So once again, I ventured into the virtual world of live streaming. This tempting event was to celebrate the 34th birthday of Tibet House in New York. Unknown to me, there is an event every year to mark the birthday of the opening of Tibet House, largely orchestrated by Philip Glass and often featuring artists who I admire, such as Patti Smith in particular. So, when I read the streaming included Iggy Pop, Philip Glass, Patti Smith and none other than the Dalai Lama himself, I could not resist buying a ticket for virtual attendance.
“Tibet House US was founded at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who at the inauguration in 1987 stated his wish for a long-term cultural institution to ensure the survival of Tibetan civilization and culture, whatever the political destiny of the six million people of Tibet itself.”
“I feel that Tibetan culture with its unique heritage –born of the efforts of many human beings of good spirit, of its contacts with Mongolian, Chinese, Indian, Nepalese and Persian culture, and of its natural environment – has developed a kind of energy which is very helpful for cultivating peace of mind and a joyful life. I feel that there is a potential for Tibet to help humanity, and particularly our Eastern neighbour, where millions of young Chinese have lost their spiritual values. In this way, I feel very strongly that Tibetan culture will have a role to play in the future of humanity.” (His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
The show started with a very dark performance by Iggy Pop of the Dylan Thomas poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”. Iggy was staring right at me, his deep rasping voice emanating from his stark, wrinkled face. Quite scary stuff and not what I expected, but a great introduction to the concert.
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (Dylan Thomas, 1951)
This was followed by a musical performance by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson. There were quite a few artists who I did not recognise but each one performed a unique and appropriate contribution to the evening. Jessie Paris Smith, daughter of Patti, performed a solo acoustic “Monster”, followed by the Black Pumas. Then someone more familiar appeared. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips sang “Flowers of Neptune” from within the familiar bubble, which I have seen him perform from before.
After contributions by Angelique Kidjo and Brittany Howard, the more familiar face of Annie Lennox appeared at the piano singing a short set of “You Placed a Chill In My Heart”, “Cold” and finishing with the Eurythmics “Here Comes the Rain Again”.
After several further offerings, Eddie Vedder, performed Pearl Jam’s “Can’t Keep” on ukulele.
We were then treated to a video from a previous concert; of Philip Glass accompanying the legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Stunning stuff, which brought back memories of when Laura, David, Shauna and I travelled to Edinburgh Playhouse and were lucky enough to see Patti Smith perform an evening of Allen Ginsberg poetry, again accompanied by Philip Glass on piano.
Philip Glass is, of course, widely recognised as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He is one of the fathers of minimalism, although he often rejects this title. His striking repetitive style has influenced many important popular music artists, including David Bowie, and he regularly, to this day, provides accompaniment to poetry readings by artists such as Patti Smith.
Alan Ginsberg was a seminal figure in the “beat” movement, promoting, through his poetry, anti-war messages, the counterculture, sexual freedom and Eastern religion. I have a vague memory of him appearing at Morden Tower, Newcastle University in the 1970s, and for some reason, I did not go along; something I regret to this day.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke to us, marking the importance of Tibet House and its significance to culture and religion.
The evening concluded with Patti Smith and her daughter, accompanied by Joan Baez and many more of the performers, singing very appropriately “People Have the Power”.
Not quite what I expected, but nonetheless an enjoyable event.
I have taken some time to write this account of my trip to see 
Some nifty manoeuvres around a tight corner take me to my seat accompanied by my entourage of carers. A small bottle of red, a bacon sandwich and I am set up for the journey direct from Sunderland to King’s Cross station, courtesy of Grand Central trains. Then onward to the tubes and we are on our way to Wembley. Now what I never realised, until I was in a wheelchair myself, is that not every tube station is wheelchair accessible so you have to choose a route that enables you to change tubes at a station which is accessible. Luckily the line from King’s Cross to Wembley Park is completely accessible, so all sorted. Then we check into our Premier Inn, which is only a few minutes walk from Wembley Stadium me in my accessible room, and my carers situated only a room or two a way.
