His first of 182 dates for the Ziggy Stardust tour in front of just 60 people!
On this day 50 years ago, David Bowie appeared at the Tolworth Toby Jug in London to debut his Ziggy Stardust persona playing to around 60 people.
Summary:
- On this day 50 years ago, David Bowie appeared at the Tolworth Toby Jug in London to debut his Ziggy Stardust persona playing to around 60 people.
- Bowie’s fifth studio album was nothing short of a game-changer when it landed in June of 1972.
- The Ziggy Stardust tour played a total of 182 dates.
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The character of Ziggy was initially inspired by British rock ‘n’ roll singer Vince Taylor.
Eschewing the piano-driven cuts of his past album in favour of electric guitars and adopting the persona of Ziggy Stardust – a bisexual rockstar sent from above to save Earth – Bowie’s fifth studio album was nothing short of a game-changer when it landed in June of 1972.
There’s nary a bad track to be found on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – ‘Starman’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’ are certified glam classics, while ‘Moonage Daydream’ and ‘Rock ’n Roll Suicide’ help to spotlight the chemistry of Bowie and his guitar-slinging counterpart Mick Ronson.
However, it’s ‘Suffragette City’ that best epitomises Bowie’s evolution on Ziggy Stardust: roaring glam guitars and triumphant horn blasts back Bowie’s story of sex and sin as an ARP synthesiser drones in the background, teasing the electronic explorations that would lay ahead.
The Ziggy Stardust tour played a total of 182 dates spanning from January 29 1972 to July 3 1973.
Find full tour dates and information here.
