Roxy Music the Lincoln Festival 27th May 1972
I will spend the next few days trying to recall as much as I can about the seven or so occasions on which I have seen Roxy Music live. I first saw a new and relatively unknown Roxy Music at the Lincoln Festival on 27th May 1972. This was their first major performance and only the seventh time the band had played together. They appeared early on the Saturday afternoon, sandwiched between sets by Locomotive GT (a Hungarian rock band who were pretty big during the ’70s) and Heads, Hands and Feet. The Roxy line-up at the time was Bryan Ferry (vocals and keyboards), Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (sax and oboe), Paul Thompson (drums), Eno (synths) and Graham Simpson (bass). I recall that there was quite a buzz about the band at the time, largely as a result of their connections with King Crimson. Bryan Ferry had auditioned as lead singer for King Crimson, and impressed Robert Fripp and Pete Sinfield, although they felt that his voice was not suitable for Crimson. They went on to help Roxy Music obtain a record contract, and Sinfield produced their first, wonderful, album. 
The sound at the festival wasn’t great; it was windy and the mix was poor. But it was obvious even at this early stage in their career that there was something new, different and unique about this band. The guys all dressed outrageously and looking at pictures of Roxy taken at the festival you would think they had come from another planet, and they all look so young! The image here is from a Sounds poster of the time and was taken at the festival. And the music sounded very different to anything else around at the time. Eno’s use of synths, Ferry’s vocals, and Mackay’s oboe all gave Roxy their own distinctive sound. Roxy Music were recording tracks for their first album at the time of this appearance, and it was well before the release of their first single “Virginia Plain”. Their short set is likely to have consisted of the following songs: 2HB; Would You Believe?; Sea Breezes, Ladytron, If There Is Something!, Re-Make/Re-Model, The Bob (Medley), Virginia Plain. Roxy provided a short interlude of majestic bright glam/art rock in what was an excellent line-up, but a very wet windy and cold weekend. Looking back, and although I didn’t realise it at the time, there were glimpses of the greatness and richness of musical texture which would follow. Foolishly, I saw Roxy Music simply as a quirky weird new band, and because of this I left it a couple of years before I saw them again, which I now regret. The next time I saw Roxy Music was on their 1974 tour, and I’ll reflect on that tomorrow.
15 Apr
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Posted by Marie on April 15, 2014 at 3:27 am
Love Roxy! Looking forward to the next post. 🙂
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Posted by Neil McEwan on January 27, 2016 at 4:07 pm
I had Roxy Music play at my school’s summer dance along with Supertramp on 25 July 1972 at a ticket price of 50p. Supertramp had played at our school before but we were worried that Roxy wouldn’t fulfil their booking as they had started receiving airtime on John Peel’s radio show but they arrived early and their only demand was that they played after Supertramp and not as support. Both bands played amazing sets. Also remember that Roxy were due to play at the Windmill Hall in Upminster on my birthday in October but the concert was cancelled due to Bryan Ferry contracting laryngitis. it was never rescheduled as Roxy had grown way too big by then to continue playing small concert venues. Great times, great music and thanks for reviving my memories.
A link to their early gigs can be found here: http://vivaroxymusic.com/tours_1.php