And so off to Brighton I went on Wednesday, thanks to the kindness of friends who offered me their spare ticket.
By happy chance I arrived at the Dome just after 1 p.m., just as a chauffeured black Audi headed towards the stage door; showing an unexpected change of pace for a middle aged man with an arthritic knee, I managed to reach the entrance just as BF was heading inside and he kindly signed a photo for me.
For the rest of the afternoon I was one of a handful of hardy souls who greeted the gradual arrival of the rest of the band. And what a sweet, friendly group of people they are too; by tea (or beer) time my tour programme had been signed by all of them except Bobbie, who must have used a different entrance.
Once again Judith Owen gave us an entertaining support set; no Waddy Wachtel or Russ Kunkel this time, but still the sublime bass playing of Leland Sklar fortunately.
On returning to my seat after the interval, I found myself sitting next to Mr & Mrs Windswept2; sometimes it's a small world!
The audience seemed to enjoy the less familiar Avonmore and Driving Me Wild, before Slave To Love led us to the eternal treasure that is Beauty Queen. Not sung in its entirety maybe, but any BQ is to be savoured after so many years.
Some nice BF harmonica followed during the two Dylan tunes, which suit the mature Ferry voice down to the ground; there is a vulnerability, almost an ache, to it during such poignant songs which reduces audiences to a hush and draws admiring looks from members of the band.
(Just in case anyone from Studio One should be bored enough to read this, I'll reiterate my long held belief that the permanent absence from the BF resume of a small group acoustic album - ideally with suitable small venue dates to promote it - would be an opportunity missed. That would be just too sad.)After a well received Smoke Gets In Your Eyes came the next highlight: Lucy Wilkins' gorgeous violin work on Bete Noire. Likewise, Zamba took us into a wonderful Stronger Through The Years, underpinned by the excellent bass work of Jimmy Sims (who may have just edged Smudge's "Man Of The Match" award for his all round contribution
).
A beautiful reading of Tara was enough to melt the hardest heart, as the quartet of Jorja (on soprano sax), Lucy, Quist (on acoustic) & Beardy held the audience in their collective palms.
BF returned for Take A Chance, then moved to his keyboard for the next handful of songs: One Night Stand, a great ITIS (nice solos by both guitarists & some great backing vocals), More Than This (for which Lucy also moved to keyboards) & a rapturously received Avalon.
All of which set the dancers in the audience up for their stage rush as the band struck up LITD, which had most of the stalls punters up on their feet. Virginia Plain and Do The Strand followed, as a heavily pregnant Jorja threw caution to the wind and, despite her delicate state, blew up a minor storm on tenor (she had played soprano & alto until this point), throwing in some classic Mackay-like barks & rasps during the louder passages.
And then everyone actually left the stage and we got a proper, old fashioned encore! Let's Stick Together & Jealous Guy (hats off again to the backing vocalists on the latter) were followed by a rousing Editions Of You, which did not feature in the setlist, but is reserved for those nights when the audience really deserves it!
BF looked relaxed and seemed to enjoy the night hugely; even if he looked understandably tired at the end of the tour, he was in good voice & good spirits and has apparently told fans that there will be more European dates in the spring. And long may he continue!
