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Rosalind Russell - (May 1972)

David Bowie came home to his London public on Friday, playing at the Regent Street Poly [Ed: London Central Polytechnic - 12 May 1972], and camped up his show outrageously.  With his band the Spidermen from Mars, David must be one of the few, if not the only, people who can be termed truly "underground".

Out of his contemporaries of a few years ago, he stands as one of those who did not immediately go to the top and make a lot of money, or drop out altogether, and I don't suppose it would bother him that much if he still didn't make a lot of bread.

For the first part of his set, he wore his tightly fitted jump-suit and his hair showed a fresh red rinse.  For the second he wore a pair of impossibly tight white satin trousers and a glittery black and white top.  He posed, postured and pouted for the audience and everybody loved it.

Bowie is undoubtedly beautiful, but he's not just a pretty face. His show is well worked out and the timing between David and his band is perfect.  For such young musicians, he has them trained to suit his act with exact precision.

He did all the songs we thought he would do - "Changes" from his "Hunky Dory" album and "Andy Warhol from the same. Particularly good was his version of "Moonage Daydream" - a song he wrote and produced for the Spiders when they were called something else.  Coloured lights flashed in conjunction with the music, and gave good effect to the short set the Spiders did without David.

The big surprise came when David and his lead guitarist Mick Ronson sat at the front of the stage, and David sang "Space Oddity". Its such a long time since we heard it and most people would think that David would prefer to do new material, that it was received with immediate applause.

Even after an encore, it was a while before the audience would leave the hall, such was the success of the show.  Somehow it would be a shame if Bowie was to become a superstar, but I don't think fame would turn his head!

---This page last modified: 12 Dec 2018---