At last it’s Ziggy and the Spiders playing live in the Capital, well, almost - Susan Dalgety

I can remember exactly where I was at 10.30pm on Tuesday, July 3, 1973. I was lying in my bed, deep in rural south-west Scotland, listening to Radio Luxembourg on my tinny transistor radio, when there was a news flash.

David Bowie performs his final concert as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon, London. The concert later became known as the Retirement Gig

“Ziggy is dead,” announced a shocked DJ. It turned out that David Bowie – creator of Ziggy Stardust – had not died, much to my relief. But at the end of his Hammersmith Odeon concert that night, Bowie killed off his alter-ego.

Just before he played Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide, he said: “Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.”

Hysterical fans, myself included, thought that meant Bowie was retiring – but he was only ditching the alien creature that had made him famous. So famous that tonight, cinemas across Edinburgh and the UK will be showing the world premiere of the newly restored film, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture.

Little did I think, as a 16 year-old sobbing my heart out because I would never see Ziggy live, that exactly 50 years later I would be sitting in a swanky new cinema – the Everyman – watching a film featuring my hero, along with hundreds of other Bowie fans.

Pop music was never meant to be a durable cultural force. Elvis Presley famously went into movies at the behest of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, because he thought there was no long-term future in rock ‘n’ roll. But as 73 year-old Bruce Springsteen has shown this year on his world tour, the best popular musicians are as important storytellers as Nobel Prize novelists.

Even the Bay City Rollers – winners of the recent best Edinburgher of all time poll – have an important place in the cultural history of our city and Scotland. For a few years, five working class lads were top of the pops, and paved the way for boy bands like Take That and One Direction. I didn’t vote for them, but even though they peaked in 1976, I understand why thousands of their fans did.