The Azerbaijan leg of the Stephen Webster “Murder She Wrote” world tour was our biggest spectacle yet.
We have secured the talents of Mr Ferry and his band on many occasions. Roxy Music have been a staple on the soundtrack of my life since I was about 15 years old. Bryan is really the perfect act for us and our clients. After much negotiation, rider management, visa and travel arrangements conducted by Mrs Webster and the bands manager, we found ourselves Baku bound.
The first thing you notice about Baku is that it appears to be brand new and everything is illuminated to a point that rivals Las Vegas. “Our president likes things to be lit up” we were told by the driver.
I had already read about a couple of the ambitious architectural projects under construction in the city. Zaha Hadid has designed an organic soft wave of a building to house the new concert hall and library (interesting stable mates).
The second thing we noticed was that we were in the middle of a blizzard, which we were assured by our hosts this was “a freak”. Baku does have a winter but a very mild one, this became evident later in the day as the temperature really dropped, roads froze and these fair weather drivers attempted to negotiate the unfamiliar treacherous conditions. We got lucky; our amazing host Mahmud had access to a land cruiser. We simply watched as the slow motion destruction derby took place all around us. It was an extraordinary site, cars literally broad siding each other or gliding crab like off the road taking unfortunates in their path with them. That night our hosts had planned a typical Azerbaijan welcome dinner, complete with at least 50 dishes including flavoured rice, sour cherries and fruits and an incredible selection of meats. And much to Mr. Ferry’s delight a few jars of premium Caspian Sea caviar.
The following day we spent preparing for our big event. Although the Blizzard was easing there was a general concern whether guests would cancel. We arrived at the venue to catch the end of the band’s sound check. The space, a vast and very impressive, night club called Hezz. It was becoming clear that Baku is a town where things are not done in half measure.
Before anything of course was hair and makeup. The style was to be pure Azerbaijani style! Smokey Kohl eyes and high hair. There was a lot of giggling from my girls but I could tell they really liked the theatre of it. After all when in Baku! The jewellery was being displayed in the bar area where people were to enter. It looked amazing, the showcases and environment adding to the spectacle that the ‘Murder She Wrote’ couture rings create when shown together.
My cast of femme fatales were in costume and looking deadly. My victim, the unfortunate Mr Mamedov was acting convincingly dead on the Chesterfield sofa. And most importantly, my detective was on hand to help the guests identify the girl who had killed her boss with what appeared to be none other than a Christian Louboutin stiletto shoe in his heart. An altogether grim affair.
This was to be my twelfth Murder She Wrote event this season. The plot remains the same but each city has a slightly different twist in order to entertain the culturally diverse crowds. This crowd was probably the most glamorous so far. It was very apparent that the women of Baku like to dress for an occasion. Once the president’s daughters turned up we knew we were the place to be seen that night along with 450 guests who had not been deterred by the Blizzard, our largest gathering by far.
After identifying Ms Raven as the murderess, Bryan and the band took to the stage. The reason we use his band is that whether you know their music or not, the show is exactly that, a show. The tunes; ‘Love is the drug’, ‘let’s stick together’, ‘Tokyo Joe’ etc are brilliant. Combined with the high energy and sexy dancers and backing singers; the female sax and keyboard players and the iconic style of Bryan out front makes for something with a wide but cool appeal. Something very unique. Trust me I’ve tried to replicate it many times.
Once the band had finished our hosts whisked us all away to an amazing villa called ‘Nobel Brothers’ villa in honour of the Nobel peace prize founders. Entertainment continued with the Azerbaijani favourites of throat singing and belly dancing. The band joined in, unfortunately so did I. The cruel pictorial evidence of which is now on our wall of shame. It was a great night and was the end to an amazing 3 day trip. Our hosts at Royal Collection really made the trip, from the extraordinary warm welcome we all received from start to finish to the expertly organized event. Our sincere gratitude and thanks to all at Royal Collection for this.
Baku is preparing itself to host the Eurovision song contest in May this year. In the UK we have long treated this extravaganza as somewhat of a joke. Nothing could be further from the way the competition is viewed in the ex Soviet Union, eastern European and Scandinavian countries. The tradition being that the country from which the winner represents becomes the host the following year. Baku is building 4 major hotels and has ordered 3000 London style taxis along with everything else needed to accommodate the anticipated 25,000 visitors for the occasion. I have a confession to make. My wife and I will be among that number. I wouldn’t miss this event of the year for anything.
