First things first; I am not a huge Bowie fan. I mean, I like the dude’s tunes (I dance like a mofo when I hear his jams play at the club!) and I recognize his impact on music. I am also grateful that he helped our city’s most punk rock resident, Iggy Pop, stay around a bit longer by helping him out when he was…well, not doing so well. And of course, I also acknowledge his eternal coolness. Shit, I just realized that I’m a bigger Bowie fan than I thought…that was weird how that just happened. Anyway, I didn’t consider myself a huge fan when I heard about this tribute show, but I definitely knew I had to witness it. Bowie’s career has such an interesting track record full of color, weirdness and rumor that I knew the folks involved just had to turn up the fun a couple of notches. And that they did! Dangerfun Entertainment, the relatively new promoting outfit (headed up by Ian Michael), has been popping up on flyers and event listings all over town, getting in bed with different venues doing what they do. And what do they do? Why they bring the circus to you, the Dangerfun Sideshow, to be precise! It almost seemed perfect that this crew would be the team to tackle a production such as this. So, in true Vaudeville barker fashion…”BEHOLD!! My review!!”

I was solo for this outing (not by choice), no photographer (sorry about the shitty pics), no friends, etc., but I figured I had promised this review to myself so I was gonna go regardless. Arriving on time as any punctual reviewer should, I soon found out that I was pretty damn early. Actually I was on time but the opening act, Pretty Please, was nowhere to be found. No matter, this being Churchill’s, of course they were serving up tasty ice cold time machines at the bar that would help speed up the process and off I went, like Wimpy in search of a hamburger (What? No Popeye references allowed?). After a little delay Pretty Please finally showed up and a manic set up quickly followed. Their gear was already onstage, so I’m assuming they were there earlier, set up and took off (?). Whatever the case,  the night was finally started. Pretty Please sounded good right off the bat. The 4 piece band has an eclectic set up that somehow works. Three fun looking females, all dolled up in classic Bowie make up and tight bright outfits handle vocal duties while simultaneously playing bass, guitars, violin, keyboard and basically everything under the sun while their only male member sits back and enjoys the view from behind his drumset (sounds like a sweet gig huh? Just sitting and watching 3 ladies rock out in front of you all the time, I gotta look into that). They ran through some originals (I really liked Leftovers for Dogs) and did a good job on their two Bowie covers (Queen Bitch, Starman). Reminded me of Dig Me Out-era Sleater-Kinney with a dash of Breeders thrown in for good measure. Their vocals seemed to be a bit loud at times, but I’m not sure if they soundchecked. Other than that and being a tad late, I thought they were tight…like their outfits (sorry, couldn’t resist that lame cheeseball line).

Plastic Cultures featuring MC Last Halo (I couldn’t find anything on the web to link to) was up next, and to be quite honest I wasn’t sure what to expect when their guitarist announced that they would be playing “live original material + Bowie mash-ups”…uh-oh. I’m okay with mash-ups when I’m at a dance club and a DJ is at command, but regardless; it has to be done right. Just slamming two songs together is not the answer, so I was weary of what I was about to hear. Plastic Cultures consisted of two dudes on laptops, and a guitarist, a beat machine and MC Last Halo. I appreciate the different approach, but I don’t think it was working for me. The MC seemed a little uncomfortable on stage and the beatwork was not enough to capture my attention. I stuck around for a couple of songs, heard a couple of the Bowie “covers” vaguely peeking through every once in a while, but didn’t feel they were being much of a “tribute” since they were sandwiched and buried among their originals, which consisted of loops and guitar riffs…not what I came to listen to. I ran into a couple of friends who were on the way out to the patio for some fresh air and I decided to join them, if Plastic Cultures had a trick up their sleeve, I definitely missed it.

After catching up out on the patio and wandering back in, I noticed the atmosphere inside had slightly changed…it got a little weirder. A bearded fellow on stilts greeted me from above, a juggler was doing his thing off in a corner and a guy was transfixed on snaking his arms around, a crystal ball gliding from one hand to another. Armada! was taking the stage. I’ve never heard of these guys but once they assembled before us, I knew they got the memo…they were here to celebrate Ziggy Stardust, make no mistake about it. Their lead singer Andrew was completely decked out in silver glitter platform boots, spandex body suit, crazy makeup, red wig (or was that your real hair?) and a glittery cape with what seemed to be a two foot collar…the dude was definitely looking the part. The rest of the band was right there with him, sporting eyepatches, more spandex and more makeup. They blasted through perfect renditions of Rebel Rebel, and a proper mash-up that combined Space Oddity & Ashes to Ashes with Peter Schilling’s Major Tom (Coming Home), which was clever and done right. The highlight was when they performed Under Pressure, the unforgettable collaboration between Bowie and Queen. Dividing the vocal duties between Andrew and Brian Blitzkrieg (keyboards)…it fucking worked. I was surprised that Andrew was able to hit those famous high notes, I even congratulated him after the set when I introduced myself and got a handful of glitter dust as a result of our handshake, and if that’s not playing the part, I don’t know what is.

Next up was Fuck Yeah!(again, no linkage here, sorry) and I’m not sure how they were gonna follow Armada’s set, but it was time to find out. Unfortunately, due to the show running a little late, the crowd was starting to thin out a bit. They hurried onstage in order to play to as many ears as possible and started their set. They knocked out my favorite Bowie song The Man Who Sold the World right off the top of the set and did not disappoint. Their set included nothing but classics like Let’s Dance, Ziggy Stardust and a surprise unexpected song: Dance Magic Dance. Yes, the song from Labyrinth, yeah, the one featuring Bowie singing to a bunch of Muppets. It was a fun choice, I thought. They wrapped it up with I’m Afraid of Americans, but not just any old regular version of it. This one was accompanied by a young lady decked out in army fatigues and a machine gun, totally grinding and being badass on stage. As the song went on, the clothes came off and we were left with a topless woman and a machine gun crawling around while the crowd screamed along with the chorus of “I’m afraid of Americans!”, pretty fitting…tits, guns, military, beer and rock and roll. It took a British androgynous man’s music to bring out the America in us, and this is our way of saying thank you…with tits. Can someone say “America! Fuck Yeah!”? Indeed. And coincidentally, what was the name of this group? Exactly. Pretty fuckin’ Awesome.