Roxy Music bored me to death as a kid... I hated Ferrys voice particularly - like a alcoholic 50s relic with a speech impediment. Somewhere along the way I grew up - found a copy of Viva! in a pile of old vinyl and played it and it knocked me out -

Im now 22 and fully versed in musical diversity passing by Indie, Metal, Glam, Industrial, Thrash, Grebo, Dance, Hip Hop but lurking in my collection was Mudhoneys cover of Editions Of You which sparked a renewed interest for me... so like any other frivilous 22 year old I went and bought all the Roxy LPs I could get hold of and irritated my other half with them til she agreed we could go and see them in Manchester with my parents...

Ive experienced "reunion" shows... I saw the Buzzcocks who looked tired, Kiss who were a fine nostalgia trip and id watched others like Fleetwood Mac and Blondie who frankly should have stayed home... so I wasnt expecting big things here - the half full MEN arena did not make the prospect any better - during the opening act the ignorance of 60% of this audience fuelled my frustration further because deep down I had a vison in my head of an arena full of people ready to let it go for the night... then I remembered - its the MEN - a venue with ex SS members in yellow jumpers patroling the room in quest of upsetting anyone found enjoying themselves....

So it comes to 9 o clock and im jittering - Im gonna enjoy it if it kills me but theres something I didnt realise... unbeknown to me it appears Roxy had been cryogenically frozen since 1982 and from the opening riff of Remake/Remodel it became impossible to keep still... and neither could they - Roxy were absolutley blistering - Phil Manzenera made the current crop of bands attempts at guitar abuse look feeble during Ladytron - Out of The Blue was just outstanding (violin solo intact and if not one of the most enthusiastic performances Ive witnessed in my life!)... one thing was becoming abundently clear -
1) Roxy meant business - this was serious entertainment here
2) The setlist was alienating half of the audience...

As I was saying about this audience - half were obviously Roxy fans but the rest were there to hear Avalon and More Than This probably unaware of the likes of In Every Dream Home a Heartache even existing... idiots! However Roxy had the 1 quality that made the show work under the circumstances (and the same thing that saved the Kiss reunion) - the whole band looked like they were having a ball and played so loosely - to look at them youd think they were a weird college band whod turned up at the wrong venue (Paul Thompson in particular is one of the few drummers who plays harder now than he did all that time ago). For myself the fun continued - Both Ends Burning (with cheerleader esque dancers with the requisite Roxy minimum leg measurement!) and of course Editions Of You and Virginia Plain (a song my old band used to cover to confused reactions from audiences).

And just when you think its all over Love is The Drug and Do The Strand keep that jittery feeling going (I never believed it was possible to dance to Roxy til I went to the show!). And finally For Your Pleasure being the perfect ending - as people wandered off wondering what happened to Lets Stick Together and buggering off to their car I stood transfixed as what was one of the best gigs Ive ever been to slowly wound down.

By rights Roxy should have been in a smaller venue - but then that unbelievable stage wouldnt have worked. I hope that a lot of people left the venue feeling like theyd been introduced to Roxy proper - but I doubt it - as it did nearly 30 years ago - it was all over their head....And thats exacltly why I loved it - Roxy have to be the only band who were too weird when they started and still cause second glances 30 years on (how ahead of their time can these guys be!). All in all a great show by a great band in a venue that sucked and an audience that didnt deserve to be there.

Of course - back to my mum and dads to recover and play Viva til the neighbours get pissed off - and why not - rarely is rock n roll this much fun these days - especially in the UK (have we forgotten how or something?)...

Any chance of another go lads?