Roxy Music Live - S/D

so far the setlists seem pretty... set

The whole top level of MSG was empty tonight, but the rest of the place seemed full. I was never a St. Vincent fan, bordering on disliking her…but I was shocked at how much I dug her set. I dunno if her live presentation and arrangements are vastly different from her records (I’ve only heard a few stray songs, and saw her SNL appearance), but I can’t remember the last time an opening act impressed me this much. Roxy came charging out of the gate with ”Re-Make/Re-Model”, and there were surprises early on — I didn’t check out any setlists beforehand, but I never would’ve guessed they’d do ”The Bogus Man.” Ferry didn’t lean on the backing singers too much, but most of the songs were in a different key; sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t. For me, things really dragged as more post-hiatus songs dominated. And I was deeply disappointed that nothing at all from Stranded was played. Phil had a couple of outstanding moments, Andy seemed fatigued, but sounded ok, and Paul’s abilities have not diminished a whit. Considering his is arguably the most physically taxing role, that’s saying something. Ferry’s voice lacked power, and the contrast with Paul’s fire was instructive in terms of the importance of musicians taking care of themselves long-term (though Paul is also six years younger than Ferry).

was also at the garden and will second basically everything you said, tarfumes. mackay did seem tired but he had some excellent moments, particularly early in the show ladytron was a major mackay showcase and perhaps my favorite moment of the whole show.

i will say i wish they played a bit more from the early days, though i did like some of the avalon and flesh and blood deep cuts

https://i.ibb.co/C269kKM/PT.jpg

Thanks Paul.

I had a good time, but unlike the 2019 Ferry show, this did not exceed all expectations and simply met modest ones. The early stuff was great - after the first four numbers, I thought this would be a great show, but virtually all of the post-hiatus stuff was a cut below the early material. A shame because the same post-hiatus numbers knocked me out in 2019 - Ferry was clearly in better voice then and simply sung them all better (see above)

But I thought his smokey whisper was perfect on "Ladytron," and his church-organ-like keyboards sounded amazing on "Editions of You." Manzanera and Thompson were great and I agree that Thompson was a surprise. For some reason, I thought he'd be frail, but man did his pummel the shit out of his drums. Mackay was fine - I agree he sounded a bit spent at times, but I thought it was still wonderful to hear him.

Downside - I missed St. Vincent and I couldn't take full advantage of seat upgrades because a friend I went with wanted to be in the 100's, way off to the side. (The visuals were kind of ruined from our skewed perspective too.) They did offer floor seats, but no pairs next to each other - they had a pair that were in the same seats in adjacent rows, which I wish we took.

(was being sarcastic in thanking Paul...glad I didn't spring for multiple shows)

*he pummel

The visuals are all pretty set for each song, I don't know why Paul would promise anything other than a different order. Maybe by the time they get to England they'll switch it up.

Ferry was clearly in better voice then and simply sung them all better

yeah and this simply is less of a problem in the earlier songs, but in everything from siren or later, he needs to be able to croon

I dunno, the visuals for “Tara” — an unfortunate tribute to QEII (met with tepid applause and some boos) — surely weren’t in place at the start of the tour. I think it’s no more difficult to prepare or adjust different visuals at the last minute these days than it would be to adjust the sound mix for a different setlist.

xp

i laughed out loud when lizzie's face popped up. nice version of “tara” tho

The whole top level of MSG was empty tonight, but the rest of the place seemed full.

I think that's going to be the norm for this tour? I checked the seating charts for the two Texas dates next week (Austin & Dallas), and both have all the nosebleeds greyed-out (plus some of the rear floor area for some reason). Looks like a decent amount of front-section floor seats still available for both shows too.

so what happens if I buy a nosebleed today?

Speaking of preparing new visuals, I'm glad they did not yet have the queen tribute ready to go for the DC show.

Enjoyed the show while also feeling a bit sad that it's unlikely they can do this for much longer. Was surprised when Ferry said Roxy had played MSG back in 1972! Which is true. And they played the Whiskey a Go Go on the Sunset Strip on the same tour - quite a contrast! Hope it's not too spoilery but I thought the Warhol silkscreens behind "Editions of You" worked great and helped make that song a highlight (although there appeared to be some faux Warhols in there!)

Spoke to an usher at MSG who said she loved this particular crowd (=the Roxy crowd as a whole, surely).

