In 1973, D.A. Pennebaker brought his cameras to the Hammersmith Odeon to film the London stop of David Bowie's tour behind Aladdin Sane, capturing Bowie performing as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust. Neither Pennebaker nor the audience knew that after the final encore, Bowie would step to the microphone and announce he was retiring the character, effectively ending the Spiders from Mars era on stage in real time. The film traces how Bowie built Ziggy from glam styling, theatrical staging, and a persona distinct from his own identity, turning rock concerts into something closer to costumed drama. Performance footage sits alongside the backstage and touring atmosphere that shaped the character's final days, and the surprise announcement becomes the film's centerpiece, a moment of genuine shock caught on camera rather than staged for effect. It stands as both a document of an influential live show and a record of the exact instant one of rock's most famous inventions was deliberately killed off by its creator.