Bryan Ferry’s London Palladium Show Exhilarates Before European Tour
If you looked up the word ‘style’ in the dictionary you might just find Bryan Ferry. Well, perhaps when the lexicographers get round to updating their records. And, if Ferry’s shows at the Grade-II listed London Palladium were anything to go by late this April - before he and his band headed off across to tour Europe and onward to North America - you can still see he has still got it.
Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets for one of his two performances at the 1910-built Palladium were treated to a run through classic tracks from his time with Roxy Music and solo material from his catalogue. Ferry in fact has been a solo artist longer now than his time in Roxy Music as the band’s lead vocalist and chief songwriter.
The Durham-born singer-songwriter and musician, who is 70-years old, can still crank out a song years after he topped the UK singles chart with Roxy Music. He has been highly successfully solo artist, which is reflected by 5 top-10 UK chart singles and 10 UK chart top-10 albums - including No.1’s with ‘Boys and Girls’ and ‘Street Life’.
His voice might not be quite what it was back in his Roxy heyday. It is mellower these days, but his band more than compensated for this.
Emily Burns, a 21-year old a singer-songwriter originally from Rugby but based now in London, was the support act. Influenced by artists such as Corinne Bailey Ray and Pink, her debut single ‘Plasters, Glitter and Glue’ was released in August 2013. It was an easy going set with her playing guitar backed by a drummer and keyboardist.
Having performed at numerous festivals, Burns has even toured the Czech Republic and had a slot on the BBC introducing stage at ‘T in The Park’ in 2013. The latter resulted in her music being play listed on BBC Radio 1.
Stating that it was “an honour” to be supporting Ferry she added that he was the “coolest man in music”. Jokingly she remarked that people should not confuse her with another Emily Burns, an American artist from Virginia, who paints deer heads on women.
Ferry took to the stage and opened with Avonmore, the title track of his latest studio album from 2014. As I was sitting in the stalls right under the Grand Circle I wondered momentarily if the venue’s balcony might collapse, as it almost did in 1973 during a performance by English glam rock group Slade.
Avonmore was followed up by Slave to Love, a hit from 1985 and the first single on the Boys and Girls album. Originally featuring Neil Hubbard and Steve Scott on lead guitar, Hubbard was on hand at the Palladium adding deft guitar touches throughout the evening.
The audience were treated to a good 100 minutes of entertainment from the crooner, once a pottery teacher in Holland Park. The show had something for everyone - from a slick version Roxy Music’s Beauty Queen from the band’s 1973 album For Your Pleasure to If There Is Something from Roxy’s eponymous debut album to a cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.
Supported by an accomplished seven-piece band and two backing singers including the excellent Fonzi Thornton and Bobbie Gordon, Ferry’s voice seemed to get better as the evening wore on.
There were many outstanding performances from the band who included Jacob Quistgaard, a Los Angeles-based Dane, with hypnotic slide-guitar work on Ladytron, to a number of virtuoso inputs from Jorja Chalmers on clarinet and saxophone, plus some possessed violin solos from Lucy Wilkins, a native of Nottingham, on Zamba from Ferry’s seventh solo album Bête Noire. Wilkins has played with the likes of Van Morrison, Travis and Paul Weller amongst others no less.
Equally one could highlight some great individual playing and supporting cameos by Jimmy Sims on bass guitar, Luke Bullen’s pulsating drums and Paul Beard on keyboards.
The evening ended with Let’s Stick together, during the middle of which a mystery lady decided to get up on stage and cavort around Ferry as he played harmonica before being gently led off stage by security. And, a moving version of Jealous Guy, a song Roxy Music recorded as a tribute when John Lennon died, came in the encore.
Among tour merchandise to catch my eye as I departed was a huge golf umbrella emblazoned with the risqué cover of Roxy Music’s 1974 fourth album ‘Country Life’ for £60, which features two scantily clad German models. I discovered a few had been purchased.
More discreetly I plumped for Ferry’s first solo live album, the eponymously titled ‘Bryan Ferry Live 2015’, a 2-CD set costing £20 with 26 tracks recorded during last year’s Avonmore Tour. A deluxe book pack filled with live photos, it is available only at Ferry’s current gigs on this tour and via www.bryanferry.com.
This was money well spent. In addition to featuring songs from the highly acclaimed Avonmore, which many say is his best in years, there are classic hits from Ferry, Roxy’s back catalogue as well as two Dylan covers.
The album’s is excellent, which is probably explained by the fact that it was mixed by Rhett Davies and Simon Willey at Studio One Olympia in London plus Tom Schinko at Bayerischer Rundfunk. It was mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios. More than this one could not ask for.
Ferry’s 2016 Avonmore tour continues across Europe with shows in Denmark (11 May at the Vejle MusikTeater, and Copenhagen’s DR Koncerthuset on 13 May), before heading to Iceland (Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, 16 May), with two shows slated for Dublin at the Olympia Theatre (8 & 9 June).
Later in July he performs in Canada - Quebec (15 July), Ottawa (17 July) and Toronto (19 July) - before eleven US shows that take in cities from New York to Boston and Nashville to San Francisco and Los Angeles between 21 July and 11 August. Let’s hope Ferry’s skill at crafting songs of beauty and elegance stays around a lot longer.
About the author: Roger is a freelance writer based in London and has contributed to Forbes in Europe, as well as The Guardian and The Independent. For a number of years he worked at the FT as a staff writer in London. He has been awarded a State Street Institutional (UK) press prize for covering the regulatory landscape in financial markets. Previously he worked as an editor at the London Stock Exchane within the Regulatory News Service (RNS).
Date published: 25 April 2016.
