Brian Eno turned down the chance to reunite with Roxy Music for their 2022 farewell tour, citing environmental concerns, according to guitarist Phil Manzanera.
The band had not performed live in more than a decade when they embarked on their 50th-anniversary tour, which concluded with a sold-out show at London’s O2 Arena in October 2022. It proved to be their final run of concerts, with Manzanera subsequently confirming that Roxy Music would never play live again.
Despite Eno’s departure in 1973, Manzanera says the band hoped to bring him back into the fold for the occasion.
“In true Eno fashion he said, ‘I’m not flying anymore for environmental reasons,’” Manzanera tells Vulture.
Manzanera isn’t inclined to second-guess his former bandmate’s explanation.
“I’ll choose to believe it. He’s the same guy I met in 1971.”
Eno had made his reluctance to reunite clear well before the farewell tour. In a 2012 interview with The Independent, he said he had no interest in touring with Roxy Music again, despite maintaining good relationships with his former bandmates.
“It’s simply not my temperament to look back, which is why, for example, I could never tour with Roxy Music again,” he explained. “I keep telling them I don’t want to do it. They are nice people; they understand.”
For Manzanera, the 2022 shows provided an opportunity to give Roxy Music the kind of farewell he felt the band had long deserved, complete with a visual presentation befitting its legacy. The guitarist has also explained that the logistical challenges of touring Europe after Brexit helped convince the group to call it a day rather than try to extend their run.
“It was the first time we were ever able to play with the appropriate and well-presented iconography of Roxy Music,” he says.
“For a band like Roxy, that’s very important, because it’s always about music and image. I was finally able to show people what I do without the equipment blowing up. I could say good-bye. There will never be another Roxy gig.”
Eno’s departure from Roxy Music didn’t end his musical partnership with Manzanera. The two continued working together on the guitarist’s solo projects, including his 1975 album Diamond Head, and as part of the 1976 music project 801.
Manzanera has previously told Guitar Player about the important role Eno played in shaping the sound of Roxy Music’s first two albums. The pair frequently worked together, with Eno processing Manzanera’s electric-guitar signal through his electronic equipment and contributing to the performances.
“He and I used to do a lot of stuff together where he would treat my guitars through his EMS VCS3 synthesizer, and we both had Revox tape recorders,” Manzanera explained.
“So when you heard us doing stuff together, you’d have heard my guitar signal with echoes and distortion, and stuff like that, but you also would have heard my treated guitar sound through Eno’s oscillators and filters and things. He also had a DeArmond pedal modified to control the speed of our Revox tape recorders.”
Although Roxy Music have retired from the road, their legacy continues to receive attention through archival releases. The band is celebrating its 1973 album For Your Pleasure with a Super Deluxe Edition featuring previously unheard songwriting demos, studio outtakes, live recordings and previously unreleased performances.
