Ziggy Stardust
Restored Bowie concert film premieres in London
The Hammersmith Odeon has been around for 91 years. The concert hall is now called the Eventim Apollo. photo
© Philip Dethlefs/dpa
Ziggy Stardust is back: Bowie’s legendary concert 50 years ago at the Hammersmith Odeon is available in its entirety for the first time. It was a big celebration in London.
A newly restored concert film by David Bowie has premiered at the same location in London, exactly 50 years after it was recorded. “Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture” was shown to invited guests and fans at the Eventim Apollo on Monday evening.
The concert hall formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon was where Bowie had performed the historic last concert under his alias Ziggy Stardust with the band Spiders From Mars on July 3, 1973.
“This is the last concert we’ll ever play,” Bowie announced at the time, surprising not only the fans but also his band members. “They were shocked,” pianist Mike Garson told the German Press Agency. “In the days after the concert it was painful, they probably should have been told beforehand.” Garson was the only one who knew before the concert and then continued to work with Bowie for decades, who died in 2016.
The concert was released in parts as “Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” in front of around 5000 people in 1979. Now the film with classic songs like “Moonage Daydream”, “Changes” and “Space Oddity” is complete and in modern 4K for the first time. optics to see. New features include an appearance by guitar legend Jeff Beck on the encores “The Jean Genie”, “Love Me Do” and “Around And Around”.
In addition to Mike Garson, the premiere guests on Monday included former companions and prominent fans of Bowie, including music icon Don Letts, Madness frontman Suggs, actor Richard E. Grant and Bowie’s former sound engineer Ken Scott, who was responsible for the album “Space Oddity”, among other things. responsible. Parallel to the premiere, the film “Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” was shown in around 1000 cinemas worldwide. It is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray in August.