ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1973) *** The last stand of one of the most iconic bands in the history of mankind. Hammersmith Odeon, London, 3 July 1973. So why does the audience appear to be almost entirely composed of teenage girls on acid? Where are the rockers? Where's the art crowd? Where are the revolutionaries? Where are the Sociology classes? Where are the guys, for goodness' sake! I mean, those teenyboppers don't look like they're going to be able to remember anything about it... Which would be a shame, because it's a brilliant performance. D. A. Pennebaker shoots it all unobtrusively, leaving the stage only to check out David Bowie's makeup application and irregular costume changes. I wouldn't argue with anyone claiming that Ziggy Stardust is the greatest rock and roll record of all time, but the band doesn't even bother with half of it, using the LP as a mere springboard to manic theatrical mania. Which works brilliantly. As great as "Ziggy Stardust" is, the high point of the concert/film, for me, is David's indescribably soulful and courageous treatment of the French folk song, "My Death." The "All the Young Dudes" medley can't be allowed to pass without lavishing praise on it, either. The band is incredible. Mick Ronson (in a gold llamé jumpsuit) could play his guitar better with one hand than damn near anybody else can with two, and is more than a match for any set of spotlights when David vacates the stage for yet another costume change, or to powder his nose. Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansy are a unit onto themselves, but their driving rhythms are an alternative textbook, the only real kind, for anyone who has any intention of driving a rock 'n' roll band off the end of the track, like a locomotive forgetting to gasp for a parachute. But none of it would mean all that much without David. His blatant genius is undeniable, he's a blessed and incomparable one-man revolution. I mean, how could anyone anything but admire the sheer audacity of even appearing in public in any of these suits? Other than the airport lounge arrangement of "Changes," my only problem with any of it is that when music's this great, video just distracts. Yes, a sure sign that society is headed back the right direction will be when MTV and the entire "art" of music videos is stacked on the scrap heap of history right next to lobotomy and the Spanish Inquisition. Even film of a performer this charismatic distracts, and so detracts, from the music. Being in the Hammersmith, with the sense of tightrope that attends any live performance, would have been a feast for a lifetime, but I'd rather just crank it up and get on with my own party than watch a movie of somebody else's.
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