MSG handled the upgrades by having personnel stationed just past the metal detectors. They had a stack of printed tickets and attendees seemed to approach them not the other way around, and the explanation was they didn't sell out so they're moving everyone up. You show them your ticket and they literally just go through the stack to look for an improved seat. I didn't try going to the closed section, but I imagine someone was there to either hand new tickets or tell you to turn back and get new ones. (Box office windows were all open so it's possible they did upgrades there too.)

On the 100 level, the food at MSG is amazing. Not sure if it's the same on other levels, but Mighty Quinn's, Paulie Gees, a good sushi place, etc....if it wasn't for COVID I would have eaten like a king. But the hallways also felt a lot emptier. It wasn't too sad because again COVID - it did feel a bit safer. I should've gotten a T-shirt or at least the postcards. (The 50th anniversary shirt and most others were $40.)

I should add it was probably the nicest-dressed crowd I've been with at a MSG show, which is fitting.

Ha, I thought the same thing! It was by far the most fashionable crowd I’ve ever seen at an arena show. One guy was immaculately dressed in a full tuxedo. I felt like a shlub in my Cecil Taylor t-shirt and jeans.

Was surprised when Ferry said Roxy had played MSG back in 1972!

What he didn’t mention is that they were opening for Jethro Tull. According to Ian Anderson, the audience reaction to Roxy was, “We don’t like you.” Yeah, get those glam guys off the stage so we can see some REAL rockin’ with…really long flute solos…and a guy in a bunny suit…

This couple sitting next to me had really stylish off-white outfits. At one point one of them stepped out at the same time as my friend, leaving just me next to this fabulously dressed person, and I thought "Jesus, if people think we're a couple, they're going to look at us and my T-shirt and shorts and think 'THIS mismatch isn't going to be together for long.'"

lol

didn't see very many well-dressed people at the Toronto show

however, was seated next to the most obnoxious couple in Ontario - kept on standing up when everyone else was seated, obnoxiously loud cheering to the point that the mild-mannered dad in front of me LITERALLY SHRIEKED "shut the fuck up!!!" at them like an actual shriek, the whole section p much cheered when they were kicked out (or left, i'm a bit unclear tbh)

also was more impressed with St. Vincent than expected - at one point, she tried to get on top of a security guard or something, expecting to be held but the guard wanted none of it and dropped her, she replied "this is a fuck show"

also was more impressed with St. Vincent than expected - at one point, she tried to get on top of a security guard or something, expecting to be held but the guard wanted none of it and dropped her, she replied "this is a fuck show"

LOL, I hope that's on YouTube

I've seen a handful of loud "woooo!"ers get told to shut up before, or get kicked out. Depends on the show, really.

Once I saw the Bats play a tiny backyard in Texas, and this kid behind me kept doing the loud whistle thing. After a while I turned around and did shout "shut the fuck up!" I'm no giant, but I somehow struck the fear of god into him and he apologized. I think he was just caught up in it all. Fast forward several years, to 2013, and the Bats are playing Chicago. Before they on this other guy near me gets the attention of everyone around him and says "The Bats are my favorite band of all time, just warning you I'm going to dance, I'm going to sing along and shout." And he did, but everyone was cool with the heads up.

The Bats, man ...

the annoying couple did actually give some of us a heads up but we were still unprepared for the breadth and volume of their annoyingness

On the floor at MSG people mostly stood or sat together — and I don’t think it was a coincidence that most stood for the early songs and sat for the later ones. But there was one guy who just stood completely motionless through the whole show. He was blocking my view of Paul Thompson, but I didn’t wanna stand, because I’m tallish and didn’t want to be That Guy to the people behind me. Overall, a well-behaved crowd, even though a fight almost broke out as people were leaving.

also was more impressed with St. Vincent than expected - at one point, she tried to get on top of a security guard or something, expecting to be held but the guard wanted none of it and dropped her, she replied "this is a fuck show"

She did a bit at MSG where she walked into the audience — the first 15 rows or so — and sang to people and let them take selfies. It was actually kind of charming, but as she stepped off the stage she said, “THAT was uncomfortable,” and I don’t know if it’s because she tried to climb on a security guard.

missed this thread till today. Posted my thoughts on facebook and got hundreds of comments and responses. Add me there if you haven't already. St. Vincent was absolutely FANTASTIC. I like some of her records more than other but the performance was outstanding regardless.

It really pisses me off now that I missed St. Vincent simply because my friend took his sweet time eating and sipping his gigantic drink and didn't want to consume his meal at our seats.

She did crowd work...she came out and sat on some guys lap and took his hat. She went and picked up a little kid.

