- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: 70'S ROCK GROUP ROXY MUSIC ARE REFORMING FOR NEW WORLD TOUR
- Date: 12th February 2001
- Summary: SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) FERRY SAYING: 'The Avalon tour and the Avalon album were the biggest thing we did so we did kind of stop at a high point in our career, it wasn't that we lost interest in that sense or the audience did. We stopped touring at our strongest moment really so it's quite nice to pick it up in that sense all these years later.' SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English)
- Embargoed: 27th February 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVAYJR3PYOPNCCDGUPPA91EQY36
- Story Text: Seventies rock supergroup Roxy Music, have reformed for a new world tour 18 years after they split up. Three of the original band members, frontman Bryan Ferry, guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonist Andy Mackay, announced their return to concert arenas in London on Monday.
Having resolutely refused to get back together after their split in the 1980s, despite occasionally working together on solo projects, three of Roxy Music's original members -- Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay who are all in their 50s -- have signed a deal to perform in 12 countries this summer, they revealed at a press conference in central London on Monday (February 12).
Founding member Brian Eno, now a successful music producer for groups such as U2, is not taking part in the reunion tour, which will arrive at Wembley Arena at the end of June. Other confirmed stops include Dublin, Glasgow, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, New York and Los Angeles. The band also plan to tour Europe but the dates and venues have yet to be confirmed.
Founded in 1970, Roxy Music enjoyed a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s with songs such as "Virginia Plain" and "Love is the Drug".
But, the group's only number one hit was a cover version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy", recorded as a tribute to the murdered former Beatle.
Despite the fact that Roxy Music disbanded some eighteen years ago, their following has never wained, and as Ferry has witnessed the fan base has always remained loyal.
'The interest has never diminished as far as Roxy's concerned. I've always been asked a lot is there any chance you guys will get together and do another tour or something and this is it. So it all seems to have worked this time that we've all been free and in the right mood at the right time to do it and let's see what happens,' he said.
Manzanera agreed. 'It's surprising that this resonance of the music has continued through lots of generations over the last twenty years and influenced a lot of bands and of course they've then gone on to say that Roxy was an influence so there will be a lot of people who are quite curious to see what it's about'.
The burning question, however, is will this tour lead to a new studio album from Roxy Music? According to the newly reformed group probably not, as they're concentrating on the tour and performing live alone.
'At the moment, that's how we're seeing it, as a celebration of our history together. If it leads to something else that's great, if it doesn't that's also great because we'd like it to be another high note', said Ferry.
Lead singer Ferry was in the news back in December when he was a passenger on a Nairobi-bound British Airways flight which nearly crashed when a man broke into the cockpit and tried to grab the controls. Fortunately for all those generations of Roxy fans out there, the terrifying ordeal hasn't prevented Ferry from boarding a plane again, nor put him off going on tour around the world with the band.
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