Dave Navarro, Billy Morrison To Play Bowie's Ziggy Stardust In Full

Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro and Billy Idol's Billy Morrison have announced that they will be holding the second annual Above Group benefit concert this fall.

The special event will see the two guitarists joined by special guests for a performance of two iconic albums: David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" and the Stooges' self-titled debut record.

The benefit for Musicares will be taking place on September 16th at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Ca. Morrison explained how both albums shaped him musically, "Oh, the Ziggy album was everything to me. A sexually ambiguous alien in a woman dress singing about space? What is there NOT to like about that?? Mick Ronson formed my whole playing--listening to his Les Paul when I was a kid was almost a spiritual experience. And the Stooges just personified raw power and emotion--the things that spoke to me the most when punk was happening.

Navarro added, "Both of these iconic albums helped shape the sound of Jane's Addiction and were instrumental in terms of influences. As a young man I had been drawn to theatrical performances, Kiss and Elton John among them. When I got to Ziggy, it was as if I had found the perfect blend of theater, story and depth with a musical originality. As for Iggy, let's just say that our punk rock roots were firmly in place when this album came out, pushing the boundaries of aggression and art and poetry, something that I see in Perry Farrell as well. It's no wonder Iggy is one of his all-time favorites as well."

They also explained what inspired them to select these albums for the show. Dave said, "I think it's no surprise that both Billy and I are heavily influenced by the Sacred Triangle of Rock and Roll: Bowie, Reed, Pop. Last year we did Velvet Underground as one of our choices, so it seems only fair that we complete the triangle!"

Billy explained, The Iggy and Ziggy thing has always worked. Even when they both did shows together back in the late 70's/early eighties, the pairing of Iggy Pop and David Bowie worked. Bowie produced Iggy and they had this ongoing musical relationship that just seemed perfect and iconic to us.