It was incredible.

If live music were always this good, I’d go every night!

Now this was an older hipster crowd, who knew every lick from way back when and came to pay fealty to Bryan and hear the tunes once again. This was not the Stones crew, down and dirtier, this was people with some cash who listened to KROQ back when it was free-format, who are not casual music fans, but BELIEVERS!

They started with “India,” from “Avalon.” It was eerie, almost like they were tuning up, the stage was dark, and then from the side of the stage emerged the most debonair man in music, who spills it all out in his songs, but utters almost nothing on stage.

And then the music switches, they’re playing THE MAIN THING! My favorite track from “Avalon,” which I can listen to ad infinitum, it’s the mood, the groove. You’re cruising along the rails into the future, still aware of your past, you see people outside the window, but they don’t matter, you’ve got a job to do, even if nobody notices the results, you’ve got to be the best you, you’re inspired, you’re nearly smiling, maybe you’re having intercourse, maybe you’re in the cocoon of your car, maybe you’re sitting in front of the stereo speakers, but if you were alive back then, after Roxy Music reunited, you’ve got the music in you, the two of you are as one.

Now “Manifesto” had a hit, at least by FM standards, “Dance Away,” but it was not as great as what had come before.

“Flesh and Blood” was better, there was no hit, but the album contained the exquisite “Oh Yeah,” one of the most heart-touching tracks of all time, and “Over You,” as well as some covers, like Ferry had done on his solo LPs.

Then came “Avalon.” HUH? There was no hit, no track that obviously stood out, but if you were a fan of the band you played it and about the third or fourth time through it became your favorite album, you never burned out on it.

Now when you go to a live show today…it’s usually a production, choreographed, not only dancing but lights, musical triggers. It may be seamless, but it’s not quite real.

And then there are bands that specialize in rough, it’s more about the energy, the attitude, getting it perfect is not the goal.

And then there’s Bryan Ferry.

We never had acts like this in the U.S. That only came out at night, dressed to the nines, playing music best listened to after dark. To tell you the truth, if I tried to describe it, I couldn’t, but last night they were playing it, like an orchestra, everybody knew their part and it all came together.

Let’s see, Tom Vanstiphout picked out some incredible leads, he carried the band impeccably. But he was overshadowed by the man to his left, none other than CHRIS SPEDDING! He’s now 75, he occasionally sits down, he can’t fit in that leather suit he wore during the “In Your Mind” tour, but believe me, HE CAN STILL PICK!

The audience knew who he was, you’ve got to see the greats now, there is little time left. And Spedding is not flashy, he adds accents, but when it was his turn to wail, HE DID!

And Tawitha Agee was one of two backup singers, you should have heard her sing the ethereal wails at the end of “Avalon,” it was just like the record, but it was better, because it was live…you were touched, brought back to ’82, feeling fully alive, glad you lived through the era, not pissed at all you’re getting long in the tooth, you just couldn’t believe the sound!

And Tawitha had Fonzi Thornton next to her, doing an equally good job on the backup vocals.

Neil Jason held down the bass, as he did on the “Avalon” LP and “Boys and Girls.”

Luke Bellen was Neil’s counterpart in the rhythm section, he played drums.

And Richard Cardwell played the keyboards, but he stayed up on his riser all night, he was never the center of attention, like Jorja Chalmers and Marina Moore.

Moore is a violinist.

At this point we’re used to women as singers, as bass players, watching Marina inspired, illustrated the opportunities for girls in the future.

But the star of the band, who also played keyboards, like Bryan himself, was saxophonist Jorja Chalmers.

I finally got it.

You see there are women who can only date musicians, because their music speaks through them, if you’re not a player, you’ve got no chance.

But I’m a guy. I’ve never found someone to invest my hopes and dreams in that way. Sure, there are singers like Joni Mitchell, but that’s different. Jorja doesn’t sing, she’s a player. Imagine Eddie Van Halen with a sax. Although Jorja moves around more.

