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2007 visit
Brilliant Bryan Caps Off A Triple Treat Ferry Nicely
Bryan Ferry was at his brilliant best at the Logan Campbell Centre on December 3, as he headlined and rounded out a triple treat of acts in the style to which Ferry fans have long been accustomed - with a twist in the tail!
$138 is pretty steep as concert ticket prices go, but the sell-out 3000-strong crowd got more than their money's worth in a three-and-a-half hour show, as promising Kiwi group The Danny McCrum Band and English blues legend Joan Armatrading set the scene in their own inimitable styles.
Make no mistake, I'm anything but a big fan of New Zealand music. For the most part, it strikes me as dull, uninspiring and downright boring, to be blunt, but there are a couple of exceptions - the bulk of the work produced by Dave Dobbyn, Neil and Tim Finn in their various guises (Split Enz, Crowded House), and Bo Runga (Stellar*) invariably oozes quality musicianship from highly accomplished practitioners of their craft.
Expect The Danny McCrum Band to join that elite list sooner rather than later, on the evidence of this performance. Less than three weeks after launching their maiden album, they kicked off this concert with a stylish two-man acoustic set, Ben Jurisich and the band's founder plucking guitar strings in eye-and-ear-catching fashion.
Particular highlights were “What's Wrong With Trying To Live Right” and their last hurrah, the very catchy “Put It In The Middle”. Head to www.dannymccrum.com for more info.
Following a twenty-minute intermission, Joan Armatrading hit the stage with a four-piece band, mixing tracks from her new “Into The Blues” album with some of the most memorable hits of the soon-to-be 57-year-old's repertoire - she threw in some mean guitar work into the bargain!
Highlights included her latest single, “A Woman In Love”, future single, “My Baby's Gone”, and a handful of classics - “Love And Affection”, “Call Me Names”, a rip-roaring rendition of “Me, Myself, I”, and her encore performances, “Willow” and the smash hit, “Drop The Pilot”.
Cue another twenty-minute intermission, then the lights went down again, and eighty minutes of magic was at hand for those in the audience who know and appreciate quality and class musicianship when they hear it!
Sadly, not all present boasted such attributes to begin with, but The Master had them dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage by the end of an evening which kicked off with an Iain Dixon saxophone solo, accompanied by the king of the
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Bryan Ferry and Joan Armatrading,
with The Danny McCrum Band
at the Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, December 3, 2007
 Bryan Ferry in concert
at the Logan Campbell Centre
keyboards himself, Mr Colin Good.
As they played, the other band members took up their positions out of the spotlight, including Roxy old hands Andy Newmark (drums) and Guy Pratt (bass). The opening chords of an old favourite thundered out, and on strolled The Master to belt out “The In Crowd”, much to the delight of the in crowd present.
“Kiss And Tell” swiftly followed, prior to a trio of songs from the “Dylanesque” album. Clad in black lounge suit and tie, Bryan treated us to some terrific harmonica work on “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”, before guitarist Leo Abrahams picked out a gorgeous solo in “Positively 4th Street”, prior to eloquently complimenting Mandy Drummond's exquisite viola as that Bob Dylan track drew to a close.
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Crowd favourite “Knockin' On Heaven's Door” effortlessly slid into “Slave To Love”, a track which brought the first signs that some in the audience were clearly here to roll back the years and let their hair down to the sounds of the man whose music has provided the romantic soundtrack to the lives of many.
A thrilling “Don't Stop The Dance” continued that theme, with Oliver Thompson's grunty guitar solo a highlight. After which, a real gem for the Roxy Music aficionados of some thirty-five years standing - “Chance Meeting”, anyone? Two words sum this up - aural symphony! And a superbly rendered one at that!
How to finish the first half of the show on a high note and leave the masses baying for more? A huge cheer went up as the opening notes of “Jealous Guy” rang out, and was repeated as The Master whistled solo and note-perfect, too. The backing vocals work of Sarah Brown and Me'sha Bryan, as the song wound down with Bryan changing his attire offstage, was equally praiseworthy.
Dixon and Good enthralled with another delightful instrumental piece, featuring well-received solos from both musicians, before the band returned, swiftly followed by The Master, now sans tie, but instead resplendent in a gold lame-laced black jacket - party time!
And how! “Tokyo Joe” got the place rocking, before a quite beautiful rendition of “To Make You Feel My Love” provided the calm before an absolutely barnstorming finale, rich in Roxy standards.
“Re-Make / Re-Model” was a blast - “CPL593H” plus terrific solos by all - and was swiftly followed by a zappy “Virginia Plain”, before a real crowd-pleaser in “Love Is The Drug” finally saw the seemingly subdued audience wake up to the fact that they were at a Bryan Ferry concert, where cool rules, and offering polite applause while seated ain't cool at all!
Now that the vast majority were up and rocking, “Let's Stick Together” - a real Bryan Ferry favourite in New Zealand - went down a storm, and was a great note to end on. Off went The Master, but the band stayed on stage, joining the audience in baying for more.
And more we got. Not “More Than This”, sadly, but “Editions Of You” was a more than adequate alternative, as was the last song of the night, a real surprise finale in the old Wilson Pickett stomper, “Hold On, I'm Coming”.
We hope you will again, Bryan. Again, brilliant.
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