*”Holy Holy” at the – “Shepherds Bush Empire” London W12 – (2025)

A couple of weeks back – my London Shoes legged it all the way over to West London to watch a special band that go by the name of ‘Holy Holy’ – perform ‘live’ on the stage of an iconic legendary London theatre with an amazing history behind it…….and here’s London Shoes story of the event in question.

“Shepherds Bush Empire-Theatre”:-

The famous Shepherds Bush Empire Theatre was built in 1903 and was designed by Frank Matcham, the man who designed a large number of Britain’s magnificent grand theatres at the end of the 1800’s / beginning of 1900’s – a number of which, like the Hackney Empire / the Grand Theatre-Blackpool / Liverpool Olympia / Buxton Opera House / the Victoria Palace-London / Belfast Grand Opera House…..plus quite a few more.

One of the first performers at the Shepherds Bush Empire was the great Charlie Chaplin – and the Theatre continued to provide music hall entertainment and variety performances right up until the 1950’s.

During WW2 a flying bomb just missed the Empire but it struck the Shepherds Bush Pavillion theatre next door – although the fall-out from the bomb did some considerable damage to the Empire – causing it to close for a few years, for refurbishment.

In 1953 the Shepherds Bush Empire was sold to the BBC – who then used the theatre as a television studio, renaming it the…..’BBC Television Theatre’.

One of the kids tv progs from my childhood…’Crackerjack’ hosted by (in my day) Leslie Crowther and Peter Glaze – was broadcast ‘live’ every Friday afternoon, from the Shepherds Bush Empire.

Popular tv shows like ‘The Generation Game’ – ‘That’s Life’ – ‘Juke Box Jury’ – ‘This is your Life’ and quite often ‘live’ performances from bands on ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’  – were all broadcast live from the Shepherds Bush Empire.

BBC tv music spectaculars featuring top performers such as Cilla Black / Cliff Richard / Dusty Springfield / Val Donigan / Shirley Bassey – were all broadcast from the Shepherds Bush Empire stage.

In 1985 onwards the Theatre was used exclusively for broadcasting ‘Wogan’ three nights per week.

However – in 1991 the BBC sold this famous old theatre and thus ended their long association with it.

In new hands and following some major renovation work, the Theatre re-opened under its original name…..the Shepherds Bush Empire – and focused its main activities on hosting ‘live’ music gigs.

Throughout the 2000’s quite a few ‘Live’ albums were recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire from artists such as Amy Winehouse / Mumford & Son / Nick Kershaw and even PiL (Public Image Ltd)….to name just a few.

In 2012 the Shepherds Bush Empire was re-branded the “O2 Shepherds Bush Empire” as part of a long-term deal with the O2 phone company.

Today – the Theatre has a 2000 capacity – and is viewed by some of the bigger bands in the music business, as an ideal venue for doing ‘warm-up’ gigs before heading off on big tours – apparently The Rolling Stones have used it for this purpose a couple of times.

“Holy Holy” – history of:-

The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire conducts most of its business from hosting smaller music gigs – and it was the venue where my London Shoes was fortunate enough to see the band “HOLY HOLY” a couple of weeks ago.

Holy Holy are a band put together for the sole purpose of performing and celebrating the music of the late great ‘David Bowie’…..but – they are not a tribute band….more of a ‘supergroup’.

The band were formed back in 2014 and put together by legendary record producer ‘Tony Visconti’ a long time close friend of Bowie, and designated producer of at least 12 of the 27 studio recorded albums that Bowie released – and also by ‘Woody Woodmansey’ who played drums on 4 of Bowie’s pivotal early albums, namely The Man Who Sold the World (1970)/Hunky Dory (1971)/The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars (1972)/Aladdin Sane (1973). 

Both Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey played on Bowie’s 1970 released album “The Man Who Sold the World”. Visconti played bass and Woodmansey drums.

Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” album was released at a time when David Bowie was trying to carve his own niche in the music business – having had quite a big hit ‘Space Oddity’ as a solo artist a year or so earlier.

The new Man Who Sold the World album was really ‘heavy’ in places, reflecting the onset of the ‘heavy rock/heavy metal’ genre of music that was becoming popular.

