The Waterboys
A Rock In The Weary Land
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It used to be that you could divide up The Waterboys’ music into two distinct eras. There was the “Big Music” period which spanned the band’s first three albums and which won them comparisons to U2 and The Alarm. Then with 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues, singer/guitarist Mike Scott, a Scotsman by birth, moved to Ireland and rethought the Waterboys concept with an album of Celtic-influenced folk and country music.

2001 finds Scott working both sides of the fence. His recent 9:30 Club show was part of an American tour to promote the “Big Music”-sounding A Rock In The Weary Land. But just out across the pond is a new record that finds Scott revisiting the original Fisherman’s Blues sessions for some lost gems. And joining him on tour in a Waterboys lineup of mostly hired hands is fiddle player Steve Wickham, a veteran from the Fisherman’s Blues period. The band allowed Scott to faithfully recreate all phases of The Waterboys sound.

“After those awful terrorist attacks, we’re proud to play for Americans and especially here in Washington and we’re standing right beside you,” Scott said at the top of the show as the band kicked into Weary Land’s “Let It Happen.” With its ghostly keyboard and Geoff Dugmore’s martial drumming it sounded like a call to arms as Scott sang “But whatever needs to happen / Let it happen, let it be.”

Scott’s signature rasp was filled with character on tunes like “The Charlatan’s Lament” which worked its way to an exultant chorus: “Can you walk a smithereen closer to me / Could you love a thimbleful harder for me.” The song featured one of the evening’s many guitar-fiddle duels with Wickham.

Scott dedicated “Dumbing Down the World” to Jerry Springer and Conan O’Brien. Okay Springer I agree with but Conan? The guy went to Harvard and wrote for The Simpsons ferchrissakes. “And my thoughts are banal / Like a stagnant canal / And my sycophants shamble behind me,” the song goes. Scott and keyboard player Richard Naiff took turns playing with the theremin, a musical instrument controlled by the player's hand motions (or guitar motions in this case) near the instrument's two antennas.

Despite a vocal fan shouting requests for “Red Army Blues” from the first Waterboys album, it was a full forty minutes before Scott dipped into the back catalogue. “Glastonbury Song” from 1993’s somewhat disappointing Dream Harder kicked the set into high gear with some impressive fretwork from Scott and some nice harmonies from the rest of the band.

It was quickly followed by another showcase guitar-fiddle duel with Wickham on the Fisherman’s Blues chestnut “We Will Not Be Lovers.” Then Scott stepped behind the piano for a surprise early appearance of fan favorite “The Whole of the Moon.” It got a big response from the crowd and put a big smile on Scott’s face. Pretty bassist Jo Wadeson provided the song’s “la la la la” backing vocals. Sixteen years after its release, the song still sounds just as lyrical, poetic and inspired and its clear Scott still gets a kick out of playing it.

1985’s classic This Is The Sea was well represented by three other songs as well including a romantic and majestic run at “The Pan Within” with its pretty piano riff, Wickham’s soaring fiddle and Scott’s whooping vocal. It was easy to feel transported as Scott sang lines like “breathe a night full of treasure.”

Scott then strapped on an acoustic guitar for a couple of songs. A welcome surprise in the set was a track from his 1997 solo album Still Burning. “Open” is the kind of circular meditation that Scott is a master of. The evening’s only misstep was an acoustic take on “When Ye Go Away” which changed the song’s melody to make it more complex but somehow less interesting and not as charming as the recorded version. Still, Wickham’s electric fiddle nearly rescued it.

The band came back rocking strong with the distorted groove of “Crown.” Wickham’s fiddle soared again on “Fisherman’s Blues,” which again proved why it’s not a surprise the song has been used on so many movie soundtracks. Naiff then played some Phantom of the Opera-style organ chords and Scott ripped into a brutal, punky version of the early Waterboys track “Savage Earth Heart” that brought the house down and brought the main set to a close.

The familiar opening (pre-recorded) trumpet fanfare of “Don’t Bang the Drum” played as the band returned to the stage just in time to leap into the song right on cue. Scott’s vocals sounded as energized as they had all evening and he reprised his duel with Wickham and took a scorching, eardrum rupturing solo as well.

The band couldn’t duplicate the bank of cascading acoustic guitars on the recorded version of “This Is the Sea” but Wickham’s fiddle playing more than made up for that. Just as the song was ending, the band kicked into “That Was the River,” the sped-up version of the song that appeared on The Secret Life of the Waterboys. Scott threw in a bit of Hendrix’ “Star Spangled Banner” to end the show by again expressing his solidarity.

Opener Tom McRae turned in a nice set of moody, occasionally very dark songs from his self-titled debut album. At times, the Londoner’s voice recalled both David Gray and Jeff Buckley. Good stuff.

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