Ten years ago this week, David Bowie turned 69, released his 26th album, Blackstar – and then exited the stage for good when he died on 10 January. Unbeknown to fans, or indeed many of his friends, the British musician had been suffering from liver cancer. His death, many theorised, was as artful as his life. “It sounds like Bowie stepping into the light as his body falls apart – like one of the pioneers of pop-star reinvention on a vision quest for one last metamorphosis,” wrote Stereogum critic Chris DeVille in a new retrospective piece on the album. “It made for a perplexing, astonishing finale.”
His extraordinary life – from his 60s beginnings as Davy Jones through to building one of the most diverse and influential catalogues in the history of rock – is the subject of similarly diverse celebrations this weekend, from heady to hedonistic. Fans can listen to a plethora of radio programming: BBC Radio 6 Music’s Bowie Forever season continues today and over the weekend with contributions from artists including Henry Rollins, St Vincent, Brett Anderson of Suede, Tilda Swinton, Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, Christine and the Queens and Iggy Pop.
At the Charing Cross Road branch of Foyles, there is the David Bowie Day festival, with talks from figures including Suzi Ronson, Bowie’s former stylist, and authors Paul Morley and Simon Goddard, as well as a walking tour of Bowie’s Soho from Paul Gorman, author of the book Bowie’s London. The following week, at the British Library, Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti, Blackstar bandleader Donny McCaslin, along with Berlin musician Blixa Bargeld and former Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth, will discuss Bowie’s career in a series of conversations.
In September, the V&A opened its East Storehouse, including the entire Bowie archive that originally inspired the museum’s 2013 exhibition David Bowie Is. To mark the Bowie anniversaries, the new space is celebrating the musician’s collaborations with stylist Freddie Burretti, who shaped his early 70s look and the visual identity of Ziggy Stardust.
For slightly less intellectual celebrations, club nights across the country will be hosting Bowie-themed nights over the weekend: one particularly immersive offering at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, promises a Ziggy Polaroid booth, tarot readings, laughing gnomes and bulging codpieces. Fans are also sure to lay tributes at the Bowie mural in Brixton that became a shrine after his death.
Bowie’s 1986 film Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson, is also back in cinemas to mark its 40th anniversary. In a new, four-star review, Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw called it “one of the most beguilingly eccentric and charming family movies imaginable”. On smaller screens, Bowie’s 1977 single “Heroes” soundtracks the grand finale of Netflix’s Stranger Things, and saw a brief spike in popularity, peaking at No 75 in the UK midweek charts before dropping a little.
Closer to home, Bowie’s wife, Iman, posted a tribute to her late husband on his birthday: “Your light burns so bright in all our hearts! We love and miss you.” His daughter Lexi Jones, 25, posted an image of herself as a child offering her father a homemade birthday cake with a candle in it: “Da big 79 today. Happy birthday pops, miss ya!” It was also announced that plans are under way to open Bowie’s childhood home in Bromley, south London, to the public.
