Now 60, Brian Ferry continues to possess a stylishness of the sort that prompted Dennis Hopper to describe Dean Stockwell as “one suave fuck” in Blue Velvet. He arrives onstage at Vicar Street dressed like John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction, while throwing shapes with characteristic flamboyance and charisma.
The only real problem tonight is that Ferry’s latest album, a collection of lounge-lizard covers of Bob Dylan songs called Dylanesque, is a dud. The band’s renditions of classics like ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ and ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ lack the character and soul of the originals, and frankly don’t rise above the level of a decent Dylan covers band. There are also a few too many indulgent guitar and saxophone solos for comfort.
Much more impressive are the likes of ‘The In Crowd’ and ‘Don’t Stop The Dance’, while ‘Jealous Guy’ – although I have to confess to not being especially enamoured of either the Lennon original or Ferry’s version – is rapturously received. Undoubtedly, though, the best moments occur during the encore.
First, the group unleash a cracking extended take on ‘Let’s Stick Together’, which gets virtually everybody in the venue dancing. The knockout punch is delivered courtesy of the evergreen ‘Love Is The Drug’, the brilliant rhythms and sharp lyric of which go some way to explaining the enduring appeal of both Ferry and Roxy Music.
Ferry may have made a faux-pas in deciding to flog a Marks & Spencer clothing range, but tonight, ‘Love Is The Drug’ alone was enough to whet the appetite for that forthcoming new Roxy album.