BOWIE WEEK VIDEO BLOG: Ziggy Stardust Live

When the filmmaker Donn Alan Pennebaker stepped up to shoot the final concert of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane tour, he had no idea that the show was about to go down in history. Neither, in fact, did Bowie's band. Very few people knew what weirdness was about to go down - although there was one exception;

"When Bowie retired Ziggy at Hammersmith Odeon", explained Charles Shaar Murray in 1993, "I was the one who got the tip-off, thereby enabling NME to have it's "Bowie: That's It, I Quit" cover story rolling off the presses before Bowie had made the onstage announcement."

That night, Bowie would make his now famous retirement speech ("Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it's the last show we'll ever do'") and a very special concert film would be born; Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture.

Rewind by one year to 1972, and some even more unique footage from the Ziggy era emerges. In what must be the earliest footage known of the Ziggy Stardust tour, the band performed in Dunstable and were filmed from the side of the stage. It's tempting to speculate that the sound was dubbed on afterwards, but the footage of the band performing Ziggy's theme song is nonetheless brilliantly raw.



That same year Bowie performed twice on Top of the Pops, in February and June - and comparing the two clips offers a unique insight into the style genesis of Bowie's alter ego. The two clips are joined together below - and can you spot the difference? Ziggy's orange 'carrot top' hair colour is missing from the first clip, suggesting the Ziggy character was developed onstage that summer.

Nerdy insights aside, the two clips are fantastic; 'Queen Bitch' from Hunky Dory sees some sweaty harmonising going on between Bowie and Mick Ronson, while the 'Starman' footage is famously still remembered by those that saw it on TV as a remarkable pop moment. Check out those red boots too!



Let's finish off by returning to Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture. Arguably this concert is more successful as a live album than a film, but that's not to say the footage isn't spectacular, capturing not just Bowie-mania and some imaginative re-arrangements of the music, but also an eerie, Clockwork Orange sense of theatricality.

We'll leave you with the performance of 'Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud' (the original B-side to 'Space Oddity' from 1969) which merges into 'All The Young Dudes'. For our money, both songs are performed with so much energy and emotion that they far eclipse their studio counterparts. Enjoy!