Retires Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy plays guitar for the last time at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, at the last concert of The Aladdin Sane Tour comprising 60 shows in North America, Japan and the U.K. Bowie is tired of the character and he’s been touring and promoting his albums for nearly a year without a break. Only his manager Tony DeFries, Mick Ronson and some music press know beforehand.

I wanted the whole MainMan thing away from me. It was circusy. I was never much of an entourage person – I hated all of that. It’s a relief for all these years … not have a constant stream of people following me around to the point where, when I sat down, fifteen other people sat down. It was unbearable. I think Tony [DeFries] saw himself as a Svengali type, but I think I would have done okay anyway. Now, I look back on it with amusement more than anything else. Everybody was always going to get their teeth done or something, brand new people appearing in the office, having changed their appearance completely from the day before, and so forth.