ICA Quickfire: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

As the ICA celebrate David Bowie the artist, they invite cinephiles to revisit D.A. Pennebaker's film, which documents one of the fashion, music and film icon's most famous performances. On 3 July, 1973, David Bowie took part in a concert with the Spiders from Mars at the London's Hammersmith Odeon Theatre.
The ICA will be screening the film "at maximum volume" to immerse Bowie fans in the experience of watching the legend in concert, one last time. The film will be followed by a panel discussion between ICA Executive Director Gregor Muir, Catherine Wood and other invited guests.
The concert features a number of songs from Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane and other Bowie albums, including Ziggy Stardust, Moonage Daydream, Changes and Space Oddity as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat.
The documentary features a series of behind-the-scenes footage but mainly shows footage of the concert itself – the final time Bowie would perform as 'Ziggy Stardust'. Bowie ended the performance with the words: "Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do" – which press and most of the audience took to mean that Bowie was retiring from music: the concert went down as an iconic one in history. Bowie was in fact killing off his Ziggy persona with these words, but not his musical career.