DVD/CD set, Easy Action/AVF
Originally filmed by Granada TV in May 1979, this concert from Manchester Apollo was part of the band’s comeback UK tour following their three year hiatus. Garnished with three numbers from the recently issues Manifesto (interestingly, no ‘Dance Away’ or ‘Angel Eyes’), the drew heavily upon the group’s impressive back catalogue, while showcasing their visual metamorphosis from post-glam butterflies to singles bar lounge lizards.
Although filmed by what Ferry describes as the ‘outside broadcast from Coronation Street’ the reproduction quality for viewing on contemporary HDTVs is good, especially when one considers the technology available at the time. There’s some nice period lysergic special effects during ‘In Every Dream Home A Heart Ache’ and multiple camera angles are well utilised. Additionally, the concert has been enabled for 5.1 surround sound.
Given that the band had moved on from the extravagant costume party of the Eno era, much of the visual focus falls on their frontman, who – fully aware of the camera’s presence at all times – runs through a comprehensive range of emotive gurning that draws the close-up lens magnetically to him. Dressed in cerise leatherette suit, white shoes and wearing a good hundredweight of slap, Ferry initially resembles David Sylvian’s big brother, but as he gets sweaty, suave seems to leak from his very pores. At one point, I found myself riveted to tracking the progress of a rivulet of sweat as it traversed the right side of the frontman’s fizzog.
While he occasionally starts dancing like a man on his way from buffet to dance floor at a wedding reception, when Ferry breaks out the moves – as he does for ‘Love Is The Drug’, the effect is somewhat mesmeric. After a bravura Manzarek solo on ‘Dream Home’ and Bri’s harp interludes during ‘Ain’t That So’, the quintet shift into a powerhouse home stretch that has the previously seated audience on their feet for ‘Love Is The Drug’, a high-octane ‘Editions of You’ (which provokes an outbreak of duckwalking by Messrs McKay, Manzarek, and Tibbs) and ‘Re-Make/Re-Model’. The final track culminates in a rapturous response, inspired in no small part by Andy McKay’s sax heroics – although dressed like an Orwellian ticket inspector; the horn titan provides the band with a second visual focal point throughout.
Finally, the band return in shirtsleeves for a post-coital ‘Virginia Plain’, which culminates in the customary participative climax. On the whole, it’s an engaging performance that amuses and delights in pretty much equal measure.
The set also includes a sleevenote booklet and a CD recording of the concert that brings out the aural nuances of the performance particularly well.
To order Manchester Manifesto direct, click HERE
