During a productive day at Trident studios on February 4, 1972, David Bowie taped three songs - Starman, Rock 'N' Roll Suicide and Suffragette City - to bring the recording of his fifth studio album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, to a close.
Just eight days later, at the Great Hall at Imperial College, the 25-year-old Londoner gave his hometown audience an early preview of the record, playing Rock 'N' Roll Suicide and Suffragette City in the capital for the first time.
Following a warm-up show in Aylesbury, the London gig was date three of the first ever Ziggy and the Spiders tour, although the band - Bowie, Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and 'Woody' Woodmansey - were not yet billed under that name. As if having a reviewer and photographer from Melody Maker in attendance didn't bring enough additional pressure, Bowie had also granted access to a French TV film crew, who shot the show for potential future broadcast on the top-rated Pop Deux programme. According to Bowie's official site, 20 minutes of the set was filmed, but only one song was ever aired on French TV screens, Suffragette City, the clip you can see below:
