Gentrification strikes again.



The New York recording studio where the late David Bowie recorded 2013’s The Next Day and his final 2016 album Blackstar shut down yesterday (March 17).

The Magic Shop Recording Studio, set up by Steve Rosenthal in 1988 and based in the Soho neighbourhood, has also hosted Lou Reed, The Ramones, Arcade Fire, and more iconic names, but could no longer compete with the city’s rising rents due to gentrification of the area.

The shop was featured in the final episode of Dave Grohl’s 2014 HBO documentary series Sonic Highways, where the Foo Fighters travelled to different cities to record their album of the same name, and there was talk of Grohl buying the studio at one point, but Rosenthal told the New York Observer that he’s “not allowed to talk about it anymore for legal reasons.”

“I get that New York City is always changing and adapting like the living city it is. Maybe what I believe in is no longer of value, but it was for us and we lived it,” wrote Rosenthal on Facebook when the closure was announced last month.

“As the city becomes more of a corporate and condo island, some of us wish for a better balance between money and art, between progress and preservation, and we hope that one day we will see a reversal of the destruction of conscience and community we are witnessing.”

Meanwhile, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has confirmed that this year’s festival will pay tribute to David Bowie with a screening of the late musician’s 2000 performance at the festival.