Live: Borough Assembly Hall, Aylesbury

David Bowie performed at Friars Club in Aylesbury for the first time on 25 September 1971.

He performed 14 songs. The set started off with just Bowie and guitarist Mick Ronson. Together they played ‘Fill Your Heart’, ‘Buzz The Fuzz’, ‘Space Oddity’, and ‘Amsterdam’.

Bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey then took to the stage, and together they performed ‘The Supermen’, ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’, and ‘Eight Line Poem’. This was Bolder’s first live show with Bowie, although he had played at a BBC session and the Hunky Dory sessions. This, therefore, was the first show to feature the band that would later be called the Spiders From Mars.

They were joined by pianist Tom Parker for the final seven songs: ‘Changes’, ‘Song For Bob Dylan’, ‘Andy Warhol’, ‘Queen Bitch’, ‘Looking For A Friend’, ‘Round And Round’, and an encore of ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’.

Bowie was supposed to have co-headlined the show with America, but they pulled out of the show. He was paid £150 for the appearance, and the 250-capacity venue was full. Among the audience members was Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor.

This was Bowie’s first of three shows at the Friars Club, which from April 1971 to August 1975 was based at the Borough Assembly Hall on Market Square in Aylesbury. The Ziggy Stardust Tour kicked off there on 29 January 1972, and Bowie returned for a final time on 15 July 1972.