The 1980 Floor Show


The 1980 Floor Show was a rock musical spectacle featuring English rock musician David Bowie as the protagonist, held at the Marquee Club in Soho, London, on October 18-20, 1973. It was broadcast in the United States by NBC on November 16, 1973, as part of the series The Midnight Special, and presented the last performance of Bowie as his character Ziggy Stardust.

Lineup and content

The lineup included songs from the albums Aladdin Sane and Pin Ups, as well as a medley of "1984" with the then-unreleased song "Dodo". The title of the show was a play-on-words, referring to the song "1984" and "floor shows", capturing a transitional moment between the glamorous science fiction of the previous year's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album and the dark dystopia of the Diamond Dogs album, released six months later. The live audience was made up of 200 fan club members.

Visual elements

The visual elements of the show referenced the Ziggy Stardust character, who, along with the Spiders from Mars, had been terminated by Bowie after a performance on July 3, 1973. The troupe of dancers wore crocheted cobweb-like costumes, and Bowie sported outfits designed by Freddi Buretti, Kansai Yamamoto and Natasha Korniloff, most notably a body-stocking outfit with a flame motif, as well as a fishnet full-leotard with stuffed gold lamé hands. The keyhole-cutout half-leotard outfit was inspired by the Dada artist/poet Tristan Tzara's performance at the Cabaret Voltaire production of La Coeur a Gaz. The choreography by Matt Mattox featured a sequence of dancers spelling out the words "1980", "Floor" and "Show" with their bodies.

Unauthorized releases

A bootleg record of The 1980 Floor Show, titled Dollars in Drag - The 1980 Floor Show, was released by The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label in 1974. A multi-disc DVD was later issued, showing some of Bowie's and his guests' lavish costumes and including excerpts of rehearsals and false starts.

Cast

Lyrics and music by David Bowie, unless otherwise indicated.