Roxy Music @ The 02, London

October 14^th

View:  right down the front

Merchandise: a bewildering selection of tour T shirts, programmes, books, lithographs and baseball caps

The revitalised Roxy Music ended their 50 (years) tour in front of a sold-out and enthusiastic if elderly crowd. The costumes and production were pared back, so the emphasis was on the extraordinary songs: all stages of Roxy’s career were represented in the twenty song set. An opening salvo of Remake/Remodel, Out Of The Blue, The Bogus Man and Ladytron was exhilarating. Energy levels dropped for some of the later material but Avalon and More Than This both impressed. Bryan Ferry’s vocals were ably supported by a trio of backing singers whilst Andy McKay’s sax and oboe were ably complemented by the wonderful Jorja Chalmers. Prominent throughout was the guitar of Phil Manzanera, whether playing clipped rhythm guitar to underpin Dance Away or really letting rip at the end of Ladytron and In Every Dream Home A Heartache. An impending curfew meant there wasn’t time to play an encore so the band just powered through a countdown to ecstasy final sequence of Love Is The Drug and an Editions Of You powered by The Great Paul Thompson’s explosive drumming, before Virgina Plain, Jealous Guy and Do The Strand brought the evening to a triumphant close. When I first saw Roxy Music at Guilford Civic Hall playing their new single Virginia Plain, I never imagined that fifty years later we would still be “teenage rebels of the week”. Viva!

Review written for Record Collector magazine

That setlist in full:

1. Remake / Remodel
2. Out Of The Blue
3. The Bogus Man
4. Ladytron
5. While My Heart Is Still Beating
6. Oh Yeah
7. If There Is Something
8. In Every Dream Home A Heartache
9. Tara
10. The Main Thing
11. My Only Love
12. To Turn You On
13. Dance Away
14. More Than This
15. Avalon
16. Love Is The Drug
17. Editions Of You
18. Virginia Plain
19. Jealous Guy
20. Do The Strand

Review as published in Record Collector magazine (Christmas 2022)