Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones has spoken about the night he stole musical equipment from David Bowie and his band, and revealed that he later compensated Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey in cash for the theft of his cymbals.
In what must have been a supremely irritating discovery for Bowie and his band, Jones' light-fingered actions took place on the night before the very last Ziggy Stardust gig at London's Hammersmith Odeon, on July 3, 1973.
Sharing his memories of the night in a new interview with The Guardian, Jones recalls, "They played two nights, and after the first night they left all the gear up, because they were playing there the next night. I knew the Hammersmith Odeon like the back of my hand, I used to bunk in there all the time. I was like the Phantom of Hammersmith Odeon.
"It was about two in the morning. I stole a little minivan and I got in. There was no one there, other than a guy sitting on the fourth or fifth row, asleep – he was snoring. It was dead silent. I tiptoed across the stage, and I nicked some cymbals, the bass player’s [amplifier] head – a Sunn amp it was – and some microphones. I got Bowie’s microphone with his lipstick on it!"
