Philly Loves Bowie Week and more in Philly music this week

Philly’s music scene kicks off the new year with Philly Loves Bowie Week, celebrating the connection between the City of Brotherly Love and the iconic British rock star who died nine years ago this month.

The festivities, which began last week, continue through the weekend. On Wednesday, Fishtown Choir — billed as “Philly’s most spirited and inclusive ‘bar choir’” — gets out of its neighborhood to sing the songs of the Thin White Duke at World Cafe Live on what would have been Bowie’s 77th birthday.

Also on Wednesday evening, the Icebox Project Space in Olde Kensington will host “Let’s Dance: An Evening of Contemporary Dance Set to Music By David Bowie,” featuring a dozen dancers, including Germaine Ingram, Jungwoong Kim, and Vitche Boule-Ra.

On Thursday, much is happening. Sigma Kid Patti Brett hosts Bowie Quizzo at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar. Sara Sherr’s Sing Your Life Karaoke goes glam as Bowieoke at Johnny Brenda’s.

Anthony Crupi’s documentary The Sigma Kids, about the Bowie fans who camped out at Sigma Sound Studios in 1974, screens at the Trestle Inn. Meanwhile, 48 Record Bar in Old City will host “Bowie: Side by Side,” spinning full Bowie album sides throughout the night.

On Friday, there’s a Sound + Vision Happy Hour Bowie at the Trestle, a Bowie Night at Underground Arts (including a look-alike contest), and a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will be preceded by performances of Bowie songs at the Ritz Five.

Philly band No Good Crowd has a Bowie Week-adjacent release in a cover of “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” featuring Canadian singer and former Bowie band member Emm Gryner. It’s on Bandcamp.

Brooklyn Bowl hosts Bowie 4 Kids with the Rock and Roll Playhouse Band on Saturday morning. That night, the grand finale is A Night of Stardust, which has moved to TLA on South Street for the first time. The all-star Bowie band will feature seven lead vocalists, including Ginger Coyle, Olivia Rubini, and Johnny Showcase.

More info about Philly Loves Bowie Week at phillylovesbowieweek.wordpress.com.

There is also life beyond Bowie. New York post-punk band Been Stellar plays PhilaMOCA on Thursday, with Malice K. Bluegrass bandleader Rhonda Vincent bringing The Rage to Sellersville Theater on Friday. Philly folk-rocker Chris Kasper, supporting his Sunlight in an Empty Room, plays the Fallser Club in East Falls on Friday.

On Saturday, hometown heroes Speedy Ortiz, the Sadie Dupuis-fronted band whose Rabbit Rabbit was one of the best albums of 2023, plays its first gig of the year at World Cafe Live.

The band sits on top of a first-rate triple bill of Philly bands featuring Big Benny Bailey, the country-folk team-up of Philly indie-pop star Shamir Bailey with Ben Pierce. Openers are the Tyler Asay-led rising Philly rock band the Tisburys.

Two jazz men who have backed up an impressive array of pop stars play Ardmore Music Hall on Sunday. Trumpeter Keyon Harrold has toured with Rihanna, Eminem, and D’Angelo. He played the trumpet parts in the Don Cheadle-starring Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. Philly pianist Eric Wortham, who opens, has backed Adele and Jill Scott.

Pop music doesn’t sleep. It’s already a busy time for big-name pop stars. At the tail end of 2024, North Jersey songwriter SZA snuck in the excellent and stylistically varied Lana, her 15-track deluxe addition to her 2022 SOS. It’s really a new album unto itself complete with a cover image in which she’s dressed as an insect. She plays Lincoln Financial Field on May 5 with Kendrick Lamar, who guests on Lana’s “30 for 30.”

Bad Bunny surprise released his new Debí Tirar Más Fotos — whose title translates as “I Should Have Taken More Photos” — on Jan. 5 along with the single “Pitorro De Coco,” which isabout loneliness and coconut rum.

Ringo Starr’s T-Bone Burnett-produced country album, Look Up, is due this week, along with new albums by Franz Ferdinand and Ethel Cain.