“You drive like a demon from station to station”
Champion of all things Bowie, Matt Everitt from BBC Radio 6 Music, kindly offered to send us a few words regarding the Paris version of David Bowie Is, on account of him being invited to the opening gala.
However, on the day, his check-in time came and went and though we knew he wasn’t one for sleeping In (he’s a regular co-presenter for the 6 Music Breakfast Show), he is allegedly a bit of a daydreamer.
We worried he was going to miss the stardust and glamour of the gala opening, and, being brave, we decided to give him a call.
It transpired that he hadn’t been involved in a crash or anything too serious, but he had been hampered by outrageous transport delays! When we quizzed him on the likelihood of his getting to the opening in time, he confidently assured us: “I’ll manage somehow”.
And manage he did, just one of the reasons we love you little drummer boy.
The ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition started in the grandiose Gothic revival halls of The V&A in London, moving through Ontario, Sao Paulo and Berlin to the clean, modernist ’60s setting of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and now (appropriately enough) its backdrop has changed once more. This time to The Philharmonie de Paris, a vast concert hall that (also fittingly) was once described as a spaceship crash-landed on the edge of the city.
On the opening night there are long queues trailing into the park that surrounds the hall, Inside TV crews, radio teams, music fans and personnalités culturelles all crowd into the foyer, supping drinks, eating tangerine-coloured candyfloss and enjoying a very popular make-up stall, which provides the multicolored glittered Ziggy flashes that adorn every other face.
When inside the exhibition itself, we’re once again inside Bowie’s life. A staggering collection of objects that illustrate the creative forces that pushed him forward and the music and images that he created as a result. It would be disappointing if the show was identical to its predecessors, and indeed, in addition to new documents (including a book singed at the Parisian Golf Drouot venue where David Bowie & The Lower Third appeared live in 1965) the layout of the show is less linear. While you’re still aware of the chronology of his story, the display rooms are more random, throwing you off into different times, spaces and songs in a way that reminds you again just how restless and creative Bowie has been.
Some elements however need no reframing; the Top Of The Pops Starman jumpsuit still elicits gasps (“It’s actually there!”) the meticulous drawings, paintings and plans provide an insight into a mind throwing out ideas faster than the music world could keep up with, and the final immersive video room (complete with one of the exhibitions greatest finds, the previously unseen Diamond Dogs live footage) filled with a supporting cast of happily dancing Ziggy clones is a wonderful as ever.
The first time Bowie left England it was to go to Paris, the studios at Château d’Hérouville just outside the city were the location for Pin Ups and much of Low, and years later he proposed to Iman under the Pont Neuf bridge (the romantic lad that he is) so the city clearly holds special memories. And judging by the reaction to ‘David Bowie Is…’, Paris loves him too.
Matt Everitt – March 2015
Thanks for that Matt, much appreciated.
FOOTNOTE: Our montage shows (anticlockwise from top left) the stickered version of the blue vinyl “Heroes” 45 (thanks for the scan Alison Jean Baker), Bowie’s hand-written lyric for Be My Wife from The Château d’Hérouville Guest Book, the French issue of Be My Wife and finally, the album from which the song came, Low.
We’ll leave you with the exhibition note regarding that guest book entry.
The Château d’Hérouville Guest Book – Laurent Thibault Collection
After recording Iggy Pop’s album The Idiot in Spring ‘76, David Bowie returned in September to record several pieces for the album Low, which would subsequently be mixed in the Hansa Studios in Berlin. David Bowie signed the “guest book” of the Studio with the lyrics from a verse of “Be My Wife”, 4th piece on the A-side of the album Low.