The Ziggy Stardust Tour was a 1972–73 concert tour by David Bowie, to promote the studio albums Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Aladdin Sane. Bowie was accompanied by his backing group, the Spiders from Mars, and integrated choreography, costumes and make-up into the live shows to make them a wider entertainment package. The tour generated significant press coverage, drawing positive reviews and launching Bowie to stardom.
The tour covered the UK, the US and Japan. It moved from small pub and club gigs at the beginning, to highly publicised sold-out shows at the end. At the tour's last gig at the Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973, Bowie shocked fans by announcing that it was the last show he would do with the Spiders from Mars.
Itinerary
The tour lasted a year and a half and included three legs in the UK, two in the US and one in Japan.
1972
The first show was on 29 January 1972 at the Borough Assembly Hall, Aylesbury, and featured Bowie with his backing group the Spiders from Mars: guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey. Audio engineer Robin Mayhew had started working on the PA and sound equipment since the end of the previous year, and was the principal sound engineer for the entire tour.
Unlike typical rock concerts at the time, the shows featured a theatrical element with a rough storyline, and several make-up and costume changes. Bowie wanted the shows to be entertainment and to be outrageous, which the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had been at one time, and collaborated with mime artist Lindsay Kemp with the on-stage choreography. Looking for a change of image, Bowie asked local hairdresser Suzi Fussey to cut his long blond hair, later dyeing it red. Some group members were unsure about the stage clothes Bowie asked them to wear, but quickly changed their minds after they realised the attention it gave them with female fans.
The second show was at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February, where Bowie unveiled his "Ziggy Stardust" persona for the first time in front of an audience of around 60. Early shows had a similar attendance, but this increased as the tour progressed. The 20 April show at the Manchester Free Trade Hall was only attended by a few hundred people, but at the end of the show, Bowie was carried out into the audience by fans. At the 17 June show at Oxford Town Hall, Bowie simulated fellatio on Ronson's guitar. The scene was photographed by Mick Rock and was published on the front cover of Melody Maker, greatly raising Bowie's profile in the UK. On the 25 June at the Greyhound, Croydon, Bowie was supported by Roxy Music and Trapeze.
The 15 July show at the Friars Aylesbury included several US music journalists in the audience, including Dave Marsh and Lillian Roxon. Bowie's management spent $25,000 (about $ in today's dollars) to fly them, along with US representatives of their record label RCA Records, to preview his live work before starting a major US tour that autumn.
After several months on the road, Bowie took a break to revisit and re-rehearse the live show, to include greater theatrics and costume changes. Rehearsals took place at the Stratford Royal Theatre. The first concert after this was at the Rainbow Theatre on 19 August, where Bowie was simply billed as "Ziggy Stardust". A second show was added for the following day after the first one sold out. Pianist Nicky Graham was added to the band line-up for these shows.
The first leg in the US began in September 1972. Bowie travelled there by boat as he did not like flying. Bowie and the Spiders from Mars played their first US show in the Cleveland Music Hall on 22 September. It was also pianist Mike Garson's debut. Six days later, Bowie played a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall. The concerts drew rave reviews from the press and led to the tour being extended for a further two months. A concert on 20 October at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was broadcast on radio, and heavily bootlegged before finally being released semi-officially in 1994 as Santa Monica '72 and officially in 2008 as Live Santa Monica '72. The press coverage of the tour turned Bowie into a star in the US and he was featured on the front cover of Rolling Stone.
The year ended with a short UK leg, which carried over into the start of 1973. Bowie played two shows at the Rainbow just before Christmas, and asked the audience to bring toys along to the concert that could be redistributed to children. The mid-show acoustic set that had been part of all the gigs until then was discarded, and Bowie with the Spiders played just an electric set.