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24/02/2007

Bryan Ferry excels in Dylan covers gig: review/setlist/video link

The 45 minutes of Bryan Ferry’s Dylanesque promo gig, which has just finished on BBC1 TV, saw England’s rags-to-riches rocker delivering an inspired set. Ferry was backed by a lively band – a rock quartet, filled out by piano, keyboards/viola, horn(s), and a pair of tumultuous gospel-tinged backing vocalists.

The broadcast component of Ferry’s set, recorded at the lovely ex-church, LSO St Luke’s, London, was a rich mix of Ferry/Roxy favourites, interleaved with Dylan covers:

SETLIST:
1. The In Crowd (Ferry – Another Time, Another Place)
2. All Along The Watchtower (Dylan – JWH)
3. Slave To Love (Ferry - Boys And Girls)
4. Make You Feel My Love (Dylan – TOOM)
5. Let’s Stick Together (Ferry – Let’s Stick Together)
6. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (Dylan – H61R)
7. Don’t Stop The Dance (Ferry – Boys And Girls)
8. Gates Of Eden (Dylan – BIABH)
9. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Ferry - Another Time, Another Place)
10. I Put A Spell On You (Ferry – Taxi)
11. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (Dylan – F)
12. Jealous Guy (Roxy – single)

Ferry’s treatment of the five Dylan covers was both soulful and reverential. He worked the nuances of each tune. His occasionally melodramatic delivery served to highlight the majesty of both Dylan and the other songs in the set. He delivered some well-felt, lively harp on songs 6 and 8, too: bonus!

It was instructive (if predictable) to hear how well the Dylan material sat alongside the old Jerome Kern standard, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

The only slight weakness of a delightful gig was the choice of final tune – a weak song by an over-rated writer, with an appropriately weakly whistled outro.

Overall, this was a lovely show – the best rockpop gig I’ve seen for some time. Now, is it too late to I book for Ferry’s forthcoming UK tour… ?

You can see a splendid 15 min video, with clips of the gig, plus a Ferry interview discussing the Dylanesque release (due 5 March – yummy!), as well as an album review, and related Roxy Music stuff:

www.bbc.co.uk/music

Gerry Smith

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