Review: - I'm grateful to Fergus McCurley for this personal review
This was to be my first Roxy Music concert and I had been looking forward to it for months. I had seen Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and Paul Thomson when they had toured as 801 in November 1977 but had never seen Bryan Ferry. We arrived early into the SECC and were able to watch the crowd coming in. I have to say that the average of those coming in must have been 40+ and there were quite a few For Your Pleasure and Siren T-Shirts stretched quite tightly over stout bellies!!
By the time Roxy came on, there must have been a capacity crowd in. Clutching my programme (almost a second mortgage job, but I had to have one) and poster, the lights went down and the music started. I don't know why, but I had been expecting them to start with Do the Strand so it took me a few seconds to realise it was Remake/Remodel. What did distract me more though was - Where was Bryan Ferry? - I couldn't see him until I realised he was at the back on the keyboards. This was a rip-roaring version that had all the energy and vibrancy that made Roxy famous. I knew each of the solos by heart but it was still good to hear them again and watched with pleasure as Lucy Watkins took on the famous synthesizer sole, her picture beamed onto the large screen displayed on behind the band. Ladytron followed which isn't one of my favourites but features a fantastic solo by Manzanera in which he showed that this tour was a labour of love not of money. The energy he poured into this was appreciated by all.
Out of the Blue featured a perfect note for note violin solo by Lucy that the crowd greatly appreciated (and in fact they warmed to Lucy more and more as the show went on and she got a rousing reception at the end). I thought Song for Europe was the highlight of the night, Andy Mackay's sax playing and Ferry's cool lyrics combining perfectly. This is one of Roxy's anthems and the memory of that song will live with me for a long time. I had started to listen to Roxy in 1974 but had also been a great fan of their Flesh and Blood/Avalon period and to be honest, I thought songs like While My Heart is Still Beating, My Only Love and Oh Yeah were performed brilliantly and whilst it is a different Roxy sound to the 1970's it is still just as important. To listen to the Glasgow crowd sing along out loud to the chorus of Oh Yeah was brilliant. When Ferry sang Jealous Guy, I felt that the song was probably the best received song of all and the way the song grew in sound and texture towards the end was a joy to behold. Mind you, I was a bit worried about Ferry's whistling but he managed to hold it together fine.
Both Ends Burning was brilliant and it was quite a surprise to see dancing girls doing their thing at the back of the stage. Not sure if this worked as well, I would have preferred the girls in army uniform that we got a the time of Viva Roxy Music but ahhh, that was along time ago. Back to Glasgow and the band were urged back on to do the first encore Love is the Drug which was powerful and moved along at a great pace. It was obvious to me that the band appreciated the passion shown by the crowd and both Phil Manzanera and Chris Spedding played brilliantly throughout the set. Ferry posed and postured, changed outfits a number of times to the delight of the crowd and the whole night rushed along to its dramatic conclusion - Or was it.
Even writing this tonight, I still cant make up my mind as to whether the idea of finishing with For Your Pleasure was a good idea or not. The song itself worked well on the night and although played to perfection by the band, was maybe a bit too much down tempo after everything else. What I am beginning to appreciate though is the poignancy of the band going off one by one. If this is their final tour, it was a emotional way to finish it. As one other reviewer has said, when were Roxy ever conventional? I enjoyed the concert greatly, what a evening of entertainment, and my one thought tonight is, when is Ferry coming back to Glasgow for a solo tour so I can hear for example Slave to Love, Lets Stick Together, This is Tomorrow, You Go To My Head.
Too much to ask for?