Roxy Music: frickin' nice or frickin' not nice

I could talk about how sky-scrapingly, brilliantly entertaining and fascinating Roxy Music were, but that would take too long. I will say that I'd love to be able to see them this summer (can't due to preplanned vacation trips), though the fact that it's a replication of the late Roxy line-up -- not even Paul Thompson is on board -- makes it a dubious prospect anyway.

Oh, yeah, classic of course.

That would be: _"These Foolish Things"_

(says he's a fan mutter mutter lightweight mutter mutter doesn't get it at all mutter mutter)

terr-bo

That shouldn't concern you though should it?

Conceptual way in for Sterling - Aspiration! Like your popsters and rapsters with their Cris and cheese, but beamed back to Northern England c.1971. Ferry is a cartoon/dream of a playboy like Jay-Z is of a playa. e.g. Virginia Plain - "Baby Jane's in Acapulco / We are flying down to REE-OH!" Reaches its climax on the amazing "Mother Of Pearl" (my favourite Roxy song and then some) - Ferry reaching desperately and fantasy-riffing on a society playgirl he can never quite fully grasp. The music though is stiff-hipped Anglo-pop and if that's not your think it's not your thing, full stop I think.

Search: Jane Suck's Sounds 5 Nov 77 review of the first Roxy compilation. "You can't even take the cover of 'this' to the bathroom — a photograph of a gold record and Jerry Hall's eyebrow. Big thrill!!... What I'm getting at is you just cannot take Roxy Music songs out of context. The albums themselves were like walking a tightrope. 'Greatest Hits' is just one Godalmighty safety net. My advice, dear, buy the re-released 'Virginia Plain/Pyjamarama', hock your tuxedo and get the collected works." I don't know if Jane Jackman's even still alive, but in those days she was wrong about nothing.

Paul Thompson is my favourite mid-70s drummer, even (just) ahead of Slade's Don Powell and the Meters' Zig Modeliste.

Search also: Bryan's solo single 1978 "Sign of the Times"...

i started out with the greatest hits cd, which i didn't feel AT ALL. so then i tried albums, because i saw that many called c.l. the best roxy album and none of the tracks on it had made the g.h. it's one of the few albums i bought twice (and, indeed, it kept me from buying tigermilk for fear of looking like a perv - - should i be grateful?) and from there i bought all of the "classic" albums. i love all of the incarnations, even the smooch-pop of avalon (how cool is "to turn you on"? very.) oh, but you do need the greatest hits because where else will you get their cover of "jealous guy," which gives the song the balls it should've, could've had, if yoko didn't have lennon's in her pocket.

so, yeah, classic. but not classic enough for me to spend $75 for nosebleed seats at the reunion show. no band or deity is that classic.

I don't have this

That said, I still am not going to see them in concert this summer. I would have paid that kind of money to see the 70's version of Roxy Music, but now? Eh.

Also, I saw them at Radio City Music Hall at age 13, and am thrilled to have 8th row tickets to see them this summer!

Speaking of which - Fred? You still there? What do I think about Amnesiac? You see that last paragraph in the thread? That was me, that was.

More to the point, I wish I had been 16 when Amnesiac came out. As much as one tries to keep up, the instinct becomes blunted by the overburdened baggage of underused knowledge. These days I just try to be happy.

Their first proper album is absolutely smashing, but the second ("For Your Pleasure") - Christ, it's still amazing, nearly 30 years on.

Even with Eddie Jobson subbing for Eno, "Stranded" smoked. "Country Life" was very solid, but cracks were beginning to appear in their carefully manicured facade.

Roxy died with "Siren" - it's almost wholly disposable. They bounced back "Viva!," an unexpectedly powerful live compilation. "Manifesto" was quite good, but after that... I just couldn't be bothered.

Download disc five from "The Thrill of It All" - their early B-sides are brilliant...

Happy Holidays,

Laura N.

So anyway, I have found the courage to stand up and say "I think Roxy are balderdash" but by the same token, I feel like I'd quite like to like them, even though I think Ferry is a slimy old lounge lizard with about as much style as brownshirt. And Eno is overrated, although I quite like that Music for Airports stuff.

Anyway, I have this nagging feeling that Roxy might be really good but I just can't quite seem to feel it. I had that Greatest Hits package one time and like the guy up there said, it utterly failed to make a dint in my consciousness.

Why do Roxy fans like Roxy when it seems to me that they're clearly not very good? Can anyone help?

For Your Pleasure is pretty much my favourite album by anyone, but the first five are all essential. Remake/Remodel, Ladytron, In every Dream Home, Mother of Pearl, Love is the Drug, Both Ends Burning, Virginia Plain, Editions of you. It doesn't get any better than this.

I dislike intensely they way that some people see Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music as synonymous, but I do like a lot of his solo stuff as well. Particularly Bride Stripped Bare.

I'll buy pretty much anything associated with Roxy, no matter how ropey (Rock Follies!), but apart from the obvious Eno stuff, Diamond Head by Phil Manzanera is well worth getting.

pre-sale today

for some locations ( or all?)

A couple of days ago, Bryan Ferry also announced the release of a 4-track digital EP 'Love Letters', with his take on some classic love songs. The title track was released with the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i840Yy04LUw

I've seen a lot of backlash in comments on YT & FB, loads of people saying that it's a terrible recording and the man can't sing anymore. I don't know, while this song is certainly not the strongest thing he ever did and his current voice might indeed be weaker than it used to be, I still take this voice over loads of other singers in their prime. I always find a lot of beauty in it.

