Despite Brixton’s continual efforts to muscle in on the act, the true spiritual home of David Bowie in London is undoubtedly Beckenham. It’s in BR3 that the Bromley-raised superstar held his Arts Lab music nights, it’s where he lived in a big old manor house with the Spiders from Mars while they recorded their seminal albums ‘The Man Who Sold the World’, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’, and it’s in the Croydon Rec park that he organised, compered and performed at the one-day Growth Summer Festival on August 16 1969.
In recent years there’s been an annual festival held in the park in tribute to the Thin White Duke, and to serve as a fundraiser for the restoration of the park’s iconic Victorian bandstand (which the original festival was held on). It was launched as Memory of a Free Festival, and for the last five years it’s been Beckenham’s Bowie Oddity.
And it’s a bloody good day out for any self-respecting Bowie fan. The vibe is basically tribute gig-meets-church fête, and while line-up details tend to be kept under wraps, it’s typically a mix of acoustic acts doing their own thing, a memorabilia auction, and, inevitably, at least one straight-up tribute act. At the last edition, in 2019, there was even a little cameo from Bowie’s longterm producer (and fellow former Beckenham resident) Tony Visconti, who sort of popped up on stage to say hi to everyone and promised he’d be back. Plus you can enjoy sundry food, drink and merch stalls and spend a pleasant afternoon in the company of lots of people with lightning bolts facepainted on. It’s definitely not a big, slick affair, but it is charming, for a good cause, and there are lots of Bowie tunes – who could possibly want more?
Bowie’s Beckenham Oddity is in Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham. Sat Aug 14, noon to 8.30pm.
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