She also had a waitress come out and bring her a drink and dance around.

And the band was great and featured a guitarist who was apparently in the Three O'Clock?

I should say I've seen her own concerts twice before, but it's always entertaining when they're performing in front of a less-receptive audience as an opener - sounds like she had fun with it. Someone posted this elsewhere:

I had the most bizarre experience watching her open in Toronto. A crowd full of boomers either disinterested or walking up and down the stairs. She's such a good sport though, someone in the front row was TEXTING and she went up to them and started asking who they were texting. Then she was like "your ambivalent faces only give me ammunition".

I heard she also drank some audience member's beverage in D.C. Pretty bold in the COVID era!

An entire show from 2001...man, wish I had caught this back in the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMuam2eJzLc

I know I saw them in 2001, but it's one of those shows that for whatever reason I can't remember a single thing about it except for the venue and where I was sitting. Oh, and seeing Jon Langford there.

i know i've said this before but i saw the 2001 show and it turned me from a roxy dilettante into a committed fan - at the time I still had a bit of residual punk sniffiness about seeing legacy acts but i was totally blown away - at the time they seemed very old to me (now they look spry compared to this year's model) - but the show had tonnes of energy and captured a lot of the sophistication and glamour one would hope to see at a roxy concert

related, was the early 2000s a particularly good time to see warhorse acts? like, between 2001 and 2004 i saw pretty amazing shows from roxy, bowie, neil young, prince, the cure - probably some others - it felt like they all had a really good sense of what their strengths were at that point, and were very smart about the way they mixed canonical stuff with strong new material (roxy were the only band that didn't have new tunes) - anyway yeah maybe some sweet spot of reissue culture meets online fandom meets 40/50-something musos with a bit of life force left in the tank - i guess the cynical view is that this is when bands started totally pandering to their base rather than forging ahead artistically - but they were good shows to see!

The upshot of seeing them that late is that you can hear them play pretty much any major song from their catalog since it's all behind them now. I didn't see them on tour, but Bowie's Reality tour was definitely great - he put out excellent releases based on that tour. Even though Prince was doing the Jehovah's Witness thing, the live box set he put out in the early '00s is really good, particularly the "aftershow" disc. (It was recently reissued with a DVD included, the one that used to be a standalone release.) I can't tell you how much I regret missing those tours - I was already a huge fan of both by then, but I thought there'd be a whole lot more. In Prince's case there were, but in terms of shows I could realistically catch due to location, I think there was maybe two more that I could've seen.

I always liked Viva Roxy, and somewhere I've got a promo DVD of a BBC doc about them, that ends with a reunion show: really good, although seemed like the camera person was kinda short, standing in an audience of mighty tree-people? Memory might be exaggerating.
Haven't listen in a while, but St. Vincent albums tended to seem so hip they square, "Didn't I blow your mind with that line, now dig this"---an exception being Clark's song to her mother, "I love you more than Jesus"---yet as leader of St. Vincent the band, she and they ripped up SXSW, streaming on NPR several years ago---to the extent that an argument broke out on some thread around here about whether she was pandering by shredding, rockist etc---but yeah catch her live.

She seemed to get more and more high concept with each album, which turned me off, because the high concept stuff was also pretty pretentious. This all happened around the time she started to self-consciously act like a dick in interviews, which is certainly one sort of strategy.

There was definitely a wave of memorable reunions around the same time, give or take a few years: E Street Band, Gang of Four, Wire, Mission of Burma, Pixies, Television (again), Roxy Music, Soft Boys, Sabbath, Sex Pistols, even the Police. Most were pleasant surprises, just to see them back together again at all. I suppose the same went for Fleetwood Mac before them. The VU was the biggest surprise reunion before that, as short as it lasted. I got to see a three song Big Black reunion at one point, that was unexpected.

yeah definitely could've added Springsteen and Pixies to my little list during that early 2000s window - and pretty good iterations of those bands too (eg Clarence Clemons & Kim Deal still there)

May have mentioned this before but Zev Katz (bass on this 2001 tour) would do session work at my place of work back in the day. I remember his coming in just after this tour was over and telling us how great an experience it was. He said the band were great folks. He also added that Ferry was a stickler for detail but a kindly one.

to emsworth above: The last great big venue shows I remember seeing were in the early 00s. Prince (Musicology tour, twice) was excellent and Yes (30th or 35th anniversary with the classic lineup) were outstanding.

