Exhibition Oddity

David Bowie is... Victoria and Albert Museum, London. July 2013

While Mr Norfolkbookworm and I were enjoying the Pompeii exhibition earlier in the summer Rebecca was queueing at the V&A museum securing us tickets to this summer's other sell out exhibition.

I wasn't at all sure about this trip at all. Apart from Under Pressure, Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes I wasn't sure that I knew any Bowie songs and I'd not been that inspired to look any more up in advance of our visit.  I didn't own up to this while we were waiting for the museum to open however as there were probably a couple of hundred people desperate for tickets - as soon as the doors open they took off at a run for the ticket desk and I feared for the safety of the statues in the corridor!

I was in for a nice surprise as I found I enjoyed the exhibition more than I thought I would.  Bowie is an interesting character and there is a lot more to him and his music than the flamboyant stage persona.  On entering the area everyone gets an audio guide, but this isn't giving a dry talk about the exhibits but is in fact loaded with sound clips and music that start playing as you walk around.

Bits of the exhibition (probably the bits that Rebecca liked the most!) left me cold but sitting in a cool space listening to Bowie's music through a good sound system while watching concert footage was brilliant - people were dancing or toe tapping but as everyone had headphones on it was like being at a silent rave.

A real experience and I will be looking for more Bowie music to add to my iPod before we go away.