The Scotsman - Edinburgh - Tue 6th Sep
By DAVID POLLOCK for The Scotsman
BRYAN FERRY
CASTLE ESPLANADE, EDINBURGH ***
AT THE age of 65, Bryan Ferry's career reputation is balanced somewhere between the lithe and sexualised urban glam of Roxy Music and the suave, aloof croon of his later solo career.
At this second of 2011's Edinburgh Castle concerts it was the latter, and perhaps less fashionable Ferry, who seemed to be most in evidence, although maybe he simply exorcised the Roxy era when his old band toured at the start of this year.
Incorporating a few Roxy Music tracks alongside some covers and material from his most recent album Olympia, Ferry certainly put on a show which was worthy of the surroundings, a career-spanning two-hour marathon, with interval, which rather creditably did away with the affectation of an encore.
The black-suited singer occasionally played piano as part of a seven-piece band, with four backing singers in sequinned dresses flanking the stage and two dancers in pink swimsuits suggesting that Ferry might have mourned the day they stopped putting semi-naked ladies on the side of beer cans.
There were excerpts from his recent Dylan covers album Dylanesque and Roxy Music's cover of the most un-Roxy-like Like a Hurricane by Neil Young, as well as stand-out tracks such as Alphaville and You Can Dance from last year's solo album Olympia, all set to a backdrop of arthouse clips and animations blended with a live feed of the band.
Each song, particularly latterday Roxy Music B-sides like to Turn You On and My Only Love, and Ferry's own Avalon, were abetted by his glorious and distinctive baritone, but it wasn't until the closing straight of Love is the Drug, Editions of You and Let's Stick Together that the set truly kicked into life, warming us up for Ferry's definitive torch song in John Lennon's Jealous Guy.