It was 1973, a year when Newcastle City Hall played host to some of the biggest names in rock and pop music.
Elton John, Roxy Music, Slade, Genesis, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo, Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones, Wings, Yes, Neil Young, Lindisfarne, and even Chuck Berry were among those who graced the Northumberland Road venue.
But perhaps the brightest star to descend on the City Hall that year was David Bowie who was in the midst of a sprawling worldwide tour performing as his iconic Ziggy Stardust alter ego.
READ MORE: Newcastle in 1997 - 10 photographs
Nearly 50 years after the event, rarely seen photographs of the audience queuing outside the venue have emerged from our vast archive.
Some fans are dressed like their rock idol did at the time, with platform shoes, trousers rolled up, long woollen socks, and painted faces.
(If anyone knows the identity of the lad wearing the distinctive Aladdin Sane make-up - as pioneered by Bowie on the cover of his April 1973 album of the same name - or if he sees this article himself, do get in touch. We'd love to grab a chat. He'll be somewhere in his mid 60s these days!)
Bowie's mammoth tour had kicked off at Aylesbury Assembly Hall in January 1972, and would take in the UK, America and Japan, before returning to Britain where it dramatically concluded at Hammersmith Odeon in July 1973, when he famously informed a grief-stricken audience he was retiring. He wasn't, of course - but the Ziggy Stardust persona was.
With tickets priced at a princely £1.35, the 26-year-old singer would play two sold-out shows at Newcastle City Hall - a matinee and an evening performance - on Friday, June 8, 1973.
Not for the first or last time at the famous venue, the evening would be enveloped in fan frenzy.
'A rock riot erupts at City Hall concert' was the main story on the front page of the following day's Evening Chronicle.
"Scheduled to make two performances, Bowie plunged the evening into chaos when he started 40 minutes late," it was reported.
"Queues built up outside the City Hall for the second evening performance as Bowie performed an encore.
"Hysterical fans inside the hall were restrained by bouncers as they rushed to the front of the stage. Efforts to keep them in their seats were largely unsuccessful.
"During the first performance, girls were treated for shock and the first three rows of the hall were completely smashed by fans.
"The seats collapsed under the weight of hundreds of grabbing teenagers, some of whom were injured.
"Many of the fans at the front of the hall had to be lifted from the crowd on to the stage to escape being crushed.
In the midst of this, we reported: "Bowie enticed his sparkling, painted followers with provocative movements, and kissed fans who pressed towards the front of the stage, while girls hurled a shower of clothing at him."
Meanwhile, a row broke out between the City Hall stewards and the singer's minders and entourage. "It was chaos," said a spokesman. "Nobody knew what was happening."
It sounds like it was quite a night.
Long after Ziggy Stardust’s demise, David Bowie would return to the region as one of the world’s biggest music stars - in 1978, at the City Hall; in 1987, at Sunderland’s Roker Park; in 1991 at Newcastle Mayfair; in 1995 as the first major artist to play Newcastle Arena; and in 1997 at Newcastle Riverside.
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