It's 18 years since Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera last shared the limelight as Roxy Music. This, the fantasy comeback for many a music fan, is not to herald the release of a new album, rather to dust off Roxy's greatest hits for (maybe...) one final airing before fate seals them away for posterity in Radio 2's Sunday afternoon playlist.
The talent behind such tunes were available to play but not inclined, until Ferry began to incorporate the odd Roxy classic in his solo repertoire. Only then did this reunion idea take root. It's a great shame then, that such a simple masterplan can be undermined by the simplest of things... age.
It is not quite the ruination of the evening, and a lot of younger, fresher bands could still learn a thing or twelve from Roxy, but much of what made the band great -that suave sophisticated image for instance- vaporises before your eyes as Ferry prances around the stage like the unfortunate puppet whose strings are pulled by a legless (as in drunk! Reviews Ed) puppeteer.
The music, is however, superb. Note-perfect renditions of all the classics flow throughout the evening. From the eerie rendition of 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache', which sees the stage flooded with appropriately green lighting, making Ferry look like an evil panto queen in his silver suit, to the sleazy pop of 'Love Is The Drug'.
Hit follows hit and you realise just how prolific and influential Roxy Music were and still are. But now Ferry has dropped the austere charm and serious chic. Instead he whoops, skips and waves across the stage, clearly revelling in the reunion.
The audience almost enjoy it as much as Mr Ferry himself, but there is a slight moment of discomfort when the man, during 'Jealous Guy', joyously punches the air while singing of his regret at punching his wife. When he begins to whistle it has the same painfully embarrassing air of Tom Jones's inclusion of "I Think I Wanna Dance Now" in his cover of Prince's 'Kiss'.
But those two, small moments hardly eclipse the rest of the night, and the fact that Ferry has let his fop's facade slip a little isn't the end of the world. Roxy Music are back, after almost two decades apart, and they end tonight with 'Do The Strand'. As the feathered dancers fill the stage, you can forgive Ferry a little aged exuberance.
Though it's much like watching your father at karaoke, the cringes only last a second until you realise that it's actually very good. All it needs is a few lessons for Bryan to stop dancing like Tony Blair and everything will be perfect.
