Guilfest 15/07/12 - Bryan Ferry


I went to Guilfest yesterday.  It was my first time at this festival (though I love going to gigs, I'm not much of a festival goer, unless there is a band/artist playing who I really like).  Since the headlining act was Bryan Ferry and the festival is local to me, I felt this was definitely a must see performance.  On arrival at the festival, I could not believe the amount of mud.  Yes, I know it has been raining here constantly for what seems like months so I should have expected it, but the mud was pretty hardcore.  In all my festival naivety, I turned up in my favourite pair of Converse (to think I almost wore ballet pumps).  Luckily, there was a stall selling wellies, so my friend Mike and I snapped some up.  Here is a picture of the hideous pair I bought.  Seriously though, these wellies saved us.


However, the music more than made up for the mud, and Ferry put on an amazing performance - his tour band really are fantastic, and on this occasion they were joined by Johnny Marr of The Smiths, who played guitar with the band for the entire set.  Marr previously played on Ferry's 1987 Bête Noire album and is also working on Ferry's upcoming album.

Ferry opened the set with I Put A Spell On You, followed by Slave To Love and Don't Stop The Dance.  For the remainder of the show he played a good variety of songs, touching upon almost every Roxy Music album, along with tracks from his solo catalogue.  The setlist was very similar to that of the last time I saw him at Shepherd's Bush Empire in December of last year.  However, unlike that show, the Guilfest performance lacked material from Ferry's last album Olympia, with only one track from that album - Reason Or Rhyme - being played.  However, this is a festival crowed, made up of fans who have come to see a range of artists, not necessarily just Ferry, therefore the setlist would inevitably aim to reflect this.
Crowd pleasing hits such as Let's Stick Together and Love Is The Drug certainly got the audience moving.

My favourite songs of the evening were Oh Yeah, More Than This and Avalon.
More Than This in particular was a joy to hear - I have a few great live versions in my iTunes library, but it's not the same as actually hearing it live in person.  I also felt this track was perfectly placed in the setlist, leading effortlessly into Avalon.

Setlist
I Put A Spell On You
Slave To Love
Don't Stop The Dance
Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues
If There Is Something
Oh Yeah
Casanova
Reason Or Rhyme
Like A Hurricane
Tara
Chance Meeting
More Than This
Avalon
My Only Love
Editions Of You
Let's Stick Together
Jealous Guy
Love Is The Drug
All Along The Watchtower
Hold On I'm Coming

Comments

  1. Laura16 July 2012 at 14:22

    Oh lord, converse in the mud? Poor Steph! Glad they were selling wellies! Also, I didn't realise Bryan Ferry was playing Guilfest! Not that I'm necessarily a massive fan of his, but that's a pretty big name act for Guilfest I feel!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LMBTO_Eurovision17 February 2013 at 16:15

    Wish I'd had the opportunity to go - sounds like an excellent set!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steph18 February 2013 at 14:13

    It really was a great performance, the setlist was bang on and his band are fantastic.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Track of the Day: More Than This - Roxy Music

Image
More Than This  was the first single to be released from Roxy Music's final studio album, Avalon , in 1982.  Not only is it one of my favourite Roxy tracks, I also think it's the song which best represents the band's transition into the smooth and more polished sound which was so present in their later work.  Bryan Ferry's vocals blend effortlessly through verse and chorus, with lines which contribute to the atmospheric feel of the track - "Like a dream in the night / Who can say where we're going...Why the sea on the tide / Has no way of turning".  Just as impressive is the instrumental outro, which, led by lush synths and layers of guitar, more than makes up for the absence of vocals in the final few minutes of the song.
Read more...

Hidden Treasures: Ball & Chain - Bus Stop

Image
Bus Stop were a North Carolina-based, pop/rock band, formed in 1990 by vocalist Evan Olson and lead guitarist Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell. Completing the line-up were bassist Chuck Folds and drummer Eddie Walker, though the band is also notable for the involvement of Chuck's brother Ben, who contributed piano to a number of tracks over the course of their four LPs. I first came across Bus Stop after hearing a brief snippet of their music on a TV show. The clip was literally a ten-second instrumental intro section, but it was punchy and energetic, and I was immediately hooked. The track in question - 'What You Do' - and the album from which it appears - 2000's Japanese compilation release, Ball & Chain - offered me a solid introduction to the band's music. The most endearing aspect of Ball & Chain , is how stylistically diverse it is. There is no one sound that dominates, with a tracklist spontaneously spanning multiple genres throughout its 23 songs. ...
Read more...

The Stacey Brothers' Big Band Steely Dan Project: The Royal Scammers at Ronnie Scott’s, London – 20/01/2024

Image
  The Royal Scammers are a Steely Dan tribute band formed of Jeremy and Paul Stacey, and their 14-piece big band. I only came across these wonderful musicians a few weeks ago when I saw they were playing a six-night run at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, and managed to snag a last-minute ticket for the final night. As a massive Steely Dan fan who hasn’t seen the band since their last UK show in 2019, and with no upcoming dates on the horizon, I figured a highly regarded tribute band playing at London’s most prestigious jazz club was the next best thing.   Shortly after arriving at Ronnie Scott’s and being led to a front row table (where I was so close to the stage, I was practically touching the keyboard), the Royal Scammers arrived on stage and kicked off the set with a fabulously glossy rendition of ‘Peg’. While the unique vocal tone of Donald Fagen is unmatched, The Royal Scammers lead vocalist Andy Caine showcased a powerful vocal that fully delivered on the far-reaching range r...
Read more...