Jeff Beck on playing Ziggy Stardust’s farewell with David Bowie: “I’d never experienced that”
The creation of an alter-ego can completely enhance an album roll-out. It can show off an artist’s complete creative control, heighten the impact of their live performance, and provide audiences with an idea of the personality of a release before they’ve even hit play. From Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce to Prince’s Camille, artists throughout history have employed personas for this effect, but none of them quite as effectively or as memorably as David Bowie.
To accompany his forward-thinking approach to art-rock, Bowie concocted some equally ambitious personas. There was Major Tom, an astronaut who kicked off the art rocker’s love for an alter-ego. There was Aladdin Sane, the lightning-struck persona who gave his name to Bowie’s sixth record. But the most famous persona of all came in the form of Ziggy Stardust.
Bowie first introduced the androgynous extra-terrestrial rocker to the world towards the beginning of 1972, dressed in sparkly jumpsuits and a striking red hairdo. The character was placed at the centre of Bowie’s next full-length offering, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which arrived in the summer of the same year.
Ambitious tracks like ‘Starman’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’ matched the glamorous persona Bowie had created for himself, but Ziggy Stardust would burn bright and fast. By the summer of 1973, Bowie was ready to move on from the character. The concept of Ziggy Stardust came to an end on July 3rd at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, unbeknownst to audiences at the time.
Bowie would take to the stage to play a range of classics from the Ziggy Stardust era and those that preceded it, and he even brought Jeff Beck out for the final farewell. The former Yardbird accompanied Bowie for renditions of ‘The Jean Genie’ and ‘Round And Round’, an experience he would never forget.
Speaking with Louder Sound, Beck remarked, “The pitch of teenage screaming at that gig was unbelievable. I’d never experienced that.” Beck went on to downplay his role in the performance, shrugging off that he was a “little mascot pressie” for someone in the team’s birthday. “But actually Bowie is a big fan,” he added, “so…”
The audience were big fans, too, erupting into applause not only for Bowie but for Beck, too. As the show reached its conclusion, the star of the show revealed the sad news to his audience: this would be his final outing as Ziggy Stardust. In a fitting farewell, he bid goodbye to the character with the concluding track from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’.
As he left audiences with the final moments of the track, the repeated requests to “gimme your hands, cause you’re wonderful,” Bowie laid Ziggy Stardust to rest. It’s no surprise that the screams of the crowd were the loudest Beck had ever heard, and it’s no surprise that he remembered the concert to this day. The show marked Bowie’s transition into a new era, and Beck had watched it happen from the sides of the stage.
The age of Ziggy Stardust may have lasted just a year and a half, but the legacy of Ziggy Stardust will last forever. As Bowie’s most iconic persona, Ziggy still provides a blueprint for artists today.
