Bryan Ferry was at his brilliant best at the Logan Campbell Centre on December 3, as he headlined and rounded out a triple treat of acts in the style to which Ferry fans have long been accustomed - with a twist in the tail!
$138 is pretty steep as concert ticket prices go, but the sell-out 3000-strong crowd got more than their money's worth in a three-and-a-half hour show, as promising Kiwi group The Danny McCrum Band and English blues legend Joan Armatrading set the scene in their own inimitable styles.
Make no mistake, I'm anything but a big fan of New Zealand music. For the most part, it strikes me as dull, uninspiring and downright boring, to be blunt, but there are a couple of exceptions - the bulk of the work produced by Dave Dobbyn, Neil and Tim Finn in their various guises (Split Enz, Crowded House), and Bo Runga (Stellar*) invariably oozes quality musicianship from highly accomplished practitioners of their craft.
Expect The Danny McCrum Band to join that elite list sooner rather than later, on the evidence of this performance. Less than three weeks after launching their maiden album, they kicked off this concert with a stylish two-man acoustic set, Ben Jurisich and the band's founder plucking guitar strings in eye-and-ear-catching fashion.
Particular highlights were “What's Wrong With Trying To Live Right” and their last hurrah, the very catchy “Put It In The Middle”. Head to www.dannymccrum.com for more info.
Following a twenty-minute intermission, Joan Armatrading hit the stage with a four-piece band, mixing tracks from her new “Into The Blues” album with some of the most memorable hits of the soon-to-be 57-year-old's repertoire - she threw in some mean guitar work into the bargain!
Highlights included her latest single, “A Woman In Love”, future single, “My Baby's Gone”, and a handful of classics - “Love And Affection”, “Call Me Names”, a rip-roaring rendition of “Me, Myself, I”, and her encore performances, “Willow” and the smash hit, “Drop The Pilot”.
Cue another twenty-minute intermission, then the lights went down again, and eighty minutes of magic was at hand for those in the audience who know and appreciate quality and class musicianship when they hear it! 
Sadly, not all present boasted such attributes to begin with, but The Master had them dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage by the end of an evening which kicked off with an Iain Dixon saxophone solo, accompanied by the king of the keyboards himself, Mr Colin Good.
As they played, the other band members took up their positions out of the spotlight, including Roxy old hands Andy Newmark (drums) and Guy Pratt (bass). The opening chords of an old favourite thundered out, and on strolled The Master to belt out “The In Crowd”, much to the delight of the in crowd present.
“Kiss And Tell” swiftly followed, prior to a trio of songs from the “Dylanesque” album. Clad in black lounge suit and tie, Bryan treated us to some terrific harmonica work on “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”, before guitarist Leo Abrahams picked out a gorgeous solo in “Positively 4th Street”, prior to eloquently complimenting Mandy Drummond's exquisite viola as that Bob Dylan track drew to a close.