In 1973, when Steve Jones was 18, he went to see David Bowie in concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. But as much as he admired Bowie, the young Jones couldn’t resist stealing some of the star’s gear from the venue.
The two Hammersmith shows, on 2 and 3 July, have become legendary as the last in which Bowie performed using his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust. Equally, the story of Jones stealing Bowie’s gear is a part of Sex Pistols folklore.
In an interview with the Rockonteurs podcast, the Pistols guitarist recalls: “I went the first night [2 July], and then they left all the gear up for the second night. And that's when I went on the stage and helped myself.
"They had some bloke [in the] fourth row [of the stalls], kipping. I'm waiting till he's having a kip. I'm up the rafters like the Phantom of the Odeon. And I had a mini van. Wasn't mine.
“I had a minivan by the side [of the venue]. This is like two in the morning. Now there's no one around but this one bloke, and at this point he's like [snoring noise], and I'm just going on [to the stage], snipping, snipping…
“I got all these amazing Neumann mics. I didn't know what they were. I didn't know anything. I didn't know they [Bowie and his band The Spiders From Mars] were recording. But all these Neumann mics were there. And the Bowie [mic] was great. It was a little Shure with with his lipstick still on the on it.”
Asked if he didn’t steal guitarist Mick Ronson’s gear out of respect, Jones replies, laughing: “No! I didn't care. Are you kidding me?
“I got the bass head. I think it was a Sunn bass head. A fairly new one. Like I said, I didn't know what was what. So I nicked that, a bunch of cymbals, all them Neumann mics, and that was about it.
“I do think someone else was with me, but I can't remember. So I went and dropped this all off in Shepherd’s Bush. I was in this basement, and I would take the stuff down in a coal cellar.
“Then I’d go back for another go in the van. But this time, when I went out there, the bloke woke up, and then I just split, and that was it. It was on the news on the radio in the morning, funnily enough…
“You know, I love Bowie, I love the The Spiders From Mars. Love them. But I was a kleptomaniac. I couldn't help it!”
