Dr. Rock's Music Adventures: Bryan Ferry at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania on October 4, 2014.

Sometime in the early '80s, I heard "Love Is The Drug" by Roxy Music. Then the album 'Avalon' by Roxy Music came out and I fell in love with the album and the band. I (obviously) love live music and it always pained me that I had never seen a Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry show. I do not ever remember thinking "Oh, if I just drove to Detroit I could see them". So I was very happy when Bryan Ferry announced his tour and the Philadelphia (Upper Darby actually) show was a possibility. It was my 52nd birthday. What a great show for my birthday!
VENUE: The Tower Theater has a cool history. I am a devotee of Bruce Springsteen, and he has had some epic shows there since the early '70s. I found the venue quite cool -- love the big marque out front. The parking is a challenge. There are NO public parking lots around the area -- or if so, a half hour of driving around and internet searches did not uncover them. That does not spoil the fun but something to think of if you are traveling here. I found a metered spot about 2-3 blocks away on a side street despite it being a busy Saturday evening in Upper Darby.
I had purchased my ticket on StubHub -- front row and just a couple seats left of center stage. Awesome!
MERCH: They were selling a number of Bryan Ferry CDs, a DVD, three t-shirts, and a reusable bag. They also had a few Dawn Landes CDs and her EP of covers. Dawn came out to meet fans and sign CDs between her opener and the headliner, but I missed it. I bought a cool 'Avalon' t shirt for $35 and a Landes CD and EP for $25.
OPENER: Dawn Landes opened the show. Lovely voice! It was just Dawn, her acoustic guitar, and another woman accompanying her on electric guitar. Dawn has a few albums out and an EP of covers (Springsteen, Roxy Music, and others). Her voice sounded great in the Tower. Her guitar work and her accompanist were quite good. Ms. Landes' material was quite good on this first listen. I was very impressed with her cover of "Moon River" -- she told a story of working in Branson, Missouri singing backup for Andy Williams. Her vocals were hauntingly beautiful. Wow.
HEADLINER: Bryan Ferry came out looking very dapper in a multicolored sport coat, black textured tuxedo pants, and a dress shirt. The band consisted of two guitarists, a bassist, drummer, keyboards, a multi-instrumentalist, and three singers. They opened with the "Re-make/Re-model", the first track on the very first Roxy Music album from 1972. From there, they did 20 more songs, covering solo and Roxy Music material.
I was impressed throughout the night how good Bryan Ferry sounded. Although I heard a few gripes about the sound in the lobby from some fans, I thought the band sounded great and performed the material in an excellent manner. That many musicians really filled the soundstage. Many of the songs were done in a straightforward style with one of the few exceptions being "More Than This" ('Avalon'), late in the show. Despite that, it was lovely and cool.
Highlights for me: "Slave to Love", "If There Is Something", "Oh Yeah", "Don't Stop The Dance", "Avalon", and Love Is The Drug". Many of the older Roxy material or Ferry solo material that was not familiar with in fact sounded great and the whole show flowed along.
Sorry to anyone sitting behind me -- I may have annoyed those folks as I stood for 98% of the show. It had to be done.
The set list used by Bryan Ferry during the show was right in front of me on the stage. As soon as the last song was played, I grabbed it. The perfect end of a great concert! Of note: probably 12 other set lists were handed out to fans. Wow!
My rating of the show: 5 out of 5 stars.