I recall an interview with Andy Mackay saying that they were rehearsing tracks that had not been played live for a long time. Not sure what they are. Anyone?

I still feel a great sense of disappointment. The original excuse for not performing any new songs since 2001 was that Bryan didn't have enough time to rehearse with the band because of his Olympia commitments. Well there have been so many days off in between shows on the 2010 tour that you would have thought that they could spend one or 2 days rehearsing a new song or 2 to make the shows a bit more interesting. Even during the soundcheck ! Let's see what 2011 brings us.

Idle beggars.

Actually, I'm so furious about this that I can't let it go at "idle beggars". You do get the impression of a totally dysfunctional gang of people. There was a telling comment in one of the recent interviews with BF. He said that the members of Roxy don't "hang out together" on tour. For this I read that they travel separately, stay in different hotels (or at least don't have meals or drinks together) and, basically, the BF camp can't stand the sight of the PM/AM camp and vice versa. This is why they can't face rehearsals and why, incredibly, AM can't just ask BF whether any of his playing made it onto Olympia. What could be more damning than his having to air all that on the internet rather than just asking BF. The sad truth must be that they hate each other but are just doing these shows etc for the hard cash. And, basically, as long as they receive that cash they don't give a monkeys' whether the fans enjoy the shows.

Yes, I think this summer's Roxy tour and the tour early next year are all about the money. Some clips I've seen of various performances this summer seem pretty good (e.g. Dreamhome on the Ross finale) and other seemed phoned-in/perfunctory (e.g. Virginia Plain on the Ross finale)

The trumpeting of Olympia as some kind of Roxy Music album strikes me as cynical at best and completely dishonest at worst. BF tried to do the same thing with Mamouna because Eno and PM and AM played on a few tracks but, despite the hype, it generated little interest that translated into album sales. I'm afraid that's what's shaping up for Olympia. And do you think that PM and AM will be upset if Olympia turns out to be a dud in terms of sales? Hardly. They're probably secretly hoping that's the case. And maybe's it's not even so secret...

Bryan definitely doesn't travel with the rest of the band. I was at the filming of the TOTP2 recording in 2001. They did VP, OOTB, DTS and Jealous Guy. There were loads of stop/starts and a retake of Jealous Guy. What struck me was that in between takes and interruptions from the Stage Manager, the band never spoke to each other. No jokes, conversations, nothing.

There doesn't appear to be great camaradarie or friendship there either. If I was in a band, I would want to travel together, share a few laughs, and look forward to hitting the stage. And the more songs we could play , the better, not the same ones night after night, year after year. Still, from what I can make out, they pick up about £25,000 (maybe more !) each per show, so it's easy money ! Rock n Roll !!

In the 'Irish Times' interview BF referring to the other Roxy guys:
' think they’re very pleased that I’ve gone on tour with them this year. I promised last year that I would do some festivals with them this year'
whiffs a little of the king throwing scraps from the high table...not exactly a working band is it?

Does sound like that doesn't it. Sounds like it's a Bryan favour rather than working together jointly as a unit.

Weren't there a couple of quotes (can't remember who from) that the sessions a few years ago were 'just like old times'? Presumably there must be some group feeling. I doubt that the members feel that they have to keep Roxy Music alive for the sake of it, as PM, AM and BF have all had successful (artistically if not always financially) solo albums recently.