Yet another streaming event. Well it is all that is available the moment. This one was a bit different. We were promised a 3 hour extravaganza celebrating David Bowie’s birthday and featuring artists from around the world all performing together through the power of modern technology. The whole event was orchestrated and planned by 
event was postponed by one day, due to difficulties relating to Covid. “We’ve been working around the clock for months putting together an amazing show for you. Due to the difficulties in the world and the situation with COVID in Los Angeles, we’ve had to move the show 24 hours to tomorrow at the same time. Hang in there with us – just for one day.” So back to sleep I went.
The concert started with Duran Duran playing “Five Years”, the opening track of Ziggy Stardust and one of my favourite Bowie songs. I suspect this choice of opener paid tribute to the fact that Bowie sadly passed away almost five years to the day, a few days after his birthday. Now I have lost touch with Duran Duran. It is many years since I have seen them and I used to be a fan in the 80s, back in the day. I was pleasantly surprised how well they delivered, no nailed, this classic track; Simon Le Bon almost spitting out the vocals. A great opener. But there was more to follow. An electric version of “Moonage Daydream”, followed by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins meandering around the screen in his own TV, lost in a “Space Oddity”. An excellent version of “The Man Who Sold the World”. Gary Barlow punching above his weight throughout “Fame “. And so it went on. Bowie classic after classic, mixed with some less familiar tunes, Mike Garson constantly present on a grand piano. Macy Gray popped up on a screen to the left singing one of my Bowie favourites “Changes”, doing it full justice. A tribute to Mick Ronson and his wonderful version of “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” performed by Kevin Armstrong, bringing back memories of seeing Ronson perform it on his solo tour, in Newcastle City Hall many years ago. 
Bowie fan, and Def Leopard front man, Joe Elliott sang “Ziggy Stardust” paying tribute to a hero of his youth, as he often does. Ricky Gervais popped up for a moment to introduce “Little Fat Man” harking back to Bowie’s performance of that song on his TV show Extras. 
right, Adam Lambert, performed an appropriately dramatic version of “Star man”. I can’t claim to recognise the name Bernard Fowler, but I did recognise the man as a long time singer for the Rolling Stones. He performed a number of songs during the show, and closed the event with a powerful rendition of “Heroes”. A fitting end to an incredible event. One which finally realised the potential of streaming and modern technology. An excellent tribute to a genius who I feel so privileged to have seen in performance several times. David if you were watching somewhere out there I’m sure you would have approved. Mike Garson is to be applauded for doing a wonderful job in putting together an excellent event. After the show the team behind A Bowie Celebration tweeted: “Thank you David. And our thanks to you all for coming together in a world where that has been so difficult. This couldn’t have been done without you, the amazing Bowie alumni family, our special guests and wonderful behind the scenes team at @rollinglivepro.” I even bought a signed copy of Mike Garson’s book! I will post an image of it here when it arrives.
The reviews in the press were almost all extremely positive. “In almost impossible circumstances, Garson pulled off a herculean task, doing Bowie proud, at a distance.”(Mark Beaumont in 
(Charlie Sexton); Win / Ziggy Stardust (Joe Elliott); Quicksand (Taylor Momsen); DJ / Blue Jean (Charlie Sexton); Where Are We Now? (Michael C. Hall); Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Chaney); Little Fat Man (Corey Taylor; introduced by Ricky Gervais); Hang On to Yourself (Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Chaney); I Can’t Read (Gary Oldman); The Jean Genie (Jesse Malin); Strangers When We Meet (Gail Ann Dorsey); Suffragette City (Peter Frampton); Fantastic Voyage (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross); Fashion (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig); Lazarus (Ian Astbury); Life on Mars? (YUNGBLUD and Rick Wakeman); Lady Grinning Soul / Time / Aladdin Sane (Boy George and Charlie Sexton); Dandy /All the Young Dudes (Ian Hunter); Starman (Adam Lambert); Under Pressure (Judith Hill and Andra Day); Heroes (Bernard Fowler); Ashes to Ashes (Instrumental over credits).
