Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, erstwhile singer of Roxy Music and long-time solo artist, is touring the antipodes at the moment. Unlike many an artist, upon whose heads I metaphorically heap copious amounts of ordure, he has noticed that Wellington is part of New Zealand, and has created a tour schedule accordingly. Yes, he came to Wellington.

We drove into town, having uncharacteristically failed to pre-book a dinner venue. “We’ll be able to pick something up easily on a Tuesday night” I thought. First, we tried Crab Shack. The maître-d’ was taking phone numbers to call people when their tables would be ready. “No matter, we’ll pop next door – Shed 5 didn’t look as busy.” Nope, fully booked. “Let’s try Foxglove then.” The restaurant was fully booked, “…but you can have food from the bar snacks menu.” We had a quick look at that, spotted that burgers were a key component of said menu, and ordered.

What’s going on? Well, you have to think of the Bryan Ferry concert-going demographic. Mostly our age, or older, and generally people of wealth and taste, who’d already spaffed a three-figure sum on tickets. And what do such people do before a gig? Why, take in a leisurely dinner. The barman at Foxglove was equally puzzled as to why the average age of his customers had suddenly skyrocketed. “Is there a concert on?” he asked. “Yes, Bryan Ferry”, I replied. “Who?” “Bryan Ferry. You know, from Roxy Music.” “Who?” Bless him, he wasn’t even a twinkle in his parents’ eyes when Roxy Music were in their heyday. His granddad was probably in the audience. And, when we looked around the crowd during the interval between sets, there weren’t many faces under forty to be seen.

Having consumed our burgers, we walked over to the TSB Arena, and staked our place at the Row E, seat 56 and 57 bar. The support act, who appeared to have been drafted in at very short notice, were The Miltones. Actually The Mil, or possibly The Nes, as there were only two of the five band members. They performed their songs competently enough, but in a rather one-dimensional way as they were missing most of their instrumentation.

Some of The Miltones

And then, Bryan Ferry. Now, we’ve been rather spoilt lately by David Byrne’s recent performance, so the idea of a band, playing their songs, whilst standing on a stage, seems almost quaint. And yet, that is what they did. Mr Ferry sometimes stood, sometimes sat at a keyboard, and was assisted by a band of eight, including Chris Spedding on guitar, a musician who has had a long-standing association with Ferry and RM since the seventies. Yes, that Chris Spedding. He also had a viola player, sax, keyboardist, bass, drummer, and backing singers. They belted out a selection of songs old and new – mostly old, in fact, with a good choice of RM tunes, most of which I was unfamiliar with. Unlike certain bands I could mention, he wasn’t just playing golden oldies hits, but choosing with care from his extensive back catalogue. He mixed in the occasional big hit to keep us interested, then finished up with Jealous Guy. They didn’t do the usual encore routine whereby the band leave the stage, there’s much whooping and whistling, and then they reappear – Ferry had left whilst the band finished up the long instrumental outro, then reappeared to perform a belting version of Let’s Stick Together. The house lights came up immediately after that, indicating that there was no more to come.