The Ned Wood Archive

Sam

Sam splits from Lyn and Lex and heads off over to the Pyramid field.  He loops round the back and then down the right hand side.  It’s easier to get a good position coming in from that side.  The audience is a mix of ages.  Some young kids who probably don’t know much about Bryan Ferry and some older folk who are big fans.

The musicians walk on and take their places.  Sam doesn’t recognise anyone.  No reason why he should.  On the screen behind there is a video of some dude wearing sharp black brogues walking across gravel.  It’s dragged out much longer than on the record.  Finally, you see him grab the handle to open the door of an XJS.  A squeaked guitar chord before the bass kicks in.  And again, the bass throb is dragged out much longer than on the record.  Two sax notes and the car drives off.  Two backing singers in matching suits like from the old video walk on and get into that dance that the Human League perfected.  The band gets fully into the Love is the Drug vibe.  Then Ferry himself saunters out, still putting on the style and tells the crowd, self-deprecatingly, that it ain’t no big thing to wait.

That’s how you fill the legend spot. You remember what made you a legend in the first place. Ferry plays the good old numbers from his first solo albums.  Let’s Stick Together.  Sympathy for the Devil.  Wonderful World with a guest appearance from Twiggy which makes Sam’s day.  The In Crowd.  The Price of Love.  Sam’s enjoying this.  He couldn’t have picked a better set list.  Ferry mixes things up with some of the later Roxy classics, pulls out some more of his solo stuff and then gets some of the old band together for the finale.  Mackay, Manzanera, and the great Paul Thompson come on for Virginia Plain and Do the Strand.  Sam feels like Christmas has come.  He’s made the right choice.  Then he spots the smiling face of Brian Eno watching from the gantry on far side at the back of the Pyramid.  Brian Eno joins the sphynx and Mona Lisa, Lolita, and Guernica, and does the Strand.