Unfortunately, the album did not do that well sales wise – nor did the single ‘Holy Holy’ released at the time. (The album would go on to sell millions worldwide, a couple of years later when Bowie was firmly established as a global superstar).

Initially, the main reason Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey formed this ‘supergroup’ Holy Holy was because Bowie had never ‘toured’ playing tracks of The Man Who Sold the World album ‘live’ to an audience – and they felt it would be a great idea, having both played on the record –  to put a group together and get out there on-the-road and perform the album to a ‘live’ audience.

I think they probably totally underestimated the massive interest Bowie fans had upon hearing about this project – and the demand for tickets was amazing – selling out all 4 of the venues booked on that first Holy Holy tour in 2014 .

‘Holy Holy’ have undertaken several tours since their launch in 2014 – and there have been a number of contributors to the band line up over the past decade including the likes of Soft Cell’s Marc Almond / Spandau Ballet’s Steve Norman to name just a couple – but the core of the band has centred around:-

• Glen Gregory (of Heaven 17) lead vocals
• Tony Visconti – bass
• Woody Woodmansey – drums
• James Stevenson (ex Alarm and Gen X) – guitar
• Paul Cuddeford – (ex Boomtown Rats / Steve Harley / Ian Hunter) – guitar
• Jessica Lee Morgan (Tony Visconti’s daughter) – sax/guitar/vocals
• Bernice Scott – (ex Johnny Hates Jazz / Heaven 17) – keyboards

Being a massive Bowie fan, especially his early 1970’s stuff  – and as someone who, in my mid-teens, became quite influenced by some of Bowie’s lyrics of his 1970 released The Man Who Sold the World album long before he was proper famous – there was no way that me and my London Shoes was gonna miss out on seeing ‘Holy Holy’ perform ‘live’ in my home City if the chance ever arose.

In Feb 2019 I was lucky enough to get tickets for their gig at the iconic London Palladium – where they performed, not only the entire content of The Man Who Sold the World album – but also the majority of tracks from Bowie’s 1972 released ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars’ album.

Then – in March 2020, just a week or so before the very first Covid pandemic lockdown – I was again lucky enough to get tickets for Holy Holy’s performance at the legendary music venue The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm-near Camden.

Their 2020 Roundhouse gig was a special one as it had a historic significance to it.

Promoted as ‘The Birth of Glam’ the event represented the 50^th Anniversary of David Bowie playing the Roundhouse (with Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on guitar).

That 1970 Roundhouse gig was supposedly the first time that Bowie deliberately wore a ‘costume’ on stage, to glam up his appearance from the jeans and t-shirt attire that everyone was wearing at that time. Calling himself ‘Rainbow Man’ Bowie wore a sort of lurex jacket with long flowing tassels that changed colour when the house lights hit them.

For the set list that 2020 evening – the band opened with ‘Memory of a free festival’ from the early 1969 released ‘David Bowie’ album – then launched into tracks from The Man Who Sold the World and the Ziggy Stardust album.

For their 4 number encore, they expanded the source of material by doing ‘Where are we now’ from Bowie’s 2013 released ‘The Next Day’ album – followed by ‘Changes’ & ‘Life on Mars’ from his 1971 released ‘Hunky Dory’ and then ending with ‘Rebel Rebel’ from his 1974 released ‘Diamond Dogs’ album.

All in all that 2020 gig was a very enjoyable and memorable event.

Then – in March 2022 – my London Shoes managed to get tickets for the Holy Holy performance at the Barbican Theatre – here in Central London.

The Barbican gig was slightly different (promotion wise) than the previous performances I had seen – this time there was no ‘Woody Woodmansey’ on drums (I believe there had been some sort of falling out with the band, over the taking of the Covid vaccine) – and the event was promoted as “Tony Visconti Presents – The Best of Bowie”!!

The extensive set list for that gig widened considerably and included tracks from Bowie’s 1975 released ‘Young Americans’ album / 1973’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ album / 1977 released ‘Low’ album.

Up to that point my London Shoes had had the privilege of seeing Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey’s  ‘Holy Holy’ supergroup 3 x times over a 4 year period.

So when I read that the band were doing a short tour of the UK in May this year (2025) I just had to make sure I got hold of tickets for their only London performance – ie the legendary Shepherds Bush Empire (now an O2 venue).

