Rebel Rebel

Anna Reece Artistic Director | Perth Festival

David Bowie never belonged to one genre, one era, or one idea of who he was meant to be. Rebel Rebel brings together a group of creative individuals who understand that restlessness, artists bold enough to take risks, bend form, and honour Bowie their way.

David Bowie didn’t play it safe. He moved toward the unfamiliar, often before the rest of us knew what to make of it. He treated new technology not as a threat to creativity, but as a provocation, something to push against, misuse, and turn into art.
Using AI-generated tools as part of this celebration is a deliberate choice. It is a result of a conversation about just what would Bowie do with AI? Not to replicate Bowie, and not to replace human imagination, but to explore the creative terrain we are standing in right now. AI is already shaping how culture is made, distributed, and consumed. Pretending otherwise would be the safer option and what I think would be the least Bowie move possible.

This event is at the heart of what festivals exist to do. Accepts risk, ambiguity and debate as part of the work. To celebrate Bowie today is not to preserve him in amber, but to keep faith with his restlessness, to test new tools publicly, ask hard questions, and keep moving forward. My immense thanks and respect to Perth Symphony Orchestra, Neil Mason from Start, conductor Jessica Gethin and the exceptional soloists and dancers who said yes and who have all contributed to a celebration of David Bowie and all he brought to this world and an imagining of what is yet to come.

Fiona Campbell | Artistic Director | Perth Symphony Orchestra

Welcome to REBEL REBEL

David Bowie was never interested in standing still. Each album, each persona, each musical turn was an act of reinvention, not for novelty, but from a deep understanding that creativity must remain alive, curious, and in motion.

This concert is not a tribute frozen in time, it is a living conversation across eras.

Bowie's music spans glam rock, soul, art-pop, theatre, film, and cabaret, and it demands performers who are fearless, curious, and willing to inhabit the space between characters.

Tonight's extraordinary artists bring their own voices and perspectives to Bowie's work, performing in a way that honours his spirit rather than imitating his form, enhanced by bespoke visuals created by Neil Mason from The Start.

The program traces Bowie's arc, from the exhilaration of Let's Dance, through the mythology of Ziggy Stardust, the introspection of Life on Mars?, the unflinchingly raw Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, and the haunting grace of Lazarus. Along the way, we encounter themes that define Bowie's work: fame, identity, playfulness, vulnerability, transformation, and mortality.

Performing this repertoire with orchestra reflects our belief that great music is not preserved within concert halls but is energised through bold collaboration in exciting spaces.

Perth Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be presenting this concert in association with Perth Festival, and we extend our deepest thanks to Anna Reece and her wonderful team for their extraordinary support, vision, and partnership in bringing this project to life.

Bowie gave us permission to be many things, he didn't ask us to follow him, he encouraged us to imagine ourselves differently and we invite you to do the same!

Neil Mason | Start

What would David Bowie do?
Right now, AI is steamrolling through creativity, culture, identity, music, marketing. And most of the talk swings from blind panic to blind optimism. Neither is particularly useful.
What we need is someone who’s lived between genres, between genders, between decades. Someone who never flinched at new technology. Someone that simply picked it up and made something nobody had thought of yet.
What we need is David Bowie.
Instead, we've got tech bros with god complexes.  
In a 1999 interview with Jeremy Paxman, Bowie referenced Duchamp and said that art is really about the grey space in the middle, the space between the creator and the audience. He said that grey space is what the 21st century would be all about.
He was talking about the internet. But he could've been talking about right now.
So, I wanted to see just what’s possible. Not for commercial gain. Not to exploit his legacy. But to show where we’re at, and to ask the question out loud.
I've created a series of AI visuals that explore his identity and push it somewhere new. These visuals will be displayed during Rebel Rebel at East Perth Power Station as part of the always brilliant Perth Festival.
What does it mean for identity, legacy, and culture when we can so easily recreate someone's likeness, albeit in new, abstract, and arguably interesting ways? Is this honouring Bowie's forward-thinking approach to technology? Or is it just part of that grey space he talked about, waiting for us to decide what it means?
I genuinely don't know.
But I think it's worth asking.
What would Bowie do?
I reckon he'd already be three albums ahead of it.

Please note that chairs are not permitted in the Main Stage area. We do not offer storage or a cloakroom on site, and cannot take responsibility for any items left unattended. If you have access requirements head to the East Perth Power Station section of our FAQ. Thank you for your understanding.