“So where were The Spiders?”
In our recent piece regarding the first Ziggy Stardust gig at Aylesbury Friars on January 29th, 1972, we promised an exclusive first look at an even rarer Bowie Aylesbury Friars poster than the one for that January show.
On 25th September 1971, Bowie chose Aylesbury Friars Borough Assembly Hall to showcase much of the forthcoming Hunky Dory album. Initially performing as a duo with Mick Ronson, the show cranked up somewhat with the addition of new boys, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder. Later still in the set, ex Animal Tom Parker played piano.
This is the first recorded instance of Bowie and all three Spiders on stage together, though they hadn't yet been given that particular label. (Thus today’s lyric quotation.)
Here’s the setlist:
01 - Fill Your Heart
02 - Buzz The Fuzz
03 - Space Oddity
04 - Amsterdam
05 - The Supermen
06 - Oh! You Pretty Things
07 - Eight Line Poem
08 - Changes
09 - Song For Bob Dylan
10 - Andy Warhol
11 - Queen Bitch
12 - Looking For A Friend
13 - Round And Round
14 - Waiting For The Man
With a ticket price of 50p, that works out at approximately three and a half new pence per song! Anyway, our montage shows the original poster for that very show along with a shot of DB, purportedly from the night.
Until recently, the delightfully, diminutive John ‘Bamalama’ Brett, was thought to own the only copy of the poster to have survived, albeit incomplete and a bit ragged. However, David ’FD’ Stopps (head honcho at Friars since the birth of humankind), recently acquired a complete poster in great condition.
As part of the Aylesbury Bowie Statue Campaign, a numbered reproduction of the poster will be made available as one of the pledges. You can still support the project here.
To bring things full circle, the only surviving Spider, Woody Woodmansey, will play the town again on Monday (April 3rd) for the first time since 1972.
Along with his Holy Holy outfit, Woody will be performing the Ziggy Stardust album in its entirety, along with at least three songs from the above setlist and more. If you’re hoping to attend, you’d better be quick, tickets are almost sold out. Full tour here.
#BowieZiggyStardust #BowieFriarsAylesbury #BowieAylesburyStatue #HolyHoly2017 #HolyHolyZIGGY #HolyHolyTVWW