Midway through opening night of the Celebrating David Bowie tour at London’s Brixton Academy on January 8th, guitarist Earl Slick, who played on everything from Diamond Dogs, in 1974, to The Next Day, in 2013, found himself so overcome with emotion he struggled to keep playing. He was backing Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott on “All the Young Dudes” alongside a 20-piece gospel choir, Spiders From Mars keyboardist Mike Garson and many others, but images of Bowie, who would have turned 70 that day, kept flashing through the guitarist’s head. “I was fighting it the whole time,” says Slick. “I was like, ‘Don’t lose it, motherfucker. I know you’ve got dark glasses on, but don’t lose it.’ ”
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Slick managed to make it through the incredible three-hour show, which was repeated, with…