Lithe in her jeans, Jorja pranced around the stage, traded licks with Spedding, she was nearly the star. You wondered, how did this woman have the music in her?

Now we get to the material.

Sure, Bryan played his showstopper, “In Every Dream Home A Heartache,” which starts slow and quiet and then erupts.

And “Slave To Love” also slays.

And we all sang along to “Love Is The Drug”…remember hearing that on the radio, with that door slam? Or maybe you listened in your dorm room, but you, like the Greek Theatre audience, know it by heart, you too would stand and shimmy and sing along like the assembled multitude.

But the first surprise was “Can’t Let Go,” with its L.A.-centric lyrics.

It’s a winding road from Cuesta Way
Down Sunset to the beach
Though Canoga Park is a straight safe drive
It’s too far out of reach

I remember listening to “The Bride Stripped Bare,” in law school, wishing I was anywhere but there, maybe cruising in a car with Bryan Ferry.

But the shocker was “If There Is Something.”

Bryan said he was gonna play something from the first album, and this was in the latter part of the show, I figured this was the time for “Virginia Plain,” which was not on the original English album, but was added to the U.S. LP.

“If There Is Something” was the track that got me into Roxy Music, made me buy their first album. I was standing in a record shop in London during the summer of ’72, and it was dark and thrilling because there is no shrinkwrap and you can check out the entire LP.

And “If There Is Something” makes a great big switch, from jaunty to meaningful, it changes groove, there’s a predominant violin.

And “If There Is Something” is a long song, over six minutes, I figured there was no way they were going to play all of the long outro.

But just when it looked like they had finished, Jorja strode to the front of the stage and played the melody on her sax. It was over the top, a band firing on all cylinders. Yes, remember when there were bands on stage? Who had to rehearse to get it right? Obviously Bryan had schooled these players, maybe they pushed it up a notch because they were in L.A.

But this was more of an ensemble than a band. Playing cohesively. Sure, players got to show their chops, but the cumulative effect was overpowering and overwhelming.

And there was a smattering of twenty and thirtysomethings. Bryan Ferry is not the kind of act experiencing a renaissance, starting over with the younger generation, he’s more for thinking people, who have a few miles on their souls. But I swear, anybody of any age, even if they’d never heard this music before, would be entranced by the sound, by the magic. It was all about the music, which locked on to you immediately, grabbed hold of you to the point where you didn’t want to check your phone, you didn’t want to break the mood. The audience was hypnotized, everybody in their own mind, paired with the music, there was no way you could let go.

And the show stopped with “Let’s Stick Together,” the Wilbert Harrison number Ferry covered on one of his solo albums. And it’s funny to hear Bryan, with his unique, high voice, sing R&B, but that’s why it’s so endearing.

So, the mood has been broken, they’re rocking out, we’re all dancing.

And then Bryan blows some kisses and…THAT’S IT!

No encore!

I haven’t seen that in eons. It’s usually a choreographed part of the show, the act comes back, even if there’s almost no applause, and plays their hit or a cover, riding the energy.

But Bryan was truly gone.

Now “To Turn You On” was the first song to reveal itself to me on “Avalon.”

I could show you in a word
If I wanted to

Feeling your power, knowing that your charm cannot be resisted.

A window on a world
With a lovely view

Of Central Park. On a dark day, when you’re warm inside, but you can see the city moving on this miserable day.

Is it raining in New York
On Fifth Avenue
And off Broadway after dark
Love the lights don’t you
I could walk you through the park
If you’re feeling blue
Or whatever
Spring summer whenever
Winter through fall
I’d do anything to turn you on
Anything to turn you on

And if you’re not turned on listening to the tune, you’re thinking of being. This is not juvenile, but positively adult. This is the life you want to lead.

And “To Turn You On” was in the middle of the second side. I lifted the needle to play it again and again, but eventually I let it slip and got into “True To Life,” jauntier than what came before, and then the spacy coda entitled “Tara,” as if you’re in the Middle Ages, pondering the distance.

