The Stars Look Very Different Today: An Evening with David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’
Regency Suite and Balcony under the Stars, The Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1AL
Friday 16th October 2026
An evening with David Bowie’s Blackstar, ten years on.
On his sixty-ninth birthday in January 2016, David Bowie released Blackstar. Two days later he died. Made through illness, the album looks death in the eye and meets it with creativity, mischief and grace.
Ten years on, join musician and writer Leah Kardos for an evening in the album’s company. The author of Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie (Bloomsbury, 2022), Leah will reflect on how Blackstar was made and what it can mean: how Bowie turned his own ending into art, and how his final work invites us to cherish our transience rather than fear it.
Then, as night falls, we listen to the album Blackstar together. Bring a warm layer. Weather permitting, we end the evening with the stars.
7.30pm-8pm: Settle back for reflections from Leah Kardos on Blackstar.
8pm-8.45pm: The vinyl is ready and waiting for us to all take some quiet time to listen to Blackstar together.
For this listening party, you are welcome to stay seated, lie back on one of our giant beanbags, or perhaps head out to the adjacent balcony and gaze at the stars.
8.45pm-9.30pm: An opportunity to come back together for a facilitated conversation with each other and with Leah. The bar will be open.
On his sixty-ninth birthday in January 2016, David Bowie released Blackstar. Two days later he died. Made through illness, the album looks death in the eye and meets it with creativity, mischief and grace.
Ten years on, join musician and writer Leah Kardos for an evening in the album’s company. The author of Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie (Bloomsbury, 2022), Leah will reflect on how Blackstar was made and what it can mean: how Bowie turned his own ending into art, and how his final work invites us to cherish our transience rather than fear it.
Then, as night falls, we listen to the album Blackstar together. Bring a warm layer. Weather permitting, we end the evening with the stars.
7.30pm-8pm: Settle back for reflections from Leah Kardos on Blackstar.
8pm-8.45pm: The vinyl is ready and waiting for us to all take some quiet time to listen to Blackstar together.
For this listening party, you are welcome to stay seated, lie back on one of our giant beanbags, or perhaps head out to the adjacent balcony and gaze at the stars.
8.45pm-9.30pm: An opportunity to come back together for a facilitated conversation with each other and with Leah. The bar will be open.
