Against a theatrical Sherwood Forest backdrop, Mike Scott and his uniquely talented band of brothers took to the stage with a rousing “Don’t Bang the Drum”.
Mike was resplendent in gold trousers, somewhere between an haute couture rocker and a cowboy. There was Americana in the air, cowboy hats, embroidered suits, Hammond organ, keys, guitars, flutes, mandolins and Steve Wickham on fiddle, with band members swapping musical seats with aplomb. The pedal steel player, Roar Øien, is a great addition to the band.
A show of two halves, with Mike vocally unchanged from his early days, led us through a set that included “Glastonbury Song” and “How Long Will I Love You”. “The Whole of the Moon” came early in the set and had the audience lighting up the arena and singing along with gusto.
“The Raggle Taggle Gypsy” brought a magic of its own, adding a touch of opera and drama, with Mike Scott like Robin Hood and his band of merry men against the forest backdrop.
The beautiful barn-door lights either side of the stage created a theatrical setting, with the band close together on stage. The music of the night did the job without any arena lighting being needed.
After the break, the great Steve Earle took to the stage with a steely mandolin and haunting “Copperhead Road”, followed by “Guitar Town” and “My Old Friend the Blues”, amongst others. Things livened up again when Steve took up the mandolin, and a highlight of the collaboration for me was the duet on “Dead Flowers”. The instrumentation was superb, and it took on a Nashville sparkle.
The concert was a joy from start to finish. There were a few sound issues, but they were soon forgotten. The staging, the array of instruments and the variety of instrumentation including the guitar-styled keyboard, or “the white thing”, as Mike called it all added to the experience. As said previously, this is a uniquely and wildly talented band of brothers.
We had rock, we had gospel, we had jigs and reels. An encore of “Galway Girl” caused the arena to erupt, followed by a comradery gesture a fist bump from Mike & Steve and then a rousing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”. Well, for me, that just sealed the deal!
Talking to friends who were at the gig, the audience was quite international.
From the queue outside, they had spoken with Americans, English, Scottish, French, Germans, Norwegians, Spanish and one guy from Australia! Many had travelled specifically for the show.
As regards photography, the standard “first three, no flash” was permitted. It was a shame that there wasn’t a 2:1 split, for example, to cover the second half of the show featuring Steve Earle, who hasn’t aged a day since I last saw him at Glastonbury in 2023!
The Waterboys photos & set-list (Set 2 with Steve Earle):
Set-list:
Don’t Bang the Drum
Glastonbury Song
How Long Will I Love You?
A Girl Called Johnny
The Whole of the Moon
We Will Not Be Lovers
The Pan Within
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy ([trad cover)
Sweet Thing / Blackbird
Strange Boat
Dunford’s Fancy
The Stolen Child (William Butler Yeats poem)
Set 2 with Steve Earle:
Copperhead Road (Steve Earle cover)
Guitar Town (Steve Earle cover)
My Old Friend the Blues (Steve Earle cover)
I Ain’t Ever Satisfied (Steve Earle & the Dukes cover)
Volver a Celaya (Steve Earle & Los Lobos cover)
Kansas
When Ye Go Away
When Will We Be Married?
Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones cover)
Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?
Light Shine on Me
And a Bang on the Ear
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The Galway Girl (Steve Earle cover)
Fisherman’s Blues
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (William MacEwan cover)
Photos & words – Wayne Polley @hawkeye_polley_photography