David Bowie has retired from touring, according to one of the UK’s biggest festival organisers.
In an interview with trade publication Music Week, Isle Of Wight Festival promoter John Giddings claims that Bowie has told him personally that he has no plans to tour.
“David is one of the best artists I’ve ever worked with,” Giddings said. “But every time I see him now, before I even speak to him, he goes, ‘I’m not touring’ and I say, ‘I’m not asking’.”
Giddings, who promoted Bowie’s 1987 Glass Spider shows at Wembley Stadium, continued, “He has decided to retire and, like Phil Collins, you can’t demand these people go out there again and again and again. I’m really pleased and proud that the last show he ever did in the UK was the 2004 Isle Of Wight Festival.”
Bowie’s last show took place on June 25, 2004, at the Hurricane Festival in Scheessel, Germany.
Meanwhile, Bowie has unveiled a new song, “BLACKSTAR“.
An excerpt from the song has been used as the theme music for a new TV series, The Last Panthers.
The six part series, a joint production by Sky and CANAL + in France, stars Samantha Morton and John Hurt.
The Last Panthers will screen on Sky Atlantic in the UK from 12 November.
Johan Renck, director of The Last Panthers, said: “I showed Mr. Bowie the two first episodes in the rough state they were at the time, and he liked what he saw very much. We discussed the various aspects of the show; naturally the plot line, but also the underlying currents of guilt and personality flaws. We talked about the dark heart of Europe. We talked about the biblical aspects of human nature. He asked if there was anything else to see, so I showed him the first concept board i had just made for the title sequence – images from the show laced with chimaeras and demons from the worlds of Bosch and Grunewald. That’s when he said go – it all fits. Then he played me his new song BLACKSTAR.”
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