Review: Rock guitar legend delights fans during intimate Bay Area gig

Appearing onstage in an snazzy blue suit, complete with a matching pocket square to top off the oh-so-dapper outfit, Phil Manzanera looked nothing like the space-traveling wild man with diamante-studded bug-eyed shades who fans first met — and came to love — as the guitarist for avant-rockers Roxy Music back in the early ’70s.

Yet, then he plugged in his guitar — to what he’d earlier described to me as the “smallest amp known to man” with “the biggest sound” — and began playing his signature mix of prog, pop, rock, Latin and experimental sounds.

And our ears would confirm that — yes, indeed — it was the same great Phil Manzanera standing before us at the intimate Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Thursday night (Feb. 19).

The English art-rock icon came to town as part of a short “words and music” tour, which supports several different projects from this ever-active 75-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (who was rightfully enshrined as a member of Roxy Music in 2019).

Yet, the two projects that really set the tone and pace for the evening were the new 11-disc box set retrospective “50 Years of Music” as well as the 2024 memoir “Revolución to Roxy.” As you can tell from those titles, Manzanera has been in quite a reflective mood these days — and he’d use his time at the Great American Music Hall to look back at his more than a half century of making music.

He’d do so in words during an onstage conversation with journalist Anil Prasad, who traveled alongside Manzanera as he took his ancestral origin story way back to 1492 and quickly moved forward to his days growing up in Cuba — where his mom taught him Spanish guitar and he’d begin playing Cuban folk songs. Manzanera continued to move around quite a bit during those early years with his family — Venezuela, Hawaii and, finally, London.

As Manzanera’s backstory unfolded for the full house of fans in attendance, the reasons for the music that he makes — and the artist that he is — made ever more sense. For just one example, the fact that Cuban folk — and Latin music in general — was such an essential part of his formative years certainly explains why those styles continue to so greatly influence and inspire a musician who has been based in the U.K. now for over 60 years.

Once the story moved on to London, we’d learn how the aspiring young guitarist would meet David Gilmour — the Pink Floyd genius who’d regularly collaborate and perform with Manzanera over the years — and then get involved with the prog-rock scene. He’d change course once he met up with some artsy young men with big plans to form Roxy Music, although his passion for prog would again show up on his later solo records and projects like 801 (with fellow Roxy Music legend Brian Eno).

All the talking was well and good — and the star of the show certainly came across as a charming and likeable guy — but fans were glad when the guitarist would pick up his axe midway through the show. Turning on the “smallest amp known to man,” Manzanera performed a wildly entertaining career-spanning mashup — basically summarizing “50 Years of Music” in a roughly 10-minute block — as he touched upon such Roxy standouts as “More Than This,” “Amazona” and “Jealous Guy” as well as solo cuts and 801 material.

He’d then take a break, spending that time back at the merch booth talking with and signing collectibles for fans, before heading back to the stage to perform an absolutely stunning version of “Magdalena,” a equally lovely and powerful bolero-meets-rocker that was inspired by Manzanera’s mother. It’s such an emotionally resonant piece, hailing from the 2015 solo album “The Sound of Blue,” that it continues to move and impact me as I write this review a day after seeing the show.

More conversation followed, reflecting on his long period of collaborating with Gilmour (resulting in concert tours and producing Gilmour/Floyd albums) as well as other topics. There would even be some questions from crowd members, all of whom knew their Manzanera/801/Roxy history.

Yet, once again, things got even better once he grabbed his guitar — this time for a towering take on “Diamond Head,” the title track from his studio debut from 1975 and arguably the best-known solo cut in his catalog. Manzanera sounded brilliant, soaring along on solo guitar while accompanied by recorded tracks featuring the original musicians.

It was a great night for fans, who enjoyed both the words and music portions of the show. Yet, let’s hope that the latter will get a bigger focus in the near future and that Manzanera will soon return to the Bay Area to perform a full-length concert with a band.