In June 1972, David Bowie released The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, the album that launched his most provocative, mercurial persona into the zeitgeist. When he landed in America later that year for a concert tour – his first-ever in the country – he not only introduced an intriguing realm of showmanship and spectacle, but also a shrewd display of public deception.
While he’d earned critical acclaim and relative success in England, Bowie had yet to break the crucial (and lucrative) American market. Rather than building a fanbase from the ground up, though, he carried on as if he’d already assumed the status of a superstar. Acting out a ploy devised by his then-manager, Tony Defries, Bowie (along with an ever-growing entourage) traveled the States in style, reserving the finest hotel suites, riding in swanky automobiles, and essentially behaving like the crème de la crème.
If he seemed a superstar, so the theory went, the public would thus perceive him as one.
The scheme worked in places like the Northeast (especially New York) where his music and enigma had preceded him, but other regions, namely the South and Midwest, didn’t welcome this strange fascination with the same liberality. Concerts were canceled due to poor ticket sales while, on many an occasion, Bowie played before a few hundred fans rather than anticipated thousands.
And so, when he reached California’s Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for two sold-out concerts on October 20 and 21, Bowie’s generous reception didn’t quite mirror those of the outing overall. Still, the first night’s performance – broadcasted live on Los Angeles radio station KMET with bootlegs circulating for years thereafter – stands as a representative and arguably the best document of the Ziggy Stardust tour.
Officially issued by Virgin/EMI on July 22 in limited edition CD, 180 gram LP, and digital formats, Live Santa Monica ’72 remains an onslaught of rock ‘n’ roll abandon. Backed by the Spiders – Mick Ronson (guitar, vocals), Trevor Bolder (bass), Mick "Woody" Woodmansey (drums), and Mike Garson (piano) – Bowie (as Ziggy) commandeers a staggering set with savage ambition and swagger.
![Live in Santa Monica '72 [Vinyl]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JqnvpyN5L._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
I can vouch for those small crowds on the Ziggy tour. Here in Seattle, I saw the show at the 3000 seat capacity Paramount, and there couldn't have been more than like 200 people there.
We were in the orchestra pit, and Bowie did the full-on theartical show, but still treated it as an intimate perfromance.
At one point, he even stopped and talked to a few of us between songs, asking my friend what he did that day. My friend Kim replied that he skipped school to come down here and hang out, which got a nice round of applause from the audience.
-Glen
2 - Donald Gibson
I've read on more than one occasion that Bowie is extremely personable. I'd previously thought of him as this distant character (which, I guess he was in his private life and with some other musicians), but it's nice to learn that he's quite the opposite with fans.