David Bowie statue set for Aylesbury - Marillion to headline benefit show

David Bowie
David Bowie (Image credit: Getty)

A sculpture celebrating the life and work of David Bowie is to be unveiled in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, next month.

Bowie, who died in January 2016, premiered Hunky Dory at the town’s Friars Aylesbury in September 1971 and The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars in January 1972 at the same venue.

Now, after the venue’s owners David Stopps and his wife Sue raised £115,000 on Kickstarter, an Andrew Sinclair sculpture titled Earthly Messenger in honour of Bowie is to be revealed at 2pm on March 25 in the town.

Bowie’s music and videos will be played in Aylesbury Market Square, while Callow Saints will provide live music.

That evening, a benefit concert headlined by Marillion will take place at the Waterside Theatre to help raise the £50,000 still needed for the sculpture fund. They’ll be joined by Howard Jones, John Otway and the Dung Beatles.

Fans will be able to purchase memorabilia, which will range from bronze copies of the statue, masks taken from an original mask of Bowie’s face made during the filming of The Man Who Fell To Earth, Earthly Messenger t-shirts and Kris Needs’ The Thin White Book – A History Of David Bowie And Friars Aylesbury.

Tickets for the evening show are now available from Ticket Master.

Listen to King Crimson’s cover of David Bowie’s Heroes

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.