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Rating: On July 4, 1973, the English newspapers headlined:
"BOWIE QUITS" "BOWIE'S LAST GIG" "ROCK'N'ROLL SUICIDE" "ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR"
"This tour has been one of the greatest of our lives. And this particular show will stay with us longer than the others, because it is not only the last concert of the tour, but it is also the last we will ever do" Ziggy Stardust, "Farewell Speech."
Tears, screams, moans, sad faces of incredulous girls, aware they had witnessed an unrepeatable event that night at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Ziggy Stardust is dead, he killed himself, or maybe we, foolish humans, killed him; the fact is that Ziggy has gone, vanished from the nowhere from which he appeared a year and a half before, ridiculously dressed, under the mocking laughter of everyone. This evening there is very little laughter. No, no one is really laughing, there is nothing to laugh about. Perhaps the only one quietly chuckling is that old fox Bowie, who knew that with such an announcement he would draw the world's spotlight on himself, increasing fame, sales, and creating the myth of Ziggy Stardust. Well then, if that was his goal, he succeeded completely: Ziggy has become a mystical figure, totally detached from Bowie himself, like a puppet that needs no one to live, with only one album to his name, he rendered every appearance or statement legendary. The music, his phenomenal guitarist Ronson, and all the Spiders become completely secondary. That evening a great one left us, without shedding blood, except in the hearts of the fans.
And it's all there, recorded on video (director D.A. Pennebaker) and on double album, all in a couple of minutes, towards the end, before Rock 'n' Roll Suicide. Yes, because Ziggy is like this, shy, impulsive. Nothing was ever premeditated, it is believed. That this was the last show that he will ever do was known only to him and Ronson, period. The other Spiders knew nothing. The end of everything was chosen and announced this way, without consulting the band, as one should normally do. Ziggy had to die, otherwise, he would have suffocated the Bowie persona in a vortex from which he could no longer escape, or want, it's up to you. Ziggy had everything from life. Bowie perhaps did not, he did not like it. Bowie was not himself in Ziggy. He was (is) always looking for a mask that could fit his personality. Bowie never found it, or perhaps each one was perfect for the occasion but turned out after a while to be too tight for the constantly changing Duke. Ziggy was the first, the most famous, unique. Indeed, Ziggy had such a soul and will of his own that he transformed from the simple mask he was into a character in his own right, opposing Bowie himself, in a dangerous face-to-face between two complementary but alien personalities to each other. And then everything got mixed up: who is really gay Ziggy or David, who is bisexual, who is straight, in short, what is true, what is false, and what concerns Ziggy? There was too much confusion and fear that the situation could degenerate. Maybe it is precisely this reason that led Bowie to take this action: the fear that Ziggy would overpower Bowie, until it made him subordinate to it, like a slave to his own fame. This Bowie would not have tolerated. And he knew it beforehand, because Bowie is one of the smartest people to have inhabited this cosmos, because in his case it makes little sense to speak of the single planet Earth. Ziggy's fairy tale was all planned, from beginning to end, this end. The appearance on Earth of "Five Years" and "Starman" up to the eponymous "Ziggy Stardust" and the conclusive "Rock'n'Roll Suicide".
"When the kids have killed the man I had to break up the band" was not just a little phrase in verse from July 4, 1973, onwards, and that "Ziggy played guitar" that closes its eponymous song in hindsight assumes a value of foresight by Bowie who had very clear ideas, not to mention what that rock 'n' roll suicide referred to.
It had to be July 3, in his England after touring the USA, UK, and Japan up and down, it had to be the day before July 4, not just any day: his independence from Ziggy.
And that evening began with a normal air, like all the other dates of the tour. All the pieces, or almost all, of Ziggy in revue, the audience ecstatic, a huge show. The audio rendering is not exactly optimal also due to the emotional audience, but the emotional rendering, that is stellar. It is from tears barely held that medley "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud\All The Young Dudes\Oh! You Pretty Thing", raw, animal and alive with typical Bowie theatricality. After all, it was his evening, and being the egocentric he is, he invents, changes clothes every song, acts more than sings. But let him, it is his specialty. Also on the setlist is "My Death" cover of Jacques Brel and "White Light\White Heat" by Velvet Underground and of what he believes is his friend, Lou Reed. A fantastic double live, the best among the still rare of this period, "Space Oddity" is timeless, "Cracked Actor" wonderfully ambiguous, "Suffragette City" energetic like never before.
But everything has an end, and we get to track 19, "Farewell Speech", Ziggy catches his breath, looks around and directly goes to the microphone, pronouncing his farewell phrase quoted above. And then moments of silence, really unreal ones, and then screams, cries and with tear-filled eyes, of those who realize that it is all over, forever, comes the worst, emotionally speaking: "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide". And the time takes a cigarette, puts it between your lips, you turn it and turn it between your fingers, but you are always a slave to time, everything will end or will end up killing you. So be smarter than him, don't let the sun blow away your shadow, be smarter, take shelter, so that it gets lost in the surrounding darkness, because even if you don't see it, your shadow is there and it will always be yours, and you will be the master of it. But what would be the sense of owning something but not being able to control it as you see fit, having to only seek shelter from everything and everyone and remaining subordinate to it? None. And then better to put an end to it, get rid of it, put it in the trunk up in the attic and never take it out again. And so it was. Your fans will never forgive you David, you have destroyed their myth, for a personal whim. But on the other hand, it's better this way, indeed many in the rock circle should take example from you and end what is done, even if at the best part, before becoming pathetic and out of time. But this was not a problem for Ziggy, he will always be IN-time, and his legend will always be remembered because if Bowie today is the star we all know, he owes it to Ziggy Stardust. So, put in the two albums and enjoy them if you are too afraid of getting too emotional with the film.
And every time you see Bowie, whether they are archive images or current ones, look at his dilated pupil, inside there is that alien spirit, inside there is Ziggy who was never really able to completely escape from Bowie. You're not alone.
Ziggy played guitar, and nothing played the same afterward.
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