For Your Pleasure

There is something infinitely sleazy about Roxy Music. It's hard to put your finger on. The dancing girls, the super model album covers, coded references to illicit sex solicitation - these all add up to sleaze, but they don't quite grasp the essence of Roxy Music's sleaze. It is like an atmosphere - a coy kind of knowledge that the band have let you in on. It is Bryan Ferry's lip curl and look of studied boredom. His faintly feminine hand gestures, the batting eyelashes. It is the rhythm of their music - it's ability to sweep you along on the piercing clarinet and guitar.

For Your Pleasure is the first tour that Roxy Music have done as a full band for almost ten years. No one thought that it would happen again. Phil Manzenerra had moved on to other bands. Bryan Ferry was doing solo work (including THAT Bob Dylan cover album), playing perverts in films, and modeling for Marx and Sparx. I had gone with my mum to see them when I was about 13 at the SECC. Their "last ever" tour. My enduring memory of it is that it was very good, that I couldn't see much (though I remember they were dressed in white suits and there was a heavy crimson velvet curtain up), and that I managed to stab my spikey bracelet through my palm as I clapped. The woes of the teenage goth.

I also recall that I refused to dance for fear of social outrage at being seen (in a dark room full of other dancing older ladies) dancing with my mother. Social suicide, evidently. But also a poor way to enjoy a gig such as this. Roxy Music was made to dance to, and dance I did. Even my slightly stiff boyfriend managed a bit of a sway by the mid point.

They played some of their older, slightly more obscure things, spaced nicely with the old favourites. 'Virginia Plain' was a resounding success, with the crowd enthusiastically bopping along and screaming the infamous last lines. Another classic, 'Avalon', had everyone swaying and singing along to the silky tones. My personal highlights were 'Here's Looking at You Kid' - a beautiful song of leave and lack regret with a slight tongue-in-cheek attitude, featuring Brian Eno's enduring electronic melody and a fabulous saxophone solo; and 'Love Is The Drug' - probably my favourite Roxy Music song and one of their sexiest. And that is saying something for a band that are famed for their sex/sleaze appeal.

Another highlight was the teenager on second guitar. About 5' 5", 15 years old, and four stone dripping wet, he didn't look like he quite...belonged...next to the rest of the veteran musicians. But he was a real talent - treating the audience to a fairly spectacular five minute solo that made the audience go wild for him. I am sure there was more than one yummy mummy marking him out as a candidate for their precious daughter. I overheard some men in the lobby after the gig chatting about him, predicting his future as great. His name was Colin Thompson, and he was possibly the drummer's son. I hope he gets where he is going, because if nothing else, it was damned obvious that he loved to play.

I was in the youngest 5% of the audience, which was a shame, as I really don't think Roxy Music are a generation-specific band. They were innovative for their day, and while their music is no longer any where near to the cutting edge now, the music has not dated in the same way much of glam rock has. Despite so many new bands looking to a predecessor for inspiration, I can't think of any that sound anything like Roxy Music. Their sound is so distinct from their contemporaries, and yet there is a certain something that is perhaps too difficult to translate in to modern music.

You could hardly believe that the men on stage were in their pension years. Bryan Ferry can still command an audience with ease. My mother came out of the gig eyes gleaming having seen the great man himself from a mere six feet. Amazing that someone who is less than a decade younger than my grandpa can have so much magnetism. It was a brilliant night, enjoyed to the full by every single person in the hall. I just hope they decide to reform one more time in the near enough future.



On a wee side note: the merch was awesome. I got myself a Country Life album cover t-shirt. Who can resist two semi-naked German models on their chest?