David Bowie’s son has praised the Brit Awards tribute to his father’s influence carried out by Gary Oldman and Lorde last night.

The 2016 Brit Awards, held at London’s O2 Arena on Wednesday night, saw the late pop legend honoured with a Brits Icon Award presented by Oldman, followed by a performance of ‘Life On Mars?’ which saw Lorde supported by Bowie’s backing band. Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox presented the award near the end of the evening, which Bowie’s friend Oldman accepted on his behalf.

She had started the tribute by saying: “For me, it's almost impossible to mention Bowie's name in the past tense. Everything he represented as an artist always was and will be incredibly present. As a cutting edge, artistic genius, he continues to live on through his music.”

Oldman then took to the stage, saying: “I can share with you that he faced his illness with immense courage, dignity, grace and customary humour, even in dire circumstances. When he wrote to tell me the bad news he had cancer, he said: 'The good news is I've got my cheekbones back'.”

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“Over his career, David challenged and changed our understanding of the medium, whether in music or life, he emphasized originality, experimentation, exploration, and in his very unique way, he also reminded us to never take ourselves too seriously.”

Following the tributes at the Brits, Bowie’s 44 year old son Duncan Jones thanked those involved via Twitter, writing “Finally found the links to tonight's Brits. Just… beautiful. Thank you.”

Previously, Jones had been critical over the Grammys’ equivalent tribute performance carried out by Lady Gaga last week. “'Overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused.' Damn it! What is that word!?”

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