Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The sound is enigmatic, sincere, almost poetry within itself, add into the equation the lyrical robustness that flows elegantly as if navigating, taming a winter storm at sea, then it becomes clear why Mike Scott and The Waterboys continue to impress the audiences that eagerly await the announcement of a gig in their area, almost choir like in their appreciation, they sing to a glory that gathers rhythm and insightful prose together in a sweeping gesture that makes the heart beat faster and the mind moved in unison.

You play where you know the crowd will lift you higher, where they will feed off the stories and in return will make the evening feel as if it is the hippest place to be, that their attendance somehow pushes the feeling of resolute happiness to a new boundary. It is in this profound symbiotic relationship that a band, no matter how long they may have been together or how short the links between them may be, can be seen, understood, to be phenomenal.

A firm favourite within Liverpool, The Waterboys came on stage at the Philharmonic Hall in the initial throws of darkness, the light ready to shine on them, but with the knowledge as the crowd warmly welcomed them in their return that the light was shining from within them, a smile, a gestured nod to the multitude and that radiance sprang forth as if powered by an unknown source of electricity, igniting the kindling of music that was to come until it was a raging inferno, ferocious, intense, flickering beauty and unstoppable.

With a new album in tow, the answer to the statement of Where The Action Is was perfectly clear, on the stage with the band, where the moon was whole and the heavens opened up before the world. Across songs such as If The Answer Is Yeah, Old England, The Right Side Of Heartbreak (The Wrong Side Of Love), the superb Nashville, Tennessee, Medicine Bow, the sheer caressing of immortality in The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, London Mick and Nearest Thing To Hip, the scene that simmered, boiled and pulsed was one that is always expected, and yet still manages to blow the minds of all who walk side by side with one of the all time greats.

An evening of passion caught up in the embrace of poetic observation and shining truth, you cannot expect anything more from The Waterboys, but they always seem to take you further into the light.

Ian D. Hall