I hope some European dates will get added to this Roxy Music tour eventually, while I did skip Genesis because I didn't think Phil's vocals held up well, I'd go see Ferry/Roxy without thinking twice. Last time I saw him was 2018 & I loved it. Hearing Bête Noire live was one of my all-time concert highlights.

He barely massaged the consonants on the studio version of "Bête Noire," so I heard not much of a difference live.

Valentijn OTM on all points.

This is rough, most seats require an offer code I don't have ...

Hey, kids: use ROXY50 as your offer code.

At least in NYC, demand doesn't seem to be that high, so dynamic pricing shouldn't inflate the tickets TOO much. Everything seems pretty reasonable compared to other MSG acts. I actually rejoined the queue just to scope out what was still available without rush and got back in with virtually no wait.

Fees
USD $6.00 (Order Processing Fee)
USD $4.00 (Facility Charge) x 2
USD $24.60 (Service Fee) x 2

DC

I don't have a breakdown but for MSG in NYC, if you opted for $111.50 tickets, it's roughly $27 each in fees.

-Capital One Arena in DC fees were for $135 tickets

are they worth $92.25 for the cheapest seats y/n

Also I agree with Valentijn. I saw Ferry on his last tour, and while his voice was "weaker," he knew how to use it and it fit all the songs like a glove. Think about Billie Holiday - physically her voice was diminished later on, but her phrasing was arguably greater and more inventive. A great singer knows how to fit the voice they have to the performances they're fronting, and that's what I get from the whisper-ier Ferry of today.

Anyway, they're playing arenas this time and the shitty acoustics alone will probably make it impossible to tell much of a difference, I'm sorry to say.

xp wow, $92.25? MSG had $59 seats.

Actually $55 now that I'm checking, but they really suck.

this is in Turonno

DC has $55 nosebleed tickets too

I'm going! Tickets at the brand new Moody Center in Austin were $135 + fees for dead center mezzanine level.

so what y'all are saying is that you wouldn't pay 92.25 for nosebleed tix

I got 4 tix for $110 apiece at the TD Garden in Boston in the loge on the side (I purposely ignored how awful the fees were). That felt ... reasonable.

x-post re nosebleed seats - maybe I would pay that (but decided to splurge for more expensive ones)

I'm going to O2 and The Forum lol!

If I was sitting in the nosebleeds, I would go for $55 because you're really not gaining ANYTHING from the distance achieved at the $92.25 level. To put it in perspective, I saw Elton John at the cheapest seats, and I don't think it was any different than the low level seats I passed to get to mine because in both cases, Elton was tiny and the screen behind him (what I basically stared at the whole time) was enormous.

So it's either cheapest possible for nosebleeds or a decent but much more expensive seat in the lower tiers or floor.

Like Naive Teen Idol said, for less than $20 more, you can get a whole lot closer than nosebleeds, but for half the price, you probably can't tell much of a difference when you're already that far up.

Or rather based on the numbers he gave for the seats he got.

I paid an extra $40 per ticket for the Phil Manzanera VR experience, you stand in the concourse and see a video feed of the entire show through his sunglasses.

lol

irl lol f. hazel

fuck it, just coughed up $150

Only going to go to this if Paul Thompson is on drums.

it is

It's basically the classic line-up, but not the first iteration with Brian Eno. I didn't think Eno would join, but Jesus I would've splurged for the $300 seats if he did...

i suppose it's possible he might pop into a London show but I wouldn't count on it (more likely, he may go to the show and not perform, ala Gabriel at the last Genesis gig)

the 2001 Roxy show I saw is by far the best “reformed band plays back catalogue” show i have seen - and i have probably seen too many - they were so good! i went as a casual listener and left a devoted fan

saw Ferry a few years back and found it a bit disappointing - he was cool but i found his band a bit underwhelming, i was hoping for a hyper-drilled unit of young guns recreating the studio sheen of his best solo stuff - but it just felt a bit tired and session-y

I remember at the 2011 (?) Roxy shows there was meant to be a bit of tension re Bryan wanting to fold his solo hits into the setlist, and the band resisting - i think they played Let’s Stick Together as a compromise - i certainly would have been outraged if the show i saw had ended with that instead of For Your Pleasure, it was a perfect way to close out a show

Wonder if that was the tour I saw in the little theater at MSG with Rufus Wainwright opening.

If you mean 2001, yes.

when was the last time eno was even on stage performing for a crowd?

Singing with Stephen Colbert and Michael Stipe in 2011?

I did not know this existed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_72UC9npjg

xxp I guess in 2016?

https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/brian-eno-3bd6a03c.html

i saw Eno perform live in 2009 - it was an event called Pure Scenius, a live semi-improvised collaboration with Karl Hyde, Jon Hopkins, The Necks, Leo Abrahams maybe some other people i've forgotten about! there were three concerts in one evening, with Eno directing the course of each improvisation from a little control station onstage (and very occasionally singing and playing a bit of keyboard). if it wasn't quite as good as it could have been, there were definite highlights and felt like a legitimate way to "see Eno live" - ambitious and interesting, rather than just a trad live show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDs70rPj36A

Well, went for tickets for SF so bring on the stately chaos, if you will.

I believe Eno did something live with his brother in the past six months in Athens.

Yes, at the Acropolis last August:
https://vk.com/video/@brianeno

Just noticed that the link works on my desktop but not my phone, where I'm prompted to register.

youtube-dl works on that link if anyone wants to d/l for later.

I briefly thought that Eno Bros at the Acropolis concert was for this summer and contemplated taking my family to Greece. I’m glad I checked. 😬

hell....yes

https://i.imgur.com/zqHLGph.jpeg

The Brie Of It All