Roxy have enjoyed two distinct eras, the first artistically successful 1972-79, the second commercially successful ( 1980 onwards). Lack of opportunity, not lack of desire or admiration, meant that I missed out on the first era. How I would have loved to have seen Ferry and Eno on the same stage. These 1980 shows were post punk, and post New Wave. It can be argued that the band needed to reinvent themselves for the new decade, which is exactly what they did. Rather than opting for edgy and experimental, they retrenched into the AOR of Ferry’s solo work. It worked with a vengeance, the old fans were largely retained, and a new MOR following was forged on the strength of a terrific, melodious album in “Flesh and Blood” packed with good songs and hit singles.

Although their inception coincided with glam, the association had everything to do with image, clothes and make up, and very little to do with the predominantly frothy music of glam. They produced five studio albums brimming with great songs in three short years with cover art of the hottest female models of the day. Ferry was stylish, thoughtful with a distinctive mannered vocal style, Phil Manzanera was one of the great seventies guitarists, Andy Mackays’ woodwind gave the songs idiosyncratic musical identifiability, Eddie Jobson did a similar job on synthesiser and violin. Eno claimed to be a non musician, yet was at the heart of their early sound and became one of the great producers. To these ears , the first two albums had more to do with prog rock than glam. For me the only flaw was Paul Thompsons’ drums which always sounded heavy, and lacking in finesse .

Martha and the Muffins opened the evening, the first of two nights, closing with the mellifluous “Echo Beach” to warm applause. The lights went down to the sound of the hypnotic drum beat of “Bogus Man”, the stage obscured by illuminated vertical blinds which then dropped for the joyous intro of “Trash” which eased effortlessly into a blistering “Both Ends Burning”. Looking back ,it was  a classic setlist perfectly balancing the old with the new. Three of the closing four songs still regularly close Roxy and Ferry solo shows.

“Song for Europe” was the stand out song of the evening, how many pop songs have latin in them? Plaintive, glorious, soaring, sweeping  and elegant. The finale was breathless from a louche “Love is the Drug” through a home turf “Do the Strand” to a  closing, climactic., chaotic “ Editions of You” It was Roxy Music at their very best, smooth, inventive, engaging and endearing, with Ferry exuding lounge lizard swagger.

Setlist

1.Bogus Man

2. Trash

3. Both Ends Burning

4 Rain, Rain Rain

5. Flesh and Blood

6. Oh Yeah

7. Song For Europe

8. Dance Away

9. Same Old Scene

10.My Only Love

11. Eight Miles High

12. Love is the drug

13. The Thrill of it all

14.Do the Strand

15Editions of You

Bryan Ferry _wembley Arena 17/1 & 20/1 89 The Bete Noire tour.

The running order was not only the best of any Ferry/ Roxy show I saw, it was amongst the finest performances

Bête Noire, the album the tour was supporting,  is Ferry’s seventh solo studio album , released in November 1987  and was a  commercial and critical success, peaking at No. 9 in the UK and was certified Gold I.

The first single, “The Right Stuff” (a collaboration with Johnny Marr and is adapted from The Smiths’ instrumental B-side “Money Changes Everything”) was the album’s only top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 37. The second single, “Kiss and Tell”, narrowly missed the UK top 40, but made the U.S. top 40 (becoming Ferry’s only solo single to chart in the U.S. Top 40).

Boys and Girls its predecessor had been, released in June 1985 . The album was Ferry’s first solo album in seven years and the first since he had disbanded his group Roxy Music in 1983and  was his first and only number one solo album in the UK.It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and contains two UK top 40 hit singles. It is also Ferry’s most successful solo album in the US, having been certified Gold for sales in excess of half a million copies there.

The album contained the track “Slave to Love”, which became one of Ferry’s most popular solo hits. The single was released on 29 April 1985 and spent nine weeks in the UK charts in 1985, peaking at number 10, along with the other (modestly successful) singles “Don’t Stop the Dance” and “Windswept”.

Both albums featured prominently in the setlist

I saw the first and last nights of a three night run at Wembley, the setlists were identical, but the delivery  was subtly nuanced, catching me off guard. Every song took on a life of its own on the night  The four openers served as an overture, but it was Ladytron from the first album that lit the musical fuse slipping into a sublime “While My heart is still beating” and a wistful  “Don’t stop the dance”. But the best was yet to come, an ethereal, ghostly “Boys and Girls” easing into a climactic “In every Dreamhome”. On both nights Ferry threw everything he had at the songs to a tumultuous reception.

Of course “love is the Drug” and “Do the Strand” were great fun but it was the whole that mattered. Ferry had uncoupled himself from bing frontan of Roxy to solo star in his own right with original materialto match

1. Limbo
2. The Chosen  One
3. Casanova
4. Slave to  love
5. Bogus Man
6. Ladytron
7. While My Heart is Still Beating
8. Dont Stop the Dance
9. Wasteland
10. Windswept
11. Jealous guy
12. A New Town
13. Boys and Girls
14. In Every Dream home

1. Right Stuff
2. Kiss and Tell
3. Love is the Drug
4. Bete Noire
5. Avalon
6. Do the Strand

Bryan Ferry  Birmingham NIA 23/03/03

1. The Only face

2.Don’t think twice

3Carrickfergus

4Smoke gets in your eyes

5.My One and only Love

6. The thrill of it all

7.Cn’t Let go

8.cruel

9. Jan nus  hons pris

10.fool for love

11. Tokyo joe

12. My only Love

13Tara

14. Dance away

15Boys and Girls

16. Slave to Love

16 Boys and Girls

17Jealous Guy

18. Love is the Drug

19 Do the strand

20 Lets Stick Together

• Wooly Bully
• Goodnight Irene

Mar8th, 2007

Bryan Ferry Symphony Hall – Birmingham

Dylanesque tour

Many artists have covered Dylan successfully, some producing the definitive versions. In the 1970’s Ferry himself achieved that with “Hard Rain”. This time around he was not so fortunate. The song choices were good, the arrangements were anodyne, the delivery perfunctory. This was the fourth decade in which I have seen Ferry. It will be the last time I see him live.

It started oh so well, with a blistering, powerhouse, “In Crowd”, lost pace with  a limp “Kiss and tell”, then pretty much ground to a halt, bar a mid set “Tokyo Joe”” and a rather desperate closing “Lets Stick Together”, the audience had been lost long before that rallying cry. “Jealous Guy” was a huge mistake as an encore.

Setlist

1.The ‘In’ Crowd

2.Kiss and Tell

3.Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4.Positively 4th Street

5.This Island Earth

6.Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

7.The Times They Are A-Changin’

8.Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

9Love Me Madly Again

10Body and Soul

11.When She Walks in the Room

12Simple Twist of Fate

13Make You Feel My Love

14.Gates of Eden

Tokyo Joe

All Along the Watchtower

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

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Let’s Stick Together

Jealous Guy