New events have been announced celebrating David Bowie at Lightroom in King’s Cross, including live music and a root through his record collection with the man who knew him best.
The events run alongside Lightroom’s acclaimed immersive show David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, which is showing daily until October, with evening screenings now extended until January. A special day of celebration is planned for 8th January, which would have been Bowie’s 80th birthday.
Renowned cellist and composer Peter Gregson will offer his take on Bowie’s Berlin period with a series of unique concerts, while Bowie Nights takes over the opening night of King’s Cross Summer Sounds, with an explosive secret headliner and special performances from Ashaine White, Jack Kaye (formerly of The Magic Gang).
In partnership with Pitch Black Playback, the albums The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Let’s Dance and Earthling each get unique listening parties using Lightroom’s spatial audio system in complete darkness.
Bowie’s friend and collaborator Geoff MacCormack will launch his new book with co-author Jérôme Soligny, David Bowie Music Lover, in which he explores the star’s record collection. MacCormack’s daughter, Iraina Mancini, will be DJing on 31 July as part of the Bowie Lates screenings, which run on the last Friday of every month.
Lightroom chief executive Richard Slaney said: “Celebrating the multifaceted nature of art and artists is one of Lightroom’s central missions – that’s what these Bowie Nights are aiming to do. Peter Gregson’s live shows in September will be a fantastic and truly unique opportunity to see a brilliant musician play a show that will feel completely new; just as with our Yuja Wang x Hockney concerts in 2023 and 2024, but this time celebrating the influence of David Bowie and his contemporaries. There’s also the chance to listen to Bowie’s own classic recordings in three pitch-black album listening evenings, which will be very special and a totally new format for Lightroom.”
Peter Gregson
On 3rd September (7pm and 9pm), 4th September (7pm and 9pm) and 5th September (7pm and 9pm), a unique concert series will see acclaimed composer and cellist Peter Gregson offer a creative response to the work of David Bowie, Brian Eno and their contemporaries in the Berlin era. Bespoke new visuals will be crafted from David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, alongside live camera work, which will offer an intimate and immersive concert experience.
Alongside striking visuals, Lightroom’s powerful Holoplot spatial audio system presents a sonic canvas for a one-of-a-kind musical experience with sound design by Brett Cox. Gregson will play a programme featuring a mesmeric, newly arranged version of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint for the electric cello; Brian Eno’s Music for Airports; and Gregson’s own recomposed Bach Prelude, alongside newly composed pieces. In addition, he will perform a Bowie covers section, unique to every show.
Bowie Nights x Pitch Black Playback
Pitchblack Playback will host some of their album listening sessions in the dark for three iconic Bowie albums: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (28th July, 7pm), Let’s Dance (4th Aug, 7pm) and Earthling (11th Aug, 7pm) – marking the release of new mixes for each. Each evening, the respective album will be played in full using Lightroom’s powerful spatial audio system, HOLOPLOT, followed by a viewing of You’re Not Alone (included in the ticket price).
King’s Cross Summer Sounds
On 13th August, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, Bowie Nights will launch King’s Cross Summer Sounds in Coal Drops Yard with Ashaine White, Jack Kaye (formerly The Magic Gang) and a surprise headliner. A free-to-attend outdoor concert right next to Lightroom, it will be a celebration of Bowie’s impact on music today, with each act including a Bowie cover in their set. Ashaine White fuses raw vulnerability with bold creativity, blending alternative rock with soulful vocal delivery and emotive lyricism — drawing comparisons to PJ Harvey and Jeff Buckley, while forging something entirely her own. Jack Kaye has returned six years on from the Magic Gang with acclaimed recent single Dora – expect more new music this year from a classic indie songwriter.
David Bowie Music Lover
On 25th September, Bowie’s former publicist, Alan Edwards, will interview the artist’s friend and collaborator, Geoff MacCormack, and co-author Jérôme Soligny about their new book, David Bowie Music Lover. The book digs into the depths of Bowie’s inspirations through an exploration of his own record collection. Also discussed will be Heritage of London Trust’s project to restore Bowie’s childhood home at 4 Plaistow Grove – a home that MacCormack knew well in his childhood.
Bowie Nights
The events continue Lightroom’s Bowie Nights season, which includes Bowie Nights: Adam Buxton presents BUG Bowie Special on 2nd, 3rd and 4th July.
Each Bowie Night will take place at Lightroom in King’s Cross, the unique immersive venue which will host the major new production David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, open now. Tickets can be found HERE.
Written and directed by 59’s Mark Grimmer (Creative Director for the V&A’s David Bowie Is exhibition) and Tom Wexler, it showcases some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mixture of iconic material, selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Oddity through Diamond Dogs and Let’s Dance to ★.
Audiences will have the chance to feel they have travelled through time to experience Bowie in performance – up close and first-hand. Each track in the show has been newly reconfigured to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, David Bowie Is). The show is fully authorised by the David Bowie Estate.
Buy ‘Bowie Nights’ tickets here
Buy ‘David Bowie: You’re Not Alone’ tickets here
Tickets for David Bowie: You’re Not Alone are now on sale and priced from £25 for adults and £15 for students and concessions.
Tickets are available now until 10 October 10.
