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Longtime David Bowie<\/a> guitarist Earl Slick<\/a> recalled the moment his boss suffered a heart attack on stage \u2013 but tried to continue the show.<\/p>\n The incident took place in Prague in 2004 during Bowie\u2019s A Reality Tour, which would prove to be his last as a result of health issues.<\/p>\n Speaking to Guitar Playe<\/em><\/a>r<\/em>, Slick suggested that the band leader had tried to keep going because he\u2019d been misdiagnosed, and didn\u2019t realize the severity of his condition.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong>\u00a0When David Bowie Told Robert Fripp to Play Like Ritchie Blackmore<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was the best touring band I ever played in with David,\u201d he said. \u201cThe combination of people \u2013 it was absolutely drama free, and I\u2019ve never seen him that relaxed and happy on a tour, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n He said of the Prague concert: \u201cIt was a really weird gig. At first I couldn\u2019t figure out what was going on. It was hotter than hell in the place, and I could see he was having a hard time hitting some notes. I thought he was just baked. We were all baked.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we were doing \u2018The Jean Genie,\u2019 and he goes to me, \u2018Keep vamping, just jam\u2019 \u2013 while he\u2019s having a heart attack. Then he started grabbing his chest and the tour managers came over and dragged him off. A few minutes later, he comes back and joins us. He lasted about a measure or two and then he walked off.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThey said that he had a blocked nerve, whatever that is; and that diagnosis was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Bowie wanted to keep his show on the road, so the band performed as planned in Germany<\/a> a few days later. \u201cI went over to talk to him, and he was feeling horrible,\u201d Slick remembered. \u201cWe did the whole show and then we got a phone call saying, \u2018Sit tight for a couple of days. David needs to rest. We\u2019re gonna take a few days off.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo we just hung out in Hamburg. Nobody\u2019s saying anything to us. And then we get phone calls saying, \u2018Guys, we\u2019re done. You gotta go home.\u2019 We didn\u2019t get an explanation; we all knew he was probably getting some kind of surgery, but we weren\u2019t getting any details about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Slick recalled that, despite his health issues, Bowie was in fine form much of the time. \u201cWhen we did \u2018Heroes\u2019<\/a> at the [German] Festival, I swear to God it\u2019s one of the best vocal performances he ever did of it. Two hours later, probably, he was in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n He reflected: \u201cI got a lot of free rein from David. I could literally change up bits and bobs during a show; and he liked it, actually. If you look through the concert videos, you\u2019ll see really weird arrangements of songs and stuff. You get bored if it\u2019s the same song every night, so sometimes you change things up, and he liked that I did that. I had a lot of freedom to just ad lib everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n David Bowie’s fashion sense fueled his chameleon-like career, from the early days as a mod and a folksinger through Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Dave Lifton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHow Strict a Band Leader was David Bowie?<\/h3>\n
David Bowie Year by Year: 1965-2012 Photographs<\/h2>\n