No messing. Just some
heads-down no-nonsense post-punk-beat-poet-folk-blues-rock. Simple, really.
Simple because, when you get down to it, The Waterboys kick
ass. They get the ball rolling with
‘Destinies Entwined’, from their latest album Modern Blues, featuring muscular guitar and surging organ even before Steve
Wickham makes a grand entrance and adds his electric fiddle to the mix. The extra dimension brought by that fiddle is
apparent on the following ‘Still A Freak’, with Wickham showing great attack as
he conjures up a sound akin to tough slide guitar.
Mike Scott takes to the piano for a journey back in time to
‘A Girl Called Johnny’, which has Wickham pirouetting across the stage, before
they offer up two stormy codas, demonstrating the power and gutsiness that’s
the hallmark of their sound throughout, propelled along by the rhythm section of
Ralph Salmins on drums and David Hood on bass.
It’s there again as they blast through ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’, which
features a fiddle v guitar duel between Wickham and lead guitarist Zach Ernst.
 |
| Mike Scott and friends - the nearest thing to hip |
‘Nearest Thing To Hip’ cools things down a bit, with some jazzy,
Van the Man undertones. Mike Scott takes time to insert a chatty, humorous tribute to the cheap shops and market stalls of
Glasgow’s ‘Barras’ district, recalling his spotty youth travelling up from
Ayrshire to buy the latest trendy gear with his limited funds.
But it’s on ‘Rosalind’ that the roof really comes off, as
they unleash their new secret weapon.
Scott and Wickham may be one of those great, idiosyncratic front line
pairings, but now they’re augmented by Paul Brown, the co-producer of Modern
Blues – aka ‘Brother Paul’ of Memphis, who is a flailing, manic force of nature
on keyboards, and evidently having a whale of a time. Coming across like a demented rock’n’roll hybrid
of Jerry Lee Lewis, and Christopher Lloyd playing Doc in Back To The Future, he grabs the spotlight with a frenzied solo
that feels like he’s ready to climb inside his organ and rip out its
innards. It’s symptomatic of his
rabble-rousing contribution - and he even chucks in some howling backing vocals
just for good measure.
Later they cement their rock’n’roll leanings with a brisk
take on ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, before Scott gives full rein to his storytelling
abilities on ‘The Return Of Jimi Hendrix’, on which Ernst goes wild with some
wailing, distorted guitar. Scott and
Wickham go into duo mode for a trip down memory lange with ‘Don’t Bang That
Drum’, before bringing the band back for the inevitable ‘Whole Of The
Moon’. It’s a solid gold classic of
course, on which the whole crowd contributes backing vocals, but to close the
set they opt for ‘Long Strange Golden Road’.
The ten-minute epic from Modern
Blues brings us home with a thumping evocation of Scott’s eager way with
beat imagery, with the “wild holy band playing jazz that was outrageous” outstripped
by the band’s own rock groove and the inspiring hook of the chorus.
They encore with ‘Fisherman’s Blues’, the rattling tune
that’s still the prime example of Mike Scott’s folk immersion, with Wickham’s
delightful fiddle line complementing Scott’s sea-swept, wind-blown lyrics. And if that’s going back to the source, they
end the night with a left turn into ‘Purple Rain’, a surprise choice of cover
that they pull off in the most relaxed fashion.
We heard the big music tonight, and it sounded pretty damn good
No comments:
Post a Comment