Jealous Guy in Ljubljana, and Not a Bit More Than That (2007)

Venue: Mala dvorana Tivoli / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 09.10.2007
Attendance: 1500
Ticket price: 39.00€

The legendary frontman of Roxy Music, the hugely popular art rockers of the eighties, a gentleman of exceptional charm, famous for his fatally seductive moves and even more fatally attractive allure, with which he has, and probably still does today, knocked women off their feet, Bryan Ferry, has finally stopped in Ljubljana too, on the tour promoting his album “Dylanesque” (2007). It’s his first time here as a solo act, in a city that really can’t brag about its big-name gigs this autumn.

Before this fine gentleman took the stage, Tinkara Kovač tried to warm up the sparse crowd in the hall. This year Slovenia is full of Tinkara Kovač. She put out her much-discussed album “aQa” (2007), and she thoroughly and unexpectedly shook up the audience when she wandered onto the stage during Robert Plant’s show in Koper to keep him company and tease the old Zeppelin fart. So Tinkara works skillfully and tirelessly to stay in the media all the time. She surprised me in a similar way during our trip to Graz for this year’s Jethro Tull gig, where she helped her colleague Anderson blow through Bach’s instrumental Bouree. Anyway, the girl got half an hour and decided on a natural-sounding acoustic look for the songs she played on the occasion. It’s a matter of taste, but I think in that half hour before Ferry the hall could have been rocked a lot harder. The stage was basically Tinkara in one piece. The guys behind her were perfectly petrified extras, without a spark of electricity between them, just obedient executors who dutifully rubbed their instruments to Tinkara’s baton and lovingly kept their own little stools warm. Tinkara was having fun. That goes for her flute solo too, where she didn’t hide a few guru-style nods to her great friend Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), and she even tucked the main motif of Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile into her flute solo. There was also The Place 2B, Ko bo prišel and Spezzacuori, among others. The girl is incredibly self-assured and radiates confidence, which is her great strength. Otherwise, as I said, I expected more energy, because the song choices in a set list meant for a half-hour warm-up, the acoustic to semi-acoustic dress they got, and the static backing crew would somehow make more sense blended into a headliner’s show. Tinkara would definitely have set the place on fire in a heavier, electrically tighter version, without the solo number and with everything subordinated to absolute singalong catchiness, which would have won over the crowd too. During her set they just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, muster enough motivation to breathe along with the young and extremely charismatic entrepreneur.

Bryan Ferry floated in wearing a glittering jacket with his nine-piece crew at exactly 9 p.m. You could feel in the air that the man was in a good mood, and he confirmed it with his greeting to the crowd and by saying how honored he was to play Ljubljana for the first time. The man is a perfectionist. Following the example of his mother band Roxy Music, Bryan keeps a large lineup around him to build a full sound. With him were three backing vocalists, Colin Good on grand piano, Ian Dixon on saxophones, and the young guitarist Oliver Thompson, whose androgynous stage look really had people guessing whether he was of age. Three renowned musicians with serious concert and studio mileage deserve a special mention. First is bassist Guy Pratt, a man who has been connected to Pink Floyd in one way or another since 1987, whether as a studio or live “session” guitarist, and who recently accompanied the Floyd man Gilmour on his 2006 tour. He can also boast collaborations with Madonna, All Saints, The Shmits, and he wrote, for instance, the hit Ain’t No Doubt, performed by the British actor Jimmy Nail. Drummer Andy Newmark is Ferry’s colleague from Roxy Music, and he made his name in rock as the drummer of Sly And The Family Stone, with collaborations including Spookey Tooth keyboardist Gary Wright, David Gilmour, John Lennon, BB King and Eric Clapton too. A very interesting career hides behind guitarist Chris Spedding. He worked with Free bassist Andy Frasier in Sharks, played with the jazz rock fusionists Nucleus, then Pete Brown’s Battered Ornaments, and where Pete Brown is close by, Jack Bruce is of course there too. Then there are Alan Price, Mike Gibbs, solo albums, and production work for Sex Pistols.

So, a lineup that doesn’t mess around! Ferry dedicated the gig to promoting the album “Dylanesque”. Back in 1973 he said in an interview that he wanted to put out an album dedicated to good old Uncle Bob Dylan. And now it’s here. The show opens with The “In” Crowd, followed by Kiss And Tell. A very relaxing “chill out” pairing, and it won the crowd over to his side in an instant. The first part of the gig was marked by the first batch of Bob Dylan covers, starting with Just Like The Tom Thumb’s Blues, Times They Are A-Changin’, Positively 4th Street and of course a sped-up take on Knockin’ On A Heaven’s Door. The man really lit up the crowd with Slave To Love, and after it Don’t Stop The Dance. Jelaous Guy could not be missing, and it got an excellent improvised insert from one of the backing vocalists in its dramatic outro. The gig broke in the middle for an instrumental solo duet of piano and sax in a jazzy-tinted Body And Soul. Then came the second part of the show, which Ferry kicked off with When She Walks In The Room, followed by the second batch of Dylan interpretations with Simple Twist Of Fate, Make You Feel My Love and an impressive All Along The Watchtower, where Ferry confirmed his art rock mastery by using every possibility of musical expression the nine-piece band offers. Young Thompson especially proved his huge talent here with the inventiveness of the lines he chose within the song. Slipped in among that trio was the surprise of the evening, Tokyo Joe (“In Your Mind”, 1977). Ferry kept on burning from that album, delivering the art rock perfection of Love Me Madly Again, which for fans of the singer was definitely one of the evening’s highlights. Ferry somewhat overlooked Roxy Music this time. Apart from the already mentioned “Lennonesque” Jelaous Guy, it was Virginia Plains and Love Is The Drug near the end that brought the crowd to life. He closed the gig with the obligatory Let’s Stick Together, and in the encore he fired up the audience with the bluesy soul number Hold On (I’m Coming) and one more Roxy Music hit, Do The Strand.

Ferry delivered good sound during the gig (listened to from 20 m from the stage, on the floor, in the middle) and a high-spirited atmosphere, with his unique voice at the head of that famous soul blues touch, showing off his trademark mix of new wave, touches of art rock perfection, lighter pop rock dance escapes, and R & B standards. The two guitarists wove an excellent atmospheric tapestry of sounds throughout the gig, often built with a slide, which in combination with the shifting colors of the stage lighting created a dramatic mood close to Gilmour’s live tricks. The excellent Ian Dixon on sax, together with the backing vocalists, supplied a full dose of erotic temptation that couldn’t have fit the overall picture any better, the one Bryan Ferry painted so effectively at Tivoli. The only minus goes to the reading of verses during songs and, of course, the far too short running time, just an hour and a half (encore included).

The 62-year-old is still blessed with a noble-toned voice and the stature of a great charmer, and with it he lived up to his reputation in grand style and confirmed it once more. Next year we’ll supposedly see him on European stages again, since he’s set to go on tour with Roxy Music. According to unofficial sources, Brian Eno is supposed to join Roxy Music this time too. That was said the year before last as well, and then we saw Roxy Music without Eno. It was a relaxing and very lovely evening hanging out with the legendary Ferry in the small hall at Tivoli. Because ticket sales were low, they halved the hall this time.