And when you flipped the record over, you were powerless, you had to let the music continue, what you heard was the instantly inviting “More Than This.”

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we’re going

That sums it up. We went expecting a few hit tunes, nostalgia, but even though the songs were old the music was newer than a track dropped on Friday. It was like classical repertoire, the song is just a start, it’s about the performance thereof. Bryan and his band did not always hew exactly to the record, they occasionally changed the rhythm, they were not going through the motions, this music could not have been more alive.

And that’s why I mentioned all the band members, because they contributed nearly as much as Bryan Ferry himself.

I can’t expect hearing more than this.

Yacht Rock

This must be just like living in paradise.

And I don’t want to go home.

Yesterday all my numbers were in the zone, other than glucose, but I hadn’t been fasting, and this is the first time since I was diagnosed with CML Leukemia back in 2009, but to tell you the truth for the last year I haven’t been taking the Gleevec, that’s a new policy, you can go off until the leukemia comes back, which could be up to two years, but as short as…tomorrow.

And this has been a great boon. Primarily because my hemoglobin is in the normal range, and it hasn’t been in a decade, and for a while there it went so low I thought twice about climbing stairs.

And when I was done, I checked in with the map programs, and they all agreed to go up Roscomare instead of taking the 405 from the hospital, so I did.

Now cell service is notoriously spotty up there, so I switched to my music library, because I wanted to hear my WAZE prompts via my new head unit, and while I was cruising up the hill, I heard this David Lee Roth song, my favorite from his solo career, you remember the rock climbing video, or maybe you don’t, but during that era Steve Vai replaced Eddie Van Halen and his guitar screamed, but it…still wasn’t Eddie.

But David Lee Roth is one of the great frontmen of all time, and he’ll tell you so, and he carries this track. And “Just Like Paradise” is rock par excellence, you know, you crank it up and it squeezes out the rest of the world and makes you feel good.

And I was feeling good. It was not only the numbers, it was the weather.

Now fall in L.A. is not like fall on the east coast, the light changes, it gets a bit colder, and that’s it! Those November days, those rainy days, they don’t exist! Forget summer, if you really want to get the L.A. bug come in the fall. And cruise up and down the canyons. You’ll be closed.

And yesterday driving through the twists and turns I was feeling like nothing could mess with me, I was only a speck in the world but inside my automobile everything was groovy.

Now I’ve been listening to Yacht Rock on SiriusXM, Richie Beilenson, the man with the hookup, told me to check out the stations in the 300s, which I could now receive.

There’s a cool cover channel. Another one featuring the music of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but the station I’ve been listening to the most is…

Yacht Rock!

You know, that music which has been denigrated, made for wimps, unlistenable to hipsters.

But this is not the way it used to be, once upon a time most of these acts were revered with hits. Then again, not Starbuck and Rupert Holmes, but the Doobies…

And Steely Dan.

I was driving down the 405 on my way to UCLA and I heard “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” And suddenly the words were clear, even if they weren’t fully comprehensible, but I loved when Fagen sang them. This is the antithesis of the pejorative. If Steely Dan is yacht rock, sign me up for a cruise.

Actually, today, on the Yacht Rock channel, I finally got Pablo Cruise’s “Love Will Find A Way.”

Now dedicated readers will know I love “Watcha Gonna Do” and “A Place In The Sun.” Actually, I had to buy their third album, also entitled “A Place In The Sun,” just to hear those two numbers.

I can wax rhapsodic about “A Place In The Sun,” but I already have. There’s the flourish in the opening, like the gates are being opened for the queen. And then that guitar picking, all this is in the intro, the vocal doesn’t even begin until a minute in, and then Bud Cockrell sings with exuberance! Actually, the number appears in “An Unmarried Woman,” the Mazursky movie starring Jill Clayburgh, she’s now alone but her mood is turning, she’s dancing around the kitchen with her daughter, to “A Place In The Sun.”