xp i always thought it was cool that Zev Katz threw in a little quotation from ‘Lover’ at the end of ‘Oh Yeah’ - it’s one of my very fave Roxy songs so to hear it acknowledged (I’m assuming it was intentional)

(non-xp the stones were another band who i saw around then and seemed to be in good mid-career form - and playing some interesting stuff like Can’t You Hear Me Knockin and Stray Cat Blues

i say mid-career form but at the time i was of the mind, “see all these veteran acts now cos they can’t possibly keep doing this much longer” - now 20 years later they’re mostly still doing it with diminishing returns - and some sad losses - so that little early 2000s period does look sweet)

(a caveat, I saw Neil Young again 10-12 years later on the Psychedelic Pill tour and he was even better than 2001!)

The Who’s 1999-2000 tours were an unexpected peak for them. Entwistle and Townshend were on fire — I’ve shown videos of Townshend solos from these shows to casual Who fans who all said, “When did he start playing like that?!” — and Zak Starkey really drove the band. Daltrey struggled with range occasionally, but longtime fans who’d seen them throughout the years called their ‘99-‘00 shows better than any since ‘76…or ‘71. The setlists were unpredictable, with a number of songs that hadn’t been played in years (or decades — “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” “The Kids Are Alright,” and in 1999 their last “Happy Jack”). They didn’t take advantage of this momentum to make a studio record, so in that sense it was a missed opportunity, but fortunately the tours were well-documented. It was arguably the last-best time to have seen them.

Yeah, someone was sharing their 9/11 tribute show, and I forgot that not only was Entwistle still with them, they were playing as a fierce five piece.

Anyway, I finally bought my Roxy tickets. About $80 each with fees on Seatgeek, in an area currently greyed out on Ticketmaster (that until a week or so ago had plenty of tickets for $85, plus fees). Hopefully we get upgraded!

Caveat: I wouldn't have called Bowie a legacy act in 2002-2004.

No, but it was something of a comeback tour. Two well-received more or less "return to form" albums (produced by Visconti, no less) and once again playing the hits. The tour I saw him on before that was opening for Moby, iirc.

In some ways there were a lot of parallels with Prince's "Musicology" tour, a comeback tour from an act that never really went away.

I could have seen Bowie at one of those two shows...was opening for Moby the outdoor show (maybe Moby's Area festival) where it was like half or mostly empty? I remember reading about that from Greg Kot and it sounded shameful - like Bowie deserved more and he still gave it his all.

Anyway, one of my biggest regrets ever was not going. To save "money" because concerts were supposed to be too much of a luxury. Ugh.

yeah I regret not going to that tour since he did Low in entirety. but it was at a shitty venue and I didn't care to see Moby and probably didn't have the money. I'm really glad I went to the Reality tour. it was at the high school theater! Unbelievable.

I was at the Miami show in 2004 when the roadie fell to his death.

Project canceled.

Yeah, it was the Area show. (I may have even been there with Kot, lol). Bowie didn't do Low in its entirety, but he did play a couple of deep cuts from it - "Breaking Glass," "A New Career in a New Town." I could have sworn he did "Sound and Vision," too, but maybe not. The 2003 show at Madison Square Garden I saw had more "hits," iirc, including stuff like "Under Pressure" and "All the Young Dudes."

I'm really glad I went to the MSG show: acoustics were not bad at all; St Vincent, as many of you have said, has what it takes to command that space (despite its problems, no performer can deny that to play there, even as opener, means something more than arenas elsewhere); the band, particularly Thompson, who didn't make the RRHoF gig cuz of arthritis, sounded quite good, and Ferry's ruminative croak and the key changes thus necessitated didn't bother me at all, unlike 2018 at the Beacon… I saw quite a lot people under 40 who were dressed up and psyched…

1. In the first couple of rows, like 20 or so guys (probly all guys) were visible throwing fists and shouting the lyrics back at the band during the post-"then you blew my mind" crescendo of "Dream Home Heartache," like it was, I dunno, Slayer or Rush or some much nerdier or aggro rock band than this one…

2. I don't understand the affection for "Editions of You," which seems a first, inferior draft of "All I Want is you," but I do understand the affection for the very shitty "Oh Yeah," superior only to "Cry Cry Cry" and transparently an instance of Ferry thinking to himself "The americans will love this song about driving in cars and listening to a song on the radio." One song each from Country life and Siren, and none AT ALL from Stranded = not as good a show as I'd want. The 2001 Theatre at MSG show had lots from those trhee, but I got too fucked up to properly enjoy it.