Worcester nostalgia: When David Bowie played the Gaumont

David Bowie, in full Ziggy Stardust mode, played a one-nighter at the Gaumont and queuing along Foregate Street was a long line of fans trying to look just like him.

You can imagine the quiff curls and leather jackets of the rock ‘n’ rollers and the mop tops of the Merseybeat era but to copy Ziggy you had to go further out than that and it didn’t always work, especially on a local level.

I remember the night well because I went along to review the concert and interview Bowie afterwards and Vaughan Willcox, companion on many an interesting story, was there to take the photos with a request to get images of the disciples.

Sadly not much has survived in our files. Vaughan’s handiwork is limited to a blurred on-stage photo through the strobe lights and the job entry in the photographic diary, while my interview has also gone, although the concert review survives.

So here it is in all its glory and written in the style of the times.

"All the he-men, she-men and in-between men descended on Worcester last night to see their hero David Bowie.

"He landed at Worcester Gaumont from his planet far away, as part of his latest Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane tour.

"I’ve covered loads of rock concerts at the Gaumont, from Jimi Hendrix to The Seekers by way of Cliff Richard and The Faces, but never has there been an audience like Bowie’s.

"It’s as if a box has been opened and all these weirdly-dressed people climbed out.

"Where are they all in the daytime? Do they dress like that working the lathes at Heenan’s or is it their dark secret?

"Bowie is the strangest-dressed rock star I’ve ever met, outside of pantomime.

"I’ve never met a man wearing so much female make-up and such strange clothes but he is disturbingly beautiful for a man.

"It’s a look his fans try to replicate, with mixed success, and the queue outside the Gaumont seemed to comprise of travellers from a charabanc spaceship from Planet Zog.

"Musically, it was a great night though. With the aid of the excellent Mick Ronson and the rest of The Spiders From Mars, Bowie powered his way through his back catalogue from Space Oddity to Ziggy Stardust.

"There was also a rendition of All The Young Dudes, which he wrote for Herefordshire group Mott The Hoople, plus new songs from the recently-released Aladdin Sane album.

"Bowie (or is it Ziggy? It’s difficult to see a difference these days) performed throughout with huge energy.

"He puts on a show, not a rock concert, with numerous costume changes. He jumped on the speakers, performed an ‘exotic’ strobe-lit solo with Ronson and even climbed up the ornate embellishments of the Gaumont walls.

"He finished with Chuck Berry’s Around and Around and then he was gone, back to wherever he came from, leaving us with ears ringing.”

The event gets a mention in Worcester’s History and Heritage Calendar for June happenings over the centuries and here are a few more earthly ones.

June 2, 1857: Birth of Edward Elgar. Sir Edward Elgar, the most famous person to come out of Worcester judging from how he's slapped over everything, arrived in the world. Born in Lower Broadheath, the cottage he grew up in is now a museum. Born to William Elgar, a local violinist, piano tuner and seller of musical instruments, Edward and his siblings all had musical educations. While evidently gifted and the most promising musician in the musical circles of Worcester at the time, Elgar was often down on his luck writing to a friend in April 1884: "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever. I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability. I have no money – not a cent."

However, his reputation grew throughout the 1890s and in 1899 his Enigma Variations was premiered in London to a great reception and from here-on-out, at 42, Elgar was established as the greatest composer of his generation. Knighted in 1904 and made Master of the King's Music in 1924, Elgar died in 1934 as one of the greatest and most accomplished composers of his time with the legacy that continues today.

June 10, 2008: King Charles repays a 357-year-old debt to The Master of the Clothiers Company of Worcester. In recent history, many will remember when the then-Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the Commandery in 2008. Part of a wider visit that included opening a new surgery in Upton and meeting those affected by the floods the previous summer, its most memorable gesture was that of the Prince repaying Charles II's debt of £453.15. The debt, owed to the Worcester Clothiers Company, was paid in full but had been left unsettled since 1651 when Charles II lost the Battle of Worcester.

June 17, 1922: Opening of Gheluvelt Park, Worcester. Now a well-known and much-loved public space, the park's conception was that of sacrifice and bravery. It commemorates the actions of the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment at the Battle of Gheluvelt eight years earlier during the First World War. In this action the Worcesters threw back, single-handedly, a potentially fatal German break through at the village of Gheluvelt, salvaging the situation for the Allies. The park was opened by Field Marshall John French who said: "On that day the 2nd Worcesters saved the British Empire." The importance of such a park for the people of Worcester at that time cannot be understated as many would have been impacted by loss following the war. In the Battle of Gheluvelt 187 out of 370 who went into action died.

June 22, 1944: 1st Battalion Worcestershire lands in Normandy. This year marks 80 years since the 'D' Day landings of Normandy. The initial landings, taken on June 6, is well commemorated and remembered acting as a heavy blow into German-occupied France, the success of which would shorten the war. The 1st Battalion Worcestershire left Newhaven on the SS Canterbury on June 19 and, after a delay due to the stormy conditions, came to disembark in the afternoon of June 22 three miles east of Arromanches, near the small village of Mont Fleury. At this time the British were engaged at Cean and, as part of operation EPSOM, the Battalion was moved there to support. Fighting at Cean would go on until August 6.