Live: David Bowie and the Lower Third, Golf-Drouot, Paris, France

David Bowie and the Lower Third performed for the third and final time at the Golf-Drouot in Paris, France, on Saturday 2 January 1966.

They had previously performed at the venue on 31 December 1965 and 1 January 1966.

Our last two shows in Paris were back at the Golf and were once again incredibly well received. This time the club was much more prepared [for fans’ reactions], though, and managed to keep an equally excited audience clear of our dressing-room door. It was a fitting end to our live debut in this amazing capital.

Golf-Drouot opened in 1955 as a tea room with a miniature golf course, and in 1961 became a nightclub. It closed in 1981.

It was the very first place I tried out something that was pretty much like a kind of punk thing. His club was very inspirational for me, it really was, because we were trying out, at that time, what we considered was fairly exciting music. We had a chance to play somewhere, and he let us work with it.

Bowie and the Lower Third travelled back to England on 3 January 1966. Their manager Ralph Horton flew to Paris the previous day, and accompanied Bowie back on an aeroplane. The rest of the band drove back in their converted ambulance, taking the ferry across the English Channel. It was indicative of the divide that was growing between the Lower Third and their frontman.

Ralph flew Dave back to London; he had already packed and left when I woke up on our last morning (we shared kipping arrangements again in Paris for the usual economic reasons). This was also the first time Dave had flown. That probably gave us something to moan about on the way back to Calais too – ‘It’s alright for some, being flown home in style.’

Our gigs in Paris couldn’t have gone better, but the Third returned to England after a short but action-packed adventure minus its lead singer and not a little deflated.