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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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DEACON
BLUE The Hammersmith Apollo, London, November
17th 2006
There’s
got to be a better way of doing it than this.
It’s Friday night and we’re on our
way to Hammersmith for a bite to eat and Deacon
Blue at the Apollo. You must remember
them – Scotland’s finest from the
late 1980s, fifteen Top 40 singles and five Top
10 albums (selling over six million copies) in
the space of seven years or so, fronted by songwriter
and singer Ricky Ross, the Dundonian who made
Glasgow his, and the band’s, adopted home,
celebrated in their first album Raintown. |
 |
| In
1994 the decision of drummer Douglas Vipond to quit
for a TV career led to the band’s splitting
up (and as I recall a memorable farewell tour gig
in Edinburgh), since when Ross has pursued a solo
career of mixed fortunes. But a
reformed band in one shape or another (guitarist
Graeme Kelling died of cancer in 2004, Vipond only
plays when other commitments allow – as it
happens he’s here tonight) has been touring
since 1999. A new album, Homesick, polarised opinions,
but tonight we’re on safer ground as the band
are here to promote their ‘new’ album
Singles, comprising sixteen hits and three new songs.
But it must be easier than this. |
| Let
me explain. It’s about two miles from where
I live to Hammersmith and the ViaMichelin website
tells me we should be able to drive there in around
five minutes. But it’s Friday and our departure
coincides with a downpour of biblical proportions
so we crawl for over an hour and a half, endure
a collision with harassed and aggressive out-of-towner
and arrive for supper at one of London’s hidden
treasures with only about half an hour to eat
– fortunately for us the place is deserted
because the traffic’s so bad and the storm
has closed the Underground. Now – have you
any idea what a stressful way that is to start an
evening of open-minded reviewing? Well, luckily
Deacon Blue were more than up for the challenge
and after an iffy start simply brought the house
down. It was third song ‘Raintown’ that
brought the audience to its feet, where it stayed
for most of the night. I was reminded just how good
some of the songs were – ‘Fergus sings
the blues’, ‘Loaded’, ‘Chocolate
girl’ ‘Wages day’ – even
if a few don’t seem to have aged better than
others. And whilst I have always thought Ross looked
an uncomfortable rock-star he has the audience in
his hand, teasing them with painful shaggy-dog stories
(I believe in French Serge, une histoire sans queue
ni tête) one of which, the introduction to
‘Fergus’, included a man drowning in
a vat of whisky at Tobermory Distillery (punch line
– “it took him four hours, he came up
three times for breath”), a thought which
might interest Whiskyfun readers. And even though
he’s hoarse his voice is as soulful as ever,
and frankly singer Lorraine McIntosh was better
than on the last two occasions I saw here over twelve
years ago. The fans (and believe me, they are fans)
love it, they know all the songs, all the words,
and they take over ‘Dignity’ completely,
drowning out the band when they sing the first verse
and chorus in its entirety. But you know, I still
can’t get the traffic and rain and anxiety
out of my mind. |
| There
has to be a better way – and there is. For
fifteen quids we walked away ten minutes after the
show had finished with a CD of the whole thing (well
– not quite, the new songs weren’t included,
nor the Springsteen cover ‘Light of day’,
for copyright reasons). Now I thought it was cool
that I was able to order a CD of the Who gig at
Hyde Park and get it delivered a few weeks later
– and was surprised that you could get recordings
of their whole European
and American tour. And I was amused that at
the end of the Jim White and Johnny Dowd Hellwood
gig a few weeks ago we were told that we could buy
a CD of the performance if we hung around waiting
for keyboard player Michael Stark to burn them on
his laptop. |
| But
this ‘official bootleg’ thing is big
business, run by a company called Concert
Live who’ve been recording and selling
at gigs for a year – covering bands as diverse
as Gang of Four, the Fratellis and Keane. For Deacon
Blue they are selling just 400 copies (hmmm, collector’s
items, that’s nice) of each gig – you
can take them away with you, or order from the comfort
of your arm chair and get them delivered to your
door. So you don’t have to go out in the cold
or rain or traffic at all – or spend all that
money on tickets. |
 |
|
I’m sure the next thing will be live downloadable
streaming – fantastic – and don’t
worry about missing the atmosphere, I can send the
Photographer along with a webcam stitched to her
bobble hat (on second thoughts she might need to
take a ladder too). So Serge the future of concert
reviewing – the armchair critic - is upon
us. Watch this space. - Nick Morgan (photographs
by Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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