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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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THE
WATERBOYS
Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf, London - 10/22/04
by super-deluxe guest writer Nick Morgan
One of the reasons for Mike Scott's continued
longevity in the music game is his refusal to
be put into a box. Always changing, never getting
tired. But on Friday night in the middle of London's
monument to mendacity he was walled in (with an
audience of wedding-reception chaired admirers)
by the Temple of Avarice. His response was to
open his two-hour set with Universal Hall (from
the quite brilliant eponymous album) - a song
forged at the Altar of Love. And the effect was
magnetic - Scott, pianist Richard Naiff and fiddler
Steve Wickham delivering an evening of such intimacy
(at one point Scott took time out to poll his
audience on a new song) that Mammon was put firmly
back into his own box. |
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With
Scott confined to acoustic guitars (rock-star posing
notwithstanding), Naiff on electric piano and Hammond
organ, and Wickham excelling on violin and electric
fuzz-fiddle (hang-on, call in the Definitions Committee,
I thought this was an acoustic gig!) the evening
swooped and soared through the Waterboys'
back catalogue and previewed some fine new material.
'Dunderheid', the audience agreed, not being the
best, but 'Strange Arrangement' and the ballad 'Live
with me' (a brave choice for a final encore) certainly
hit the spot.
'The return of Jimi Hendrix', 'Crown' (from the
underrated Rock in a Weary Land), 'The Pan Within',
and 'Peace of Iona' were just some of the highlights
as crescendo followed crescendo (there were in truth
probably a few too many crescendos) 'till we were
eventually ejected onto the streets, a strange crew
finding our way home through the drink-fuelled bankers
of what was for them just another Friday night in
Canary Wharf. But we'd been somewhere else. Memorable!
- Nick Morgan |
Thank
you Nick. After 'Peace
of Iona' that I already recommended on October
21., here's another excellent song by The Waterboys