Mike Scott has been leading The Waterboys for nearly 30 years and the Sydney Festival scored a coup in bringing him to Australia for the very first time in 2013.
According to Scott there had only ever been one concrete offer to come to Australia some 28 years ago, and at the time he had no drummer so they turned it down (not knowing any replacement drummers down here in the colonies meant a loss for Australia).
So with this to be The Waterboys’ first appearance on a Sydney stage, the excitement in the room could be felt as the lights dimmed and the crowd hooted and whistled.
The recital tonight was not billed as simply a concert but it a chance to truly delve into the world and poetry of WB Yeats, the great Irish poet, instilled with the music of Scott and his merry minstrels.
The latest release by The Waterboys is entitled An Appointment With Mr Yeats and this album was delivered throughout the main part of the set.
Scott has been interested in the writings of Yeats for some time and has written songs with his poetry before. You may recall “Stolen Child” from Fisherman’s Blues which featured the music and then a reading of the poem by one Tomas McKeown.
The band thrilled the audience early on with “Song Of Wandering Aegnus”, which exhibited that Scott had lost none of his vocal prowess or musical arranging skills. This was a classic Waterboys song and the crowd yelled their approval as it finished.
The psychedelic and acid flashback inducing “Mad As The Mist And Snow” gave Steve Wickham a chance to rock out on fiddle. In addition to the stunning music, Wickham, Hallawell, and Scott donned some demonic masks which added to the atmosphere of the tune.
Ralph Salmins added thunderous drumming that brought the song to a crashing crescendo and Scott stopped his dancing to finish off with the poetry of Yeats.
Most of the songs worked well throughout the night, even when they were short and beautiful, like “An Irishman Faces His Death”. Scott spoke intermittently about the poems, but really left most of the evening to the music and overall it was a warm experience with a band that seemed to be playing with ease.
With these songs written over a lengthy period of time and then played live before the band ever recorded them last year, this conglomeration of The Waterboys gave a mighty performance and closed the set proper with the dreamlike “Faery’s Last Song” featuring Australian folk singer Sarah Calderwood on flute and vocals.
You could feel the energy rise as The Waterboys returned to the stage and once again Calderwood featured on flute as “Stolen Child” was played to the very appreciative crowd who were desperate to hear some classic songs from a very deep back catalogue.
Since only 75 minutes had expired during the Yeats set, you could sense that people were settling in for some folk. But the band exited stage right and for a moment, it appeared that was all.
Thankfully they returned for a rollicking, spine tingling version of “Don’t Bang The Drum” (from 1985’s This is The Sea) where the guitars were given a good work out along with Wickham’s bow.
This was followed by the band’s signature tune, “Whole Of The Moon”, which got everyone singing along and thinking they were going to get what they truly came for.
Ending with “Fisherman’s Blues” the band took a curtsy and Scott left the audience truly wanting more, and many were screaming as much over and over as the houselights came up.
Disappointment was not a word on anyone’s lips, but the punters’ desire to continue this party was something that should have been entertained on the Waterboys’ debut Sydney show.
