NEW YORK - Semi-retired rock star avid Bowie will curate the inaugural High Line Festival, to be held next May in New York

As part of the programming, Bowie will play a large outdoor concert, his first show in New York since 2003. He will also select musicians and artists to appear throughout the festival, which will take place in neighborhoods underneath the High Line, a public park being created atop a long-abandoned elevated railway line on the west side of Manhattan.

"I've been particularly excited about seeking out emerging artists and giving them a place in a festival that will also feature some very well-known names," Bowie said in a statement.

He recently told New York magazine he is taking a sabbatical this year.

"I'm fed up with the industry," he said. "And I've been fed up for quite some time. I'm taking a year off -- no touring, no albums. I go for a walk every morning and I watch a ton of movies. One day, I watched three
Woody Allen movies in a row."