Now – there is a very slight tenuous link between London Shoes and Shepherds Bush, and even the Shepherds Bush Empire theatre.

My dear late Mum grew up with all her siblings, just down the road from Shepherds Bush – in Acton–London W3 – and she, as a youngster would often go shopping at Shepherds Bush Market, which was situated alongside Shepherds Bush Green.

The Shepherds Bush Empire theatre is situated directly opposite the Shepherds Bush Green – and I used to be fascinated by stories my late cousin Christine would tell me about when she used to go and watch acts like The Beatles / The Rolling Stones / The Beach Boys ‘live’ at the Shepherds Bush Empire…….so in a way, I felt a proper ‘warm fuzzy’ vibe entering this historic old theatre.

As with the previous ‘Holy Holy’ gigs I had attended– I had the pleasure of being accompanied by my bruv-in-law ‘Vince’ – himself a massive Bowie fan like me – so we were both in a nostalgic mood and ready to soak up the vibe of the event.

“Holy Holy”…..the 2025 event

Anyway – this O2 Shepherds Bush Empire gig (of which this blog article is all about) was the opening night of the Holy Holy 2025 Tour – and the audience, with many ‘youngsters’ on board, were well up-for-it, and from the other attendees I got to speak to on the night – they too, like me, had been to previous years events……so clearly I was not alone with my passion for Bowie music.

The atmosphere was absolutely buzzing when Holy Holy took the stage and roared into ‘The Width of a Circle’ – the opening track of Bowie’s 1970 release album ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ – the place erupted – and stayed like that until the final encore.

Below is the set-list of Holy Holy’s opening night of their 2025 tour, at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire (For the muso aficionados out there, I’ve also included the albums these tracks were from) :-

• Width of a Circle – The Man Who Sold the World – (1970)
• Lady Grinning Soul – Aladdin Sane album – (1973)
• Ziggy Stardust – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars – (1972)
• Time – Aladdin Sane – (1973)
• Quicksand – Hunky Dory – (1971)
• Changes – Hunky Dory – (1971)
• Ashes to Ashes – Scary Monsters (Super Creeps) – (1980)
• Panic in Detroit – Aladdin Sane – (1973)
• Drive in Saturday – Aladdin Sane – (1973)
• Space Oddity – David Bowie – (1969)
• The Man Who Sold the World – The Man Who Sold the World – (1970)
• Five Years – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars – (1972)
• Starman – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars – (1972)
• Heroes – Heroes – (1977)
• Rock n Roll Suicide – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars – (1972)
• Life on Mars – Hunky Dory – (1971)
• Moonage Daydream – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars – (1972)

Encore:

• Where are we now – The Next Day – (2013) –
• Rebel Rebel – Diamond Dogs – (1974)

It was non-stop full-on music from start to finish – with everyone inside the ‘Empire’ singing along to every number – no other way to describe it than just a great night of memorable musical entertainment – inside a magnificent, legendary and historic theatre.

It’s amazing that ex Spiders drummer Woody Woodmansey is 75 and can still thump those tubs with the precision and power that he delivered on those 4 pivotal Bowie albums in the early 1970’s  – and what’s even more amazing is the fact that the great Tony Visconti now aged 81 is still able to power his bass guitar through that extensive set-list…..incredible.

And to think that all this started way back in 1970 when a young record producer Tony Visconti and an even younger Woody Woodmansey – were recruited by a then relatively unknown David Bowie – to play bass and drums on his then new album project “The Man Who Sold the World”.

This short 2025 UK tour by Holy Holy concluded just a few days ago – and during post tour interviews 81 year old Tony Visconti intimated that it was most likely the last time the band would tour – so, upon reflection, I am so pleased that me & my London Shoes got the opportunity to see the band perform a varied selection of the late great legend David Bowie’s catalogue,  ‘live’  on 4 occasions throughout the past 6 years, and at prominent London venues…..

As the saying goes…….”Keep on Rockin”.

Hope you enjoyed this blog article and that the accompanying photos helped bring the story to life a bit for you.

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See below the entire gallery of photos taken and used to accompany this blog article