Photos by Michael McGrath, Words by Amy McGrath
From the opening notes of “When Ye Go Away,” the Waterboys filled the Gothic Theatre with joy right out of the gate on Tuesday night. What followed was a lush and lyrical mélange of traditional Celtic music, E-street Band-style rock, country and blues, led by the masterly and mercurial Waterboys founder Mike Scott.
Tuesday night found Scott chatty and congenial, telling jokes and warmly engaging the Gothic crowd. The versatility and musicality of the impressive band shone across the band’s two sets that spanned nearly four decades of music- from the moody country boogie of “A Girl Called Johnny” (1983), through the luminous Celtic lilt of “Fisherman’s Blues” (1988), to the rocking ode to the Clash, “London Mick,” from this year’s release “Where the Action Is.”
Scott’s been on a writing and recording tear as of late; the Waterboys have released three albums in the last four years. He’s long been recognized as one of rock’s true poets, and his recent lyrics feature the kind of reflective storytelling of his own life that only the perspective of middle age can offer. The band closed their first set with a sweeping “Ladbrook Grove,” Scott’s poignant ode to his early days as a young, eager songwriter in West London of the early 80’s.
The Waterboys’ second set, as well as Scott’s mood, was edgier. Stopping the band midway through the opening song, “Man, What a Woman,” Scott chastised audience members having a conversation in front of the stage. The music and mood of the Waterboys can be wildly romantic, but it can also be fierce. The blistering classic “We Will Not Be Lovers” hinted at the dark snarl that has always lain just under the surface of the Waterboys lyrics and music.
Mike Scott has been the face of the band and an impressive force in rock music since the early 80’s, but it was the consummate musicianship of the Waterboys as a whole that really resonated on Tuesday night. Long time player Steve Wickham is a ferociously talented fiddle player and his energy was matched by a relative newcomer to the band, the charismatic and impressive keyboardist Brother Paul Brown, the only American in the band. The night culminated with a joyful encore of the 1985’s “The Whole of the Moon,” sending long time Waterboys fans out of the Gothic with the wind in their sails.
