The Waterboys / Saint Jude

Ipswich Regent Theatre on Fri 27th Apr 2007

Saint Jude, the six-piece support act, have the unenviable task of playing to a seated, half full theatre crowd who are waiting for the main act’s long awaited return visit to Ipswich. The lead vocalist has a powerful voice, similar to Maria McKee, and belts out the songs over a guitar-based, 70s influenced, sound. The stand out tracks are ‘Old Flame’ and ‘Angel’.

The Waterboys arrive on stage and proceed to storm their way through a set which lasts for two hours, displaying bags of energy and enthusiasm which belies the age of the two key players. It’s almost unbelievable that their greatest hit ‘The Whole of the Moon’ was first released 22 years ago and their back catalogue spans nine studio albums and six live albums and compilations. The Waterboys are a moveable feast like The Divine Comedy in that there is one main singer-songwriter, and the various incarnations of the band are fluid. Mike Scott is the king-pin and the other core members at present are Richard Naiff on keyboards and flute, and Steve Wickham, the whirlwind wizard of a fiddle player and essential ingredient in the band’s distinctive sound over the years. He’s been described by Mike Scott as “the greatest rock fiddler in the world”. The other members tonight are Mark Smith on bass and Damon Wilson on drums.

This tour is promoting their current album, ‘Book of Lightning’, their first original release in four years. Several of the songs were written in ‘86 and capture the same atmosphere of ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ and that joyous Celtic spirit. The set opens with four of these new tracks. One of them, a lovely poetic song called ‘Strange Arrangement’, Mike describes as being about becalming and dedicates it to David Blunkett who if “he’s not becalmed, blood well should be”.

The Waterboys

They play a fair mixture of the older songs which are much loved – the dramatic ‘Be My Enemy’, the epic and passionate ‘Red Army Blues’ which is the tale of a young Russian soldier, ‘Medicine Bow’ with its extended instrument breaks and two of the band wearing scary pointy masks, and the beautiful Yeats poem ‘The Stolen Child’ with haunting flute accompaniment.

Another oldie, ‘Suffer,’ has an almost reggae sound to it, ‘Glastonbury Song’ is very noisy and spirited, and as soon as the opening strains of ‘The Whole of the Moon’ are heard there’s an influx of people to the front of the stage and all the aisles fill up. It’s good to see that the majority of the dancers are so young that they couldn’t have been born when this song was out originally! Now we have “permission” and from this point on, the whole audience is standing or dancing, clapping and cheering, including the people in the balcony.

The Waterboys

Spirituality, mysticism, poetry and uplifting Celtic sounds run through The Waterboys’ music, perfectly encapsulated in the last song of the encore, ‘Fisherman’s Blues’. The whole show was a raggle-taggle, riotous party – the frantic fiddle-playing, the spinning, reeling and kicking, the duelling of instruments, frenetic keyboards, and floating flute accompaniment. The audience loved it.

The tour continues around the UK throughout May, including a date at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and then the Waterboys will be appearing at various festivals throughout the summer.

Set list:

The Man with the Wind at his Heels
Everybody Takes a Tumble
It’s Gonna Rain
Love Will Shoot You Down
Old England
Strange Arrangement
Suffer
Glastonbury Song
Peace of Iona
The Whole of the Moon
Be My Enemy
Scampful (Scottish/Irish) Jig
When Will We Be Married?
The Stolen Child
Red Army Blues
Medicine Bow
When Ye Go Away
The Pan Within
***
You in the Sky
Fisherman’s Blues

article by: Helen O'Sullivan

photos by: Helen O'Sullivan

published: 06/05/2007 16:45



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