Concert Review
Celebrating David Bowie
Saturday November 5, 2022
Town Ballroom
Buffalo, NY
Review/Photos: Joseph Suto
The Town Ballroom came alive to the sounds of the music of David Bowie as Celebrating David Bowie hit the stage Saturday night. An extremely talented band took the Bowie songlist to a new level by performing a two hour plus set that left the crowd in awe. One of the main catalysts of the tour is musical director and guitarist Angelo “Scrote” Bundini.
He has assembled an outstanding lineup that on this night featured himself, guitarist Adrian Belew, vocalist Jeffrey Gaines, Spacehog’s Royston Langdon, multi-instrumentalist Ron Dziubla, bassist Angeline Saras and drummer Travis McNabb. Todd Rundgren was also to be included in the lineup but missed the show due to a case of laryngitis.
The band came out firing early and often playing mainly the best known songs from the catalog including a 4-song stretch that was insane and featured “Ziggy Stardust”, “Changes” “Life On Mars?” and “Starman”. Other highlights included “Rebel Rebel” and “Suffragette City” both of which featured Gaines on vocals. While I was not familiar with Gaines and his work he really stood out. He has only been on the tour for a handful of dates which makes his performance more impressive.
With the absence of Rundgren for the Buffalo show, that meant the band had to step up their game. Not only did they have to deviate from the normal set list, they also had to have different people take over for the songs Rundgren sang. I would say the MVP on this night was none other than Royston Langdon. Langdon who many may remember was the main catalyst and leader of Spacehog. Spacehog had a top-40 hit “In The Meantime” which propelled their debut album to gold status in 1995.
What could have been disastrous turned out to a unique experience for the tour. To lose one of the main voices and players and still be able to pull off an astounding performance as this was goes to show how talented a cast was on board. The band seemed to be really taken back by the terrific response by the audience calling it one of the most enthusiastic responses to date and this tour has been at it quite a while. It goes to show if you create something just right the sky is the limit.
Set List
Sound and Vision (Adrian Belew on vocals)
Moonage Daydream (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (Royston Langdon on vocals)
The Jean Genie (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Ziggy Stardust (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Changes (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Life on Mars? (Royston Langdon on vocals w/ Adrian)
Starman (Adrian Belew on vocals)
The Man Who Sold the World (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Five Years (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Panic in Detroit (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Fame (Adrian Belew on vocals)
Fashion (Scrote on vocals)
Golden Years (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Stay (Scrote on vocalsw/ Adrian)
Breaking Glass (Royston w/ Scrote)
D.J. (Adrian Belew on vocals)
Boys Keep Swinging (Adrian Belew on vocals)
Ashes to Ashes (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Sax Solo (Space Oddity intro)
Space Oddity (Royston Langdon on lead vocal / Adrian Belew on harmony lead vocal)
The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Hallo Spaceboy (Scrote on vocals)
I’m Afraid of Americans (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Pretty Pink Rose (Adrian Belew on vocalsw/ Scrote)
Blue Jean (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
Let’s Dance (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Rebel Rebel (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
All the Young Dudes (Royston Langdon on vocals)
Encore
Suffragette City (Jeffrey Gaines on vocals)
“Heroes” (Scrote / Langdon Royston / Jeffrey Gaines / Adrian Belew – shared lead vocals)
