Travel: London to Aberdeen

David Bowie and his band and crew travelled from London to Aberdeen on 15 May 1973.

Bowie performed five shows in Scotland before the final Ziggy Stardust Tour dates in England. They departed from Kings Cross station, arriving 10 hours later in Aberdeen. He stayed overnight at the nearby Imperial Hotel.

That evening Bowie was interviewed by Ray Fox-Cumming for Disc.

Kings Cross railway station was buzzing like an airport when our tour group, including the now very famous David Bowie, arrived in long shiny black limousines and took first class seats in especially reserved carriages. David was still dressing up for travelling, for maximum impact, as was Mick Ronson. Often both David and Mick would wear eye make-up and the like for the benefit of the watching public, and perhaps carry a shoulder bag, and their travelling outfits were designed to be noticed. David might wear a floppy hat and a loud, colourfully striped suit, whilst Mick’s off-stage gear was often a sort of schoolboy blazer, white shirt and school tie, worn with either black or yellow Lee Cooper jeans – which incidentally Mick would always buy from Harrods. I still had not bought too many clothes, as we had become used to living out of just one suitcase – all we were permitted to carry on tour – and the other Spiders, apart from Mick, did not try too hard either. All the same, we made for a gaudy little group in comparison with our fellow passengers on our train ride northward.

The journey to Aberdeen from London is a long one by road or rail, and we were more or less ready for our beds when we finally reached the Imperial Hotel in Union Street, Aberdeen (the hotel is gone now, long since replaced by a shopping centre – across from the top of Market Street).