Another anniversary screening, but this time the anniversary of the concert the film records and not the actual release of the picture. It was made by D. A. Pennebaker and the 1973 concert filmed was the one where Bowie made his "this is the last show we will ever do" announcement from the stage, retiring the Ziggy Stardust persona and breaking up the band, but suggesting to the audience that he was giving up completely.
The story behind the film's shooting is fascinating: originally commissioned to shoot a few of the concert's songs for a short promotional film, Pennebaker was so impressed by the music and Bowie's charisma and decided to shoot the whole thing, with Bowie's management company stumping up the cash. In shooting he faced some severe problems, in particular the low lighting of the stage (he attempted to get round this by focussing on Bowie himself, who was spotlit, and encouraging audience members to take as many flash photos as possible; the finished product still looks very dark). Sound was also a problem, I suspect because the recording of live concerts was still rather in its infancy. Then after the film was shot, Bowie lost interest in it: having retired the Ziggy Stardust persona he wasn't that pushed about revisiting the final Ziggy concert, so he did not devote himself to the musical post-production the film needed, with the result that it languished unmixed and uncompleted for years. I think some of the footage appeared on television but it was only in 1979 that a completed version showed up at a festival and only in the early 1980s that it received a limited theatrical release, at which point it must have seemed like a relic of a forgotten past.
And the film itself is AMAZING. Whatever about the limitations Pennebaker had to contend with, the finished product is a stunning evocation of a peak Bowie concert. The somewhat grainy images feel almost like a deliberate attempt to create some distance from the slicker concert footage of more recent years, while the reaction shots of the overexcited members of the audience give a sense of Bowie's emotional hold over his audience.
There were some odd moments. Later in the concert the band were joined by Nigel Tufnell Jeff Beck on guitar. You get the sense that Bowie and the Spiders are all "Fuck me, it's Jeff Beck!", while the audience are more "Who's this old guy?"
Watching it in the cinema felt as close to actually being there as can be imagined. It was fun sensing the distinction between gig and film screening dissolving for people in the cinema. After the first song or two people were starting to applaud between songs, while the end of "Ziggy Stardust" saw salutes for Mick Ronson and his soloing. I know some people are all "but why would you clap at a film? the people in it can't hear you", but I think they miss the point that seeing films in the cinema is a collective experience.
And yet it is a sad film. This is the concert where Bowie announced that he was breaking up the band (causing dismay to members of the original audience, who thought that he himself was giving up). It is quite poignant watching this amazing performance when you know that these musicians would never play together again. Mick Ronson and Bowie in particular seem to have a telepathic link and it feels like it is against the natural order of things for them to have gone their separate ways.
For technical reasons the cinema was unable to bring us all the introductory crap that was meant to precede the film, which was nice.
images:
Arrival (The New European: "The night Ziggy Stardust died")
Backstage (Variety: "Why David Bowie Killed Ziggy Stardust, 50 Years Ago Today")
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