And “Watcha Gonna Do?” follows “A Place In The Sun” on the LP, a one-two punch I never got much beyond, yup, I loved those Pablo Cruise cuts, but nothing more, I found “Love Will Find A Way,” too sappy, an effort in search of a hit, but today…that guitar got to me, just like in “Pretzel Logic.”

Yup, when I got home I put that album on.

I didn’t buy “Can’t Buy A Thrill.” Nick had it, I’d play it every time I went to his dorm room, I could not hear “Do It Again” enough. But the LP was on ABC and I only had so much money and…

The second album has only been considered a classic in hindsight, it didn’t have a big radio song and it looked like the act was over.

And then came “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”

It’s that intro, after the spacy bass. We’re instantly in the groove, and Fagen starts to testify. As if he was in your dorm room after midnight telling the story, and you were privileged to hear it, since he was so much cooler than you.

And stunningly, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” became a hit!

Yup, that was the criterion back then, placement on the AM. Not everybody had an FM tuner in their car, crossing over made you gigantic, before AM cratered and MTV saved the music business.

So I bought “Pretzel Logic.” Because it was one of my bonus records from the Record Club of America, which made no sense to the point it went out of business shortly thereafter.

But the LP had so much surface noise. Now the Record Club of America had the right to press its own discs, so was that the problem? Then again, ABC records always sounded trashy too.

And “Rikki” was the only hit from “Pretzel Logic. And the rest of the numbers didn’t sound like anything else, literally. And the album was so short, 34 minutes when everybody was going longer, and I can’t say I loved “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo,” it was just too jazzy for me, but the rest of the numbers had a place in my brain.

Got to tell you, the first track that resonated, other than “Rikki,” was “Barrytown,” which I’ve never ever heard anybody talk about.

And then “With A Gun.” and “Night By Night.” Remember when that happened? You liked a song on a side and you let the album play through to the point another track ultimately revealed itself to you.

And “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” was smooth and in the pocket and could be played on the radio, but I never heard it, even though it was the b-side of “Rikki.”

But what gripped me listening to “Pretzel Logic” was the title tune. Oh, I always liked it, it’s the groove, which has your body moving immediately. But listening on Deezer Elite through my Genelecs all these years later, what gripped me and tossed me over the top, was the guitar playing. I figured it was Larry Carlton, he plays in this style, every note articulated and clear and then running together, but with soul.

My whole body was moving, it’s moving now, remembering that era when you played an electric guitar as opposed to working the turntables, and we knew the players and they were exalted.

It turned out to be Skunk Baxter!

I really had no idea he was this good. I mean I knew he was good, but he’s so right, so perfect, you’ve got to put him in the top tier! And then he switched to the Doobies and ultimately took a complete left turn into defense consulting. I’ve got to give Skunk credit, he was self-taught in this area, and to be accepted at the elite level, that’s quite an achievement, but we’ve lost an axeman of the highest rank, then again, there’s no place for these gunslingers anymore.

Except on Yacht Rock.

Long time music critic for the “San Francisco Chronicle,” Sammy Hagar once gave Joel’s phone number out at a show, and then Selvin co-wrote the Red Rocker’s #1 best-selling book, “Red: My Uncensored Live In Rock.” An expert in the San Francisco scene, Selvin authored a book about Altamont, as well as writing books about Bert Berns and the latter day Dead. Tune in to hear this raconteur’s stories.

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VMAs Hit All-Time Ratings Low for 3rd Straight Year

The biggest winner Monday night? SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO! No one saw his tone-deaf monologue panned in every publication known to man. And the truth is, his audience agrees with him, millennials/Gen-Z are wankers.

But the millennials/Gen-Z don’t care.

Welcome to 2019, where there is no mass audience, no consensus on what’s cool, hip or great, where we’re all deep in our own silos and the only people who don’t get it are the media and the purveyors.

That’s right. If hip-hop were as big as the media says it is, it would dominate the Pollstar chart. But the truth is that’s ruled by old rockers, not even pop acts. There has never been such a disconnect between what is selling tickets and what dominates radio and recordings.

