{"id":2233992,"date":"2026-11-02T22:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T19:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2233992"},"modified":"2026-11-02T22:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T19:52:07","slug":"david-bowies-scottish-links-celebrated-in-new-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2233992","title":{"rendered":"David Bowie’s Scottish links celebrated in new exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/fa71\/live\/9495ca20-d70c-11f1-9281-f371e4ecbbd5.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Hundreds of the items from the Bowie archive have never been on public display before<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As musician Nile Rodgers once noted, David Bowie did not just make art – he was art.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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So it is apt that his life and work should be celebrated in the V&A Dundee, within earshot of the first venue he played in Scotland under his new stage name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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David Bowie and the Buzz were not even the headline act that night at the Palais de Dans in 1966, but it was the start of a relationship with Scottish fans which continues today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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David Bowie: On Tour is the first exhibition to showcase items from the singer’s archive, which was acquired by the V&A in London in 2023. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Many of the 100 items selected from the 90,000 housed in the David Bowie Centre, which was built to contain the sprawling archive, have never been seen in public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Among them, his first instrument, a saxophone, which his father bought him for Christmas in 1961, the stopwatch he used when songwriting, his 1988 passport and an advance copy of The Velvet Underground’s 1967 record I’m Waiting for the Man.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It also includes a letter of complaint from his London neighbours in December 1973, addressed to a “Mr Bowy”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The curt missive reads: “We would be very grateful if you would be considerate enough to have the music played much more softly and stop at a reasonable hour.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Leonie Bell, director of the V&A Dundee, said: “It offers something very special, the chance to encounter personal and intimate objects which reveal how David Bowie thought, worked and continually reinvented himself.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rare images include Polaroids of Bowie’s costume fitting test for the 1986 film Labyrinth<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bowie meticulously saved everything from the early portion of his career, charting his rise to one of the world’s most enigmatic and influential musicians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He later worked with professional curators to document and order it so he could use his own personal archive to rework projects he had previously abandoned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bowie also used it to fill in gaps where his personal items had been given away or lost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The show also examines Bowie’s many Scottish concerts and the impact they had on fans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
About 2,500 fans packed into the Caird Hall for Bowie’s performance in May 1973<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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John Reilly was only 11 in May 1973, when the legendary Ziggy Stardust landed at the Caird Hall in Dundee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Images of Bowie in a striking Kansai Yamamoto bodysuit take centre stage in the exhibition above a case of Polaroid photos and memorabilia from the show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite gathering much of it, self-confessed super fan John, a former Dundee United footballer, did not join the 2,500 fans inside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He went on to right that wrong by seeing Bowie live 49 times before his death in January 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But the Dundee gig remains the one that got away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I thought it would be like a football match, and I’d just crawl in under the turnstiles behind my dad,” John, now 64, recalled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’ve got a couple of pals who were there and frequently remind me of what I missed out on but I like to think I made up for it after that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
John Reilly collated a large amount of memorabilia from Bowie’s Scottish gigs<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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John gave his children the middle names Bowie and Dalglish to represent his two great loves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said the chance to see Bowie’s legacy return to his home city would be an emotional moment and a reminder of the “escape” his music provided.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The girls in my class would save pictures from their Jackie magazines and I’d collect them in scrapbooks,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Then it was records and posters and tour programmes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’ve made friends from all over the world and something like this brings the whole Bowie family together. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Only this time, instead of travelling around to see him, I can get the bus into Dundee and the bus back home again and see it all on my own doorstep.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
John missed the gig at the Caird Hall, but went on to see Bowie live 49 times<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Among Bowie’s most famous Scottish performances was a night at the Glasgow Apollo in June 1978.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In an interview for Reporting Scotland, Bowie told reporter Fidelma Cook that it was one of his favourite venues because of the “exceptionally excited audiences, intoxicated with the idea of a theatrical show”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But much of that theatricality was learned in Edinburgh a decade earlier from choreographer Lindsay Kemp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A programme in the exhibition from January 1968 saw him appearing alongside Kemp in a performance of mime, music and dance called Pierrot in Turquoise, which had first been staged in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Two years later, the show was filmed at Edinburgh’s Gateway Theatre for Scottish Television as The Looking Glass Murders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He also brought Ziggy Stardust to the capital, although fans had to wait until 23:30 for the gig to start as staff at the former Empire Theatre – now known as the Festival Theatre – emptied the bingo hall which provided its main source of income.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GrantGrant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The exhibition also includes handwritten lyrics for Bowie’s last album, Blackstar<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Much later, Bowie would draw on the imagery, dressing as the character of Harlequin in the video Ashes to Ashes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By then, he was much better established and able to commission Muppets creator Jim Henson to create life sized dolls, rather than borrow dolls from the Museum of Childhood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“He played in Scotland multiple times in his career,” said curator Svetlana Panova.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“While researching the Dundee performances we were struck by how vividly they still live in the hearts and memories of local fans who have proudly held onto their keepsakes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Svetlana added: “Their dedication has made it possible to tell the cherished story of 17 May 1973 as part of the legendary Ziggy Stardust tour.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cvwy7ljr5grpo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/fa71\/live\/9495ca20-d70c-11f1-9281-f371e4ecbbd5.jpg”] Grant Anderson \/ V&A Dundee Hundreds of the items from the Bowie archive have never been on public display before As musician Nile Rodgers once noted, David Bowie did not just make art – he was art. So it is apt that his life and work should be celebrated in the V&A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-2233992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2233992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2233992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2233992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2233992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}