Roxy Music Concert Review
This is my first day log. I'm slightly worried about getting crushed with the downvotes, but what the hell, live dangerously, right? Anyway, last night I attended the Roxy Music concert at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. I would say that I am a big fan of the band, but not a fanatic. I have most of their albums stored in my MusicMatch library, but I'm most familiar with their album Siren. I know must of their other stuff, but I don't recognize them by song title and cannot sing along. I'm not a big fan of their 1980's material (e.g. Avalon). So you can take this review with a grain of salt if you know Brian Ferry better than your sister.
Here's the set list, as reported on some fan web site: Re-make / Re-model, Street Life, Ladytron, While My Heart is Still Beating, Out of the Blue, A Song for Europe, My Only Love, In Every Dreamhome A Heartache, Oh Yeah, Both Ends Burning, Tara, Mother Of Pearl, Avalon, Dance Away, Jealous Guy, Editions of You. Encores: Love is the Drug, Do the Strand, For Your Pleasure.
The Theater at MSG is a great venue. It probably seats about 2,000-3,000 people, and there's really not a bad seat in the house. The sound was awesome and clear, and, best of all, not toooooo loud.
They opened with a bang. They're touring with a 10-person band. In addition to Brian (vocals and keys), guitarists Phil Manzanera and Chris Spedding, drummer Paul Thompson, and Saxophonist Andy Mackay, they're playing with a bassist, a violinist, a percussionist, a backup singer, and an extra keyboard player. I couldn't even find Brian Ferry on stage during the first song due to all of the people.
They really took off during the third song, Ladytron. Phil's guitar solo was magnificent -- the whole audience went nuts. I had no idea he was that talented.
The rest of the first two-thirds of the concert was a bit spotty. I thought that most of the older material rocked, but the newer stuff seemed a bit out of place -- sort of like hearing smooth jazz interspersed between Smashing Pumpkins rockers.
Both Ends Burning was quite fun. The best song of the show, though, was Mother of Pearl. They played it very emotionally, and the audience seemed to dig it immensely. Next came Avalon, and there was a bit of a surprise when Yannick Etienne walked on stage.
Jealous Guy was very poignant -- I thought about George Harrison and I heard some other people around me talking about him as well (even though it's a John Lennon song.
The encores were maybe a bit perfunctory. You got the feeling that Brian has sung Love is the Drug a few too many times to be really into it. All in all, though, it was a terrific show. The band was tight, the sound was good, and the audience left satisfied. They played for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
If, by chance, you are going to the show tonight, you should show up around 9:00, since the opening act totally sucked. Roxy Music began at 9:15.