Yup, a teen might stream a track ad infinitum on Spotify, but his or her parents, his or her older siblings, his or her himself, are going to see the legends before they croak, paying high prices and purchasing merch.

And there are developing acts on the Pollstar chart too. And festivals like LOCKN’ where Trey plays with Derek, wailing on “Little Wing,” and the attendees are satiated and couldn’t care less what’s #1, even if they know what it is.

Tedeschi Trucks Band ft. Trey Anastasio – “Little Wing”

So they give a party featuring the latest and greatest Spotify wonders, mixing in some ancient hip-hop to boot, and it turns out no one cares, at least not in numbers. Oh, MTV is touting great social numbers, but they are not revealing them, which means they can’t be THAT good.

Don’t the kids want to see Taylor Swift?

NO! Her FANS want to see Taylor Swift! So far, no track off of “Lover” has been a hit, and despite reviewers lining up to praise the album, most people just don’t care. Taylor came up in a different era, when singular dominance was possible, but now it is not.

And we live in a participatory culture. People want to make videos to Lil Nas X’s music, but they’ve got no desire to see him live. And Shawn Mendes is not the star he’s made out to be, ditto Lizzo. Oh, they’re successful, but they’re just niche!

Yes, we can blame MTV for steering away from music.

Yes, we can say that millennials are on demand viewers, and appointment TV is anathema.

Yes, we can say there is awards show fatigue.

The truth is everything we based our industry on has faded away, so the old purveyors are doubling-down, trying to save themselves, when the truth is they’re just headed for the dumper.

Like theatre owners. Netflix is eating their lunch. The owners refuse to show Scorsese’s “The Irishman” because the streaming giant won’t give them a three month window.

But Netflix not only has “The Irishman,” but the new Soderbergh and Baumbach movies. In other words, Netflix has the adults of cinema, the creators and the viewers, leaving the theatre owners with superheroes and the very occasional comedy. Yup, that’s all that sells. Hell, adult/indie/foreign box office was abysmal over the summer. So the real auteurs have moved on to television, where the audience is. Meanwhile, theatre owners are like the labels during the Napster era. What is end game? You’ve got to focus on end game.

The music business has flipped. The real stars, the career artists, are made on the road. The major labels are just interested in the evanescent, overpaying for a hit du jour with traction online. Hell, they don’t even know how to develop a non-rock artist.

As for Interscope and Billie Eilish…kudos, there are always exceptions, but the truth is she’s a youth phenomenon, hell, at least even Alanis Morissette was 21 and wrote her own material with “Jagged Little Pill.”

And some of the road acts don’t even put out albums, or do so occasionally. They realize their bond is with their audience, not the middlemen, i.e. radio and streaming services.

But anybody with a gig, anybody with money, is afraid of the future, they don’t want to see their world decline. Therefore, they say Elizabeth Warren is unelectable. WHY? Because they don’t want to lose something!

And Shari Redstone reunites CBS and Viacom and Wall Street swoons! But CBS cannot succeed as a standalone streamer and Viacom is a collection of junk.

But this is the same Street that’s anti-Tesla not realizing that they’re betting against the future, that the world has already decided to go electric, and it was Musk that was pushing the envelope, and it is Tesla that has the supercharging stations and better battery technology. Hell, if they sell it/merge, there’s a pretty penny involved, but no, the Street is too focused on today’s numbers, short-termism, and the media trumpets its viewpoint.

Awards shows are dead. There are just too many and the awards are meaningless. As for tuning in to tweet…that’s passe.

We’ve learned that nothing is dominant these days, that it’s nearly impossible to get any story out, that the only people paying attention are those who were already paying attention.

Furthermore, if you grow, it will start online, not on TV or in mainstream media.

This leaves tons of questions.

Old people don’t like questions.

But the future is dark and murky, but it does come, and the spoils go to those who figure it out.