Concert Review: Bryan Ferry – Spark Arena March 7, 2019

After a rowdy night of youthful rock and roll at Auckland’s Spark Arena, with Arctic Monkeys, Bryan Ferry brought a touch of elegance to the venue last night with his top shelf band, who, by the end of the evening, proved they could rock with the best of them.

Juanita Stein, late of the Howling Bells, was originally scheduled to open the show, but due to the sudden death of her father, local rockers The Miltones, stepped up to warm up the crowd. Well, actually it was just two of the five bandmembers, vocalist Milly Tabak and guitarist Liam Pratt, both brandishing acoustic guitars.

Their 30 minute set included a brief tip of the hat to The Guess Who, by way of singing their 1970 tune, New Mother Nature. Milly then showed what a class act they are by acknowledging the absence of Juanita Stein and dedicating Carlos, a song Milly wrote for her own father, to Juanita.

Then, at 9pm, the lights dimmed and drummer Luke Bullen kicked off the chugging rhythm of The Main Thing, aided and abetted by guitar maestro Chris Spedding. A cheer went up as Ferry took his place behind the microphone, looking as suave and debonair as ever.

Then the band slipped seamlessly into Slave To Love and off we went.

These days Ferry is touring with an eight-piece band including two female backing vocalists. In addition to Spedding, who has played on some of the greatest recordings of the 1970s, the band also featured violinist Marina Moore and sax player Jorja Chalmers.

Jorja was both an aural and visual highlight, she played powerfully, yet effortlessly and she cut a beautiful figure, dressed in black, her shape complimented by that of her instrument. A (female) friend commented afterward that she looked as though she could feature on one of those 70s Roxy Music album covers.

Meanwhile Ferry crooned his was through Don’t Stop The Dance and Out Of The Blue.

As the songs swept by, I was beginning to feel a certain emotional distance between performer and audience, possibly in part because of Ferry’s sometime muddy vocal sound.

This all change mid-set, as Bryan, only accompanied by his keyboard player, sang Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right. Suddenly I was completely drawn into the lyrics and Ferry’s delivery. Here was a song that I’ve heard hundreds of times, but suddenly sounded brand new. Ferry’s own harmonica solo was surprisingly subtle and eloquent, words not usually associated with the harmonica.

From there the entire feel of the show change with an added emotional heft and energy.

Roxy’s In Every Dream Home A Heartache was absolutely thrilling, and the one-two punch of Love Is The Drug and Re-Make/Re-Model proved that this was a band that could rock.

The audience caught the fever and were on their feet by the end as Ferry whistled his way through Jealous Guy before leading the crowd through Let’s Stick Together.

Its hard to believe that Bryan Ferry is now 73 years old. Who knows how much longer he can keep going, but, for now, he sounds wonderful…stronger through the years, indeed.

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Rachel Webb:

Bryan Ferry

The Miltones

Bryan Ferry set list:

1. The Main Thing
2. Slave To Love
3. Don’t Stop The Dance
4. Ladytron
5. Out Of The Blue
6. Oh Yeah
7. Tokyo Joe
8. A Waste Land
9. Windswept
10. Bete Noir
11. Zamba
12. Stronger Through The Years
13. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
14. My Only Love
15. In Every Dream Home A Heartache
16. If There Is Something
17. More Than This
18. Avalon
19. Love Is The Drug
20. Re-Make/Re-Model
21. Editions Of You
22. Jealous Guy
23. Let’s Stick Together