An all-star lineup of indie rockers are gathering to salute David Bowie, the glam rock icon who helped create more than just a new genre with his androgynous looks and changing personas, with a free three-night concert series in Lower Manhattan.
Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater has gathered a group of 19 musicians including members of Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu and Dirty Projectors to present New Sounds Live: Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, taking place Oct. 17-19 beneath the palm trees of Brookfield Place’s Winter Garden. The Berlin Trilogy refers to three albums — Low (1977), Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979) — created during a time of profound change for David Bowie, who had left Los Angeles in 1976 for Germany to ditch the party scene and his cocaine addiction.
Each concert features one of Bowie’s albums played in full, alongside selections from his collaborators Brian Eno, Tony Visconti and Klaus Schulze. The final night features a special appearance by Carlos Alomar, Bowie’s guitarist and musical director between 1975 and 1996. All shows being at 7:30 p.m. and are totally free, no RSVP needed, presented as part of WNYC’s New Sounds Live series.
Here’s the full schedule for Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy at Brookfield Place:
Wednesday, Oct. 17: Selections from Discreet Music (Brian Eno, 1975) followed by Lodger (David Bowie, 1979)
Thursday, Oct. 18: Selections from Another Green World (Brian Eno, 1975) followed by Heroes (David Bowie, 1978)
Friday, Oct. 19: Selections from Body Love (Klaus Schulze, 1977) followed by Low (David Bowie, 1977)
The Berlin Trilogy: David Bowie goes from his lowest to highest
In 1976, David Bowie was very much on top of the world. He had scored two Top 10 hits with Fame and Golden Years just the previous year, but he was also struggling with cocaine addiction. So he decided to abandon the life of excess in Los Angeles, leaving behind parties and drugs for Germany, where he enjoyed relative anonymity that allowed him a new kind of creative freedom as well.
“Berlin was the first time in years that I had felt a joy of life,” Bowie told Uncut magazine in 2011, “and a great feeling of release and healing. It’s a city eight times bigger than Paris, remember, and so easy to ‘get lost’ in and to ‘find’ oneself, too.”
