What a fantastic show! Sven Ratzke’s performance of Where Are We Now, part of Bread & Circus – World Buskers Festival, left the audience spellbound. If you're a Bowie fan (and who isn't!) this is a must-see; if you're not, you'll love it anyway.

Ratzke, wonderfully accompanied by pianist Jetse de Jong, does a whole lot more than 'cover' Bowie, he reinterprets a selection of the great man's masterpieces, spinning a yarn or two along the way.

It’s not an obvious selection of greatest hits either. Sure, he opened with ‘Let’s Dance’ and closed with ‘Heroes’ before coming back for two encores, but along the way was a beautiful rendering of the more obscure ‘Boys Keep Swinging’, from the hugely productive late 1970s Berlin Trilogy collab with Brian Eno. Everything fitted together to make a perfect whole.

For Ratzke, who wowed Christchurch audiences with his Starman show in 2017, Where Are We Now is a more considered artistic response to Bowie’s death. He recounts his own first encounters with Bowie’s music, and judging by the murmurs of agreement from the audience mirrored the experiences of many.

Not that the show dwells on the negative – quite the opposite. The intimacy of the Spiegeltent makes for those magic ‘busker’ moments where the audience becomes part of the show. It’s a celebration of an amazing artist, and one the audience gleefully jumps in on. Do your inner Jean Genie a favour and get along.

Bread & Circus – World Buskers Festival, Sven Ratzke: Where Are We Now, The Spiegeltent, January 28 – February 1, 2020
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