When I wrote the piece How It Should Be a few weeks back, I listed a variety of reason for the inactivity on this blog. One reason I didn’t include was Being Ill. Ill in the sense of taking time off work, not partaking in the usual leisure activities that one does, not wanting to eat a cheese and onion pie or drink a pint of beer. That level of ill. The level of ill where everyone else in the house doesn’t want to go anywhere near you – for several days. The level of ill that as it endures, you start to worry about missing a live music event which you’ve been looking forward to.
Given that this involved a band I’ve never previously seen, but whose first six albums I dutifully bought, there was a fairly significant level of worry attached. Thankfully, while still not feeling 100%, I did make it on Friday night to the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester to see The Waterboys.
Like the Ben Watt song mentioned a while back in Unsung Songs #3, my first recollection of The Waterboys was hearing A Girl Called Johnny on the radio during a spell of homework avoidance. The “what the Hell was that I just heard?” moment lingered and as a result of never seeing the single on sale, I ultimately purchased the first album. As I did the next five, up to 1993. Then, the band seemed to have a break and even when things started up again I never really re-engaged, until I borrowed a CD copy of 2011’s An Appointment With Mr. Yeats from my local library.
Since then I’ve been dipping in and out, thanks to the existence of music streaming and the odd CD purchase.
The current tour isn’t billed as plugging a particular album despite a new release in 2022 and indeed nearly half the set comes from 1985’s This Is The Sea and 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues. Given that I haven’t seen them previously and that these albums are chronologically slap bang in the middle of my peak love of the band, I’m not unduly disappointed by this.
The band played without a support act, doing two sets and the obligatory encore of The Whole Of The Moon. It does seems as though they have been mixing the set list up a bit between shows on this tour and the fact that some shows have seen a cover of Prince’s Purple Rain has intrigued me. Sadly we didn’t get that in Manchester.
However, it was a great show with a highlight for me being the end of the first set which saw a cracking version of The Pan Within with keyboard players Brother Paul and James Hallawell trying to outdo each other duel-style with some truly amazing playing. There was also a first play on the tour for a cover of a traditional song “Dim Lights Thick Smoke (and Loud Loud Music)”. Mike Scott explained how this was a song they thought would suit the band well – until he saw how misogynistic the lyrics were. He said that he and Brother Paul had re-written the lyrics on the journey over from the previous night’s show in York – and then duly played it, to a great reception.
There is one new song that they have been playing at every show – It Was Over. Sadly its brief appearance on YouTube also seems to be over, so I can’t provide a link to it. I will however provide a link to the show opener – 2019’s Where The Action Is.
It really shouldn’t have taken me 40 years before I saw Mike Scott and co live. Would I see them again? Oh, yes.
Saturday saw another trip to Manchester for a rather different show. I’ll write about that as soon as.
TGG
Wasting time in the study 
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