13 – Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre