Stompbox: ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS – (Bowie’s Birthday!)
Runtime: 90 mins | Release Year: 1983 | Rating: PG | Genre(s): Music
Production Country: USA | Original Language: English
Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3, 1973. British singer David Bowie performs his alter ego Ziggy Stardust for the very last time. A decadent show, a hallucinogenic collage of kitsch, pop irony and flamboyant excess: a musical symbiosis of feminine passion and masculine dominance that defines Bowie’s art and the glam rock genre.
Showtimes
Stompbox’s annual David Bowie birthday screening of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture returns to the Revue!
NEW 4K RESTORATION!
David Bowie’s final electrifying performance as Ziggy Stardust in 1973 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon Theater was captured on film by legendary director D.A. Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back, Monterey Pop). With the film looking and sounding better than ever in a new 4K restoration, this is a concert film to be experienced with an audience. Framed by candid behind-the-scenes footage, the bulk of the film is the concert itself, legendary as the final time that Bowie would perform under the Ziggy Stardust persona, with an impromptu announcement on stage that, at the time, led many fans (and his bandmates!) to believe Bowie was retiring from the music business altogether.
Featuring “Hang On To Yourself”, “Watch That Man”, “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Moonage Daydream”, “Space Oddity”, “Ziggy Stardust” and many more all-time jams, as well as a blistering cover of the Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat” and the electrifying shock finale of “Rock N’ Roll Suicide”.
The beautiful new restoration from 2023 brings this (notoriously murky) film to shocking new life, with a staggering boost to the visuals and sound, and the reinclusion of additional songs featuring legendary guitar player Jeff Beck – such as “The Jean Genie” – which were cut from all earlier releases of the film.
Part of the Stompbox series!
Cast/Crew Info
Director: D. A. Pennebaker | Cast: David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, Mick Woodmansey, Ken Fordham