John Hendow

On Saturday August 2, BowieVision performed at the Nectar Lounge in Fremont. This show continues our run of 100% sold out shows since the band’s first performance. Opening the show was local tribute band “Purple Main”, performing the hits of the man in purple himself. It was fun to hear that music. I’ve always loved Prince’s music and been moved by his incredible guitar playing.

We hit the stage ready to rock, starting the show with “Fame”. This show also marked the debut of “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, which we had only introduced at rehearsal the previous Tuesday. It went very well during soundcheck so we decided to include it in the show. I was delighted at how well it was received. I had spent quite a bit of time working up the transcription for this song. The studio version of this song appears on “Scary Monsters” and the entire album includes some fantastic guitar work from Robert Fripp. Recreating his sound and phrasing is pretty challenging for me, and it requires close attention to detail. The song has three solos (1) guitar synth solo of ten bars (yes, I know… it’s Fripp… you just let him do ten bars if that’s what he feels) (2) a 16 bar solo in the middle of the song which alternates between D and B (a deliberate tribute to David Bowie himself) and finally (3) a 16 bar solo during the refrain / outtro. For our rendition of this song, I take the first solo on guitar synth, then perform the second solo using a Fripp patch I built on the AxeFX. The third solo is performed by our saxophone player Brian Bermudez, which gives him a nice opportunity to deliver a good sax freakout.

This show was also the first performance at the Nectar where I had my AxeFX system. The house engineer was intrigued when I set it up, and after sound check he was very pleased with its sound. During load-out he approached me and said that the tone of my rig was incredible and made the mix super easy to manage. That is kind of feedback that you want to hear! I have noticed that my EA speakers are not terribly efficient. This was noted when I bought them from their previous owner, but I decided it was probably going to be enough volume for most stages. I’m starting to wonder if I should add a powered 12″ monitor wedge to the front of the stage. For smaller stages and rehearsals, this would also give me the option to go with just the monitor for quick setup. Decisions decisions…

I’m already working on new songs for the next shows. The band is sounding amazingly good, and I’m really enjoying the challenge of performing this music.

Set list for 8/2/2014

• Fame
• Ziggy Stardust
• Changes
• China Girl
• Jean Genie
• Starman
• The Man Who Sold The World
• Life On Mars?
• Rebel Rebel
• Suffragette City
• Fashion
• Absolute Beginners
• Space Oddity
• Golden Years
• Ashes To Ashes
• Blue Jean
• Scary Monsters
• Young Americans
• Let’s Dance
• Under Pressure
• Heroes