Last night by better half and I went to see Holy Holy at Cambridge Corn Exchange. This our third time seeing the band and a bit of an annual tradition to see a Bowie 'tribute' act. I would say they have exceptional credentials as the bassist is Tony Visconti who worked with Bowie throughout his career. The singer is Glenn Gregory who used to sing with Heaven 17 and is a great front man. Previously we have gone with some friends, but they could not make it this time. I did offer our spare tickets to the local musicians I know, but nobody could make it at short notice. However one said that she knew Glenn when they both lived in London before he made it big. Missing this time was Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey who was dropped for what they described as medical differences. He claims he is exempt from COVID vaccination and it seems the band did not feel it was appropriate to be touring the country in a coach with him.
The Corn Exchange is a nice venue that is not too big. We were seated a few rows back. Initially it looked like it would be a bit empty, but it filled up by the time the band came on.
The support act was Jessica Lee Morgan who happens to be Tony's daughter (her mother is folk singer Mary Hopkin), who did some acoustic originals. She has a great voice. She also plays guitar and saxophone with the band.
I do like a band to be punctual and both sets started on time. Previously Holy Holy have played through a whole Bowie album such as The Man Who Sold The World, but this was more of a mixture. They started with some more obscure tracks that I recognised, but could not necessarily name. Then we had Quicksand that we saw Bowie play solo at the start of a show on the Earthling tour. I have actually been learning that to play at the pub. From there it was a lot of hits including Ziggy Stardust, Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars and more. The band was really rocking on what is only the second gig of the tour. Glenn did get a bit mixed up on Space Oddity, but recovered well.
They played for about 90 minutes, but came back for an encore of Where Are We Now? and Rebel Rebel. The crowd was really lapping it up. I will say it was an older crowd, but then you would expect that. At the end Tony did a little speech about how he met David and their experiences together in Berlin. That was very touching.
Cambridge is not too far from us and it was an easy drive home.
This is the first large indoor gig I have been to in about two years. The last one was actually the same band at The Roundhouse in London, so it seems appropriate. So many gigs have been cancelled or postponed. These have been tough times for musicians and even after COVID restrictions there will be issues with British bands playing in mainland Europe as leaving the EU means a lot more paperwork and cost.
Rock on!