Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In recent times Mike Scott and his band The Waterboys have given audiences in Liverpool some of the best nights out imaginable. To start their latest tour in a city they patently enjoy performing in is a high compliment to the crowds that make their way to any venue the band would make their way to.
The range of the music, the sense of drama that Mike Scott exudes though makes the Philharmonic Hall a natural stopping off point and whilst perhaps nothing could compare to the theatre provided when they performed tracks from their stunning album An Appointment With Mr. Yeats, this celebration of the album Fisherman’s Blues was none the less greeted like an old friend by the audience.
There are many bands from outside the Liverpool area that are able to command an evening in the Philharmonic Hall but it takes a great band to pay homage in amongst their set to take time out to remember one of the city’s favourite sons on the 33rd anniversary of his untimely passing and after opening with a couple of tracks from the Fisherman’s Blues album, it seemed only natural to remember John Lennon with a track of his own, the electrifying Cold Turkey.
The songs on offer from the band were greeted with great enthusiasm and even though a few tracks from the original recording were missing, what was played, as always, had every hallmark of classic Waterboys stamped throughout. With tracks such as Strange Boat, Higherbound, the fantastic A Girl Called Johnny, When Will We Be Married and We Will Not Be Lovers being played with the same love as when the tracks were released in 1987, this was certainly not an evening to be missed.
The band finished their night at the Philharmonic with the classic and fan favourite The Whole of the Moon and another nod to the city they were performing in by playing a section from the track Blackbird from The White Album.
It was always going to a be tough ask to match the intensity of the previous couple of gigs at The Philharmonic but for the fans that had gainfully made their way to Hope Street and had sung their hearts out in typical Liverpool fashion, this was just as good a night as they could ever have wished for.
Ian D. Hall