David Bowie - Live In Santa Monica ’72

About 900 miles west of Roswell, the alien landed…

An extraterrestrial from Mars or just, as Lennon put it, rock’n’roll with make up? Although Bowie made far more influential music as the 70s darkened, Ziggy Stardust remains his defining achievement for most.

A long-bootlegged radio recording, Santa Monica ’72 catches Bowie/Ziggy & The Spiders a third of the way through their US tour. Having covered the UK for the best part of eight months, the bit’s between their teeth now, Hang On To Yourself and Ziggy Stardust bolting from the gates, The Spiders trying to keep up with themselves.

No show could reach the highs and tensions of Hammersmith Odeon, 3 July 1973, Bowie’s final Ziggy performance, and Space Oddity, guitarist Mick Ronson’s highlight at Hammersmith, fizzles out here, while Bowie himself resorts to laughably problematic vocalised sound effects for Major Tom’s take off. Elsewhere, without the production and strength of Bowie’s studio performance, Life On Mars? is both affecting and affected, its show tune elements wrung out, his yearning voice cracking like a prototype Rufus Wainwright.

An imperfect, endearing show, the ragged edges prove just how Ziggy influenced punk. Compared to the soulless Glass Spider tour, it’s obvious why this has been one of the fans’ most treasured bootlegs for over 25 years.

EMI | BOWLIVE 201072

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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