Panic in Dundee... when David Bowie was dragged to safety

MUSIC: Superstar mobbed by fans after Caird Hall gig

It was the night Ziggy Stardust was dragged to safety in Dundee.

David Bowie was rescued from “over-exuberant fans” by his bodyguard after the sell-out Caird Hall concert and dragged away to the after-show party at the Angus Hotel on Nethergate.

The concert, exactly 45 years ago, is being remembered as Bowie’s official website and his legion of fans this week mark the anniversary of what eventually turned out to be the Ziggy retiral tour when things wound up in the UK in 1973.

Fans queued overnight in Dundee for tickets for the Bowie gig, which was a 2,500 sell-out and the second time the glam rock star had played in the city, following an earlier performance at the Top Ten Club at the Palais in 1966.

Bowie expert Mike Harvey, who runs the Ziggy Stardust Companion website, told The Courier: “It was Bowiemania at its height – sort of like for The Beatles but this time in reaction to Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust phase.

“At the Caird Hall in Dundee Bowie was saved from being trapped by fans at his car by bodyguard Stuey George.

“Stuey George became Bowie’s bodyguard/minder and rescued Bowie from over-exuberant fans and unsavoury characters on a number of occasions during the Ziggy Stardust tours.”

Richard Burdge, The Courier’s former Perth office chief reporter, was in the front row for the Dundee gig on May 17 1973, a concert he said was to take on even greater significance when Bowie retired his Ziggy persona.

He said: “It’s impossible to imagine a star as big as Bowie playing the Caird Hall nowadays. Within a few years, stadium gigs and festivals became the more lucrative choice for the biggest performers.”

Bowie continued to record and tour after retiring Ziggy Stardust and put out his final album, Blackstar, shortly before his death in 2016.

Watch that man: Bowie playing the Caird Hall in 1973.