Roxy Roll!

author unknown

Melody Maker, 24th February 1979

THE BRITISH leg of Roxy Music's world tour, which celebrates their return to collective activity after more than three years of working separately, will take place in medium-sized theatres, including Hammersmith Odeon, where they will play for three nights.

Initially, the band had planned to play at Wembley Arena, where they made their temporary farewell to London in the autumn of 1975. They changed their minds, the MM's source says, "beacause the big arenas are such bad places in terms of band/audience interaction."

A further factor is their new and elaborate stage set, which is portable and was designed for the theatre format. It will be used on all the dates -- unlike previous Roxy stage decorations, which have appeared only at their London concerts.

The tour coincides with the release of a new single, "Trash", this Friday, and an album, "Manifesto", on March 9. London disc-jockey Nicky Horne played the first side of the album on his Capitol Radio show last week, but was immediately dissuaded by the band's record company, Polydor, from giving it further premature airings.

Roxy begin their travels in Sweden this weekend, and continue through Germany, Holland, France, America and Japan before arriving in Britain at the beginning of May.

The British dates are: Leicester De Montfort Hall (May 2), Birmingham Odeon (3/4), Manchester Apollo (6/7), Glasgow Apollo (8/9), Newcastle City Hall (10/11), Liverpool Empire (12), Bristol Hippodrome (13), Southhampton Gaumont (14) and Hammersmith Odeon (16/17/18).

The tour also marks the first appearance in Roxy of their new bass-player, ex-Vibrator Gary Tibbs, and of their guest keyboards-player, Dave Skinner, once of Clancy.

The concerts will feature much of the material from "Manifesto", with a sprinkling of old favourites -- "at least one song from each of the five previous studio albums," says the source. However, they will not be performing songs from any of their members' solo projects.

Films have been made of three of the tracks from "Manifesto", but no TV showings are planned.

Last week, Roxy flew to Switzerland to take part in a TV show hosted by Abba. Apparently linked to the UNICEF Year of the Child charity campaign, the programme will be shown worldwide over the Easter weekend, and also features Boney M, Leo Sayer and Kate Bush.

Text copyright 1979 Melody Maker, used without permission.
With thanks to Grant Goggans.

Last Updated: 9 April 2008