Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

have witnessed the end of his remarkable concert
last Saturday at the Festival Hall. With elegant flash,
and just a little help from ‘surprise’ guest Lou Reed,
he coaxed the younger section of the audience down
to the foot of the stage and nearly caused one girl to
fall out of her box as she enthusiastically waved a
banner which simply said: ‘Ziggy.’”
Most everyone in the crowd knew it was David
Bowie up there, but they also believed that it was
Ziggy Stardust, the mark, no doubt, of a successful
invention. It was the effortless suspension of belief,
something that, by the London debut, was gradually
weeding its way into David Bowie’s brain, even
though at the time he was still very much convinced
that he was acting the role of Ziggy Stardust.
“In the past he’d acknowledge me from the stage,”
says Ray Stevenson, who was there to take photos
of the show. “He’d wink or say, ‘This is my best side.’
At that show, I got nothing off of him. Much later I
realized he was in character. He was immersed and
determined. Acknowledging me would be trivial and
out of context. He was just doing his job.” Three days
beforehand, Bowie returned to Top of the Pops for
the first time in three years to perform his new single
“Starman.”
There are no Alice Cooper snakes and no
pyrotechnics other than the dazzling Ziggy
assemblage itself. Bowie’s performance of
“Starman” is notable in part because of the impact it
had on a dozen English teenagers who would, within
the decade, form legendary bands of their own (Joy