An invitation from 
So I finally entered the live streaming era. I couldn’t resist, of course, “seeing”
daughter Jessie Paris on keyboards and Tony Shanahan or electric piano.
Another trip down memory lane. This was 
First up was the legend that is Edgar Broughton. I used to look up to Edgar as a role model; a fearless guy who stood up for, and fought for, what he believed in and what he was passionate about, which was freedom, socialist values and doing the right thing. I have seen Edgar many times over the years, and his spirit remains undiminished. The format has changed, the old Edgar Broughton Band is no more after a sad falling out with his brother Steve, which he sings about in a song that has the lines “We Were Warriors Together”; and how true that was! Now he sings solo with a batch of new songs; his passionate, emotional voice supported only by his acoustic guitar. “Out Demons out” is no more, the only Edgar Broughton Band songs being “Green Lights” and “Hotel Room”, if my memory serves me right. Sadly, several of the crowd talk over him while he sings, the unfamiliar songs raising polite clapping. But to me, who now recognises all the songs, this was a great performance by a great man.
Top of the bill was, of course, Roger Chapman and his band playing songs by Family; all well known by the crowd.We were treated to old Family favourites such as “Top of the Hill”, “Drowned in Wine” and the hit song “Burlesque”, closing with the wonderful “
So 
For me, the preshow videos which Morrissey projects onto the stage screen before the concert, are always very interesting and they give an insight into Morrissey’s beliefs, interests and values. This night we were treated to some great film clips including “Loudmouth” by the Ramones; a wonderful nostalgia trip (at least for me) of “
Eric Burdon
Publicity for the concert read: “Despite Eric being the ripe old age of 77, his voice still packs a punch and he and his band put on one hell of a show. Seriously, the guy is North East music royalty; he and his band inspired generations of artists and wrote gritty, working -class tunes about gritty, working-class subjects before it was cool to write gritty, working-class tunes about gritty, working-class subjects. You can expect all the classic Animals’ tracks from a true master of the blues vocal performance – he’s been playing music for more years than many of us have been alive and he sure knows how to do it.” (
I caught up with the tour, with my carer Jackie, when they visited Newcastle Academy last year. To get into the venue in my wheelchair we had to squeeze into one small lift which took us up to the bar level of the venue where our places were waiting for us, with a great view of the stage, looking over the heads of the crowd in front. The venue was packed, with lots of familiar faces from the days of the Mayfair Friday night rock nights. The band came onstage to the sounds of Alex Harvey’s “Faith Healer” as an introduction (great choice) and then launched into a set of old favourites and newer songs, some of which were less familiar to me. But the classics were all there; the aforementioned “Lights Out”, “Love to Love” and “Only You Can Rock Me”. They closed the set with “Rock Bottom”. Perfect. The volume was loud and the songs as classic as ever. We all knew they were going to return and we also knew that there would play “Doctor Doctor”. This was followed by the final song, the great, rocking “Shoot Shoot”.
The tour continues (currently halted because of the coronavirus). The official statement after Paul’s passing was: “On April 13, 2019, the UFO family got the tragic news that our bandmate Paul Raymond had died of a heart attack. It had been just a week since we finished the first leg of our Last Orders tour in the UK. While mourning his loss, sadly we also had to face the reality of what to do with the band. We feel moving forward with the tour is the right thing to do. We all know this is what Paul would have wanted us to do. We are therefore very pleased to announce that our friend and former bandmate Neil Carter has agreed to join us again and take over the keyboards/guitar and vocals slot for the remainder of the tour…. We want to make sure that all our amazing fans get a fantastic experience out of it one more time.“
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