Duff McKagan kicked off his US solo tour on Monday night (November 4th) in Boston, and concertgoers were treated to a special rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes” featuring a guest appearance by Jakob Dylan.
Duff and his band delivered a rousing cover of Bowie’s triumphant epic, adding a hard-rock crunch to the classic song. Dylan helped out on rhythm guitar and vocals, hitting the high register on the climactic buildup: “I, I will be king / And you, you will be queen.”
“Heroes” has become a mainstay in McKagan’s solo repertoire. After releasing a studio version of the cover back in September, he welcomed another guest performer, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, to assist in a live rendition during a London gig in October. That take was captured in pro-shot footage, highlighting Duff’s vocals (which are a bit muffled in footage of the Boston performance with Dylan).
Remarked McKagan on the decision to drop a cover of the iconic Bowie tune: “Choosing David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ seemed to be a natural subject matter for me (I am of course, a massive history nerd) … star-crossed lovers in the shadow of the mid-’70s cold-war era Berlin Wall.”
Meanwhile, Dylan previously covered “Heroes” with his band The Wallflowers for the soundtrack to the 1998 film Godzilla.
Duff’s solo tour rolls on with a show Wednesday night (November 6th) at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City and runs through a November 20th show in Seattle (get tickets here). The dates are in support of the GN’R bassist’s latest album, Lighthouse, which was released in October of last year.
You can watch the McKagan cover “Heroes” with Jakob Dylan, and the prior live version with Steve Jones, below.
