You know what would be GREAT?....... just OPEN the show with something other than Remake Remodel.....How about "Prairie Rose" or "Sentimental Fool"?......or.....? Thoughts?

I quite like Remake as an opener. Something dynamic always goes down well. I used to hate it when they opened with a new one which not everyone knew, especially in the days when the tours started before the album was out ! Apart from the Flesh +Blood tour (The Bogus Man), every tour has opened with a song from the new album. Over a period of time, Strand, Street Life, Prairie Rose, Sentimental Fool, Manifesto and The Main Thing have all become legendary. But they weren't at the time ! Having said all that, Prairie Rose, Thrill of it all, Strand, Street Life, etc would all be great openers now.
I would love to see a throwback to 1972 with VP as the opener with Bryan shouting "Hello This is Roxy Music ! "halfway through the song! Great Moments !Great days !

Is VP your very idea of Roxy Music? How far from the latter days...It`s already in the set list, but not as an opener.

"VP as the opener with Bryan shouting "Hello This is Roxy Music ! "halfway through the song!"

-How shallowly pompous.

One of you will correct me if this is wrong, but I was told that Remake was chosen as the set opener for the 2001 tour because it was the first song Roxy had ever played live, i.e. that it was the opener at their very first gig (very late '71 or early '72, wasn't it?). That thought, together with the photo montage backdrop showing pictures of vintage Roxy, was a nice idea.

Personally, I think it's a cracking opener (possibly my favourite Roxy song of all time); the problem is how to maintain the heat that it generates and many of the post-'76 songs seem a bit tepid in comparison.

Of course they are tepid in comparision. They are never meant to have anything with each other to do. They were products of a natural progression. In fact, they outdo each other. They communicate on different wave-lengths. It`s all about how you adjust your during a concert. It`s obvious that Bryan wants to solve this conflict in some sort of way. The up tempo songs are from the 70s, and the slow numbers are from the 80s. It didn`t have to be like that. It could have been the opposite, if he just wanted it.

Open with Prairie Rose or Serenade

Open withe Prarie Rose or Serenade.

I'm not sure why Le Freak views the move from the earthy early 70s Roxy sound to the smooth over-production of the more recent trilogy as a natural progression.

The early stuff was vibrant and fresh (the original recording of Remake sounds quite punk-ish), whereas the 1979-82 stuff seems to follow trends, rather than set them (i.e. a hint of disco and a splash of new romanticism). It can't be attributed to ageing (BF was already in his mid 20s when it kicked off and only in his mid 30s by the time Avalon appeared), so it looks more like a desire to cash in at the expense of creativity.

Quite why the later Roxy stuff tended too often towards blandness, I don't know, as Manifesto followed hard on the heels of BF's In Your Mind & The Bride Stripped Bare, both of which knock the later group offerings into the shade. Certainly the title track of Manifesto was, for me, the last Roxy track with any real grit (although I'll confess to a soft spot for The Main Thing).

Phil & Andy seem keen enough to get experimental with setlists, so it's a pity that they've been unable to exert a greater influence.

Got to agree with much of what Smudge says - although I do think Avalon was something different/special which went beyond anything anyone else had ever done by that date.

I'd love to hear Manifesto as an opener - certainly the last track with any "grit".

The fact is that Phil has been producing fastastic albums for the past 6 years. Andy's even had an impressive go. If Bryan's solo stuff gets a look in at a Roxy gig then Phil's certainly should - he needs the exposure.

To get a longer set list (and to give Bryans voice a rest) I'd be very happy to see Diamond Head and Wild Weekend included in the set list. However, I think this might be a far stretch for some of the "hits only" audience?