Review: The Waterboys Live at the Marquee - Poetry and folk rock from one of the great live bands
Mike Scott of the Waterboys performing Live At The Marquee Cork. Picture: Creative Agency
There’s something quite poetic about the way The Waterboys interact with their audience that makes their performances feel more spiritual than a regular night’s entertainment.
That’s not to say they don’t rock; for rock they definitely do. In fact, only the cowboy hats hint at their glorious past as icons of country-tinged folk rock. Star-speckled glitter shirts, Cuban heels and an homages to WB Yeats, it’s a mystical mix that makes its own sort of sense.
Really incredible musicians, and deeply committed to their songs and to their fans. It’s just that their performance seems somehow just a bit more ethereal than the business of show, less of a job, more of a vocation.
‘This is the Sea’ - a mellow moment in a hard rocking @WaterboysMusic show in the Marquee @LATMofficial pic.twitter.com/MGo4lIJ6CL
— Irish Examiner Arts & Culture (@IEArtsCulture) June 18, 2023
“We’d like to play you an old Ellie Goulding song,” says iconic frontman Mike Scott, introducing ‘How Long Will I Love You?, the Waterboys folk ballad turned pop hit for Ms Ellie G.
One of the truly great vocalists, Scott is also an excellent guitarist. And he’d need to be. He’s the only guitarist in this band, so he’s on rhythm and lead.
The hits are a joy: Whole of the Moon, How Long Will I Love You?, Fisherman’s Blues, When Ye Go Away, And a Bang on the Ear, all classics.
There’s a real energy also to songs like A Girl Called Johnny, Glastonbury Song and Where The Action Is. The WB Yeats poem ‘The Lake Isle Of Innisfree’ is a very moving nod to Scott’s poetic muse.
Along with Mike Scott, current members of The Waterboys include Memphis keyboard virtuoso “Brother” Paul Brown, pianist James Holliwell, drummer Eamon Ferris (from Belfast) and Aongus Ralston (who has family in Kerry) on bass.
This well-established line-up, no doubt, goes some way to explaining the band’s enduring popularity, delivering shows arguably as emotive and powerful as the 1980s glory days, when Irish violinist Steve Wickham’s playing so beautifully mirrored the Mike Scott’s poetic spiritualism.
That musical brilliance is now being delivered by ‘Brother’ Paul Brown on keys. This virtuosity earns a personal tribute in the song ‘Nashville, Tennessee’ – totally deserved. He’s not, however, the only wizard in The Waterboys.
Putting the personnel changes of the likes of Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones to shame, more than 70 people have been listed as members over this band’s lifetime.
Scott is the star, but The Waterboys is a truly a band of equals, an unquestionably great live band. How long will we love them? As long as there are stars above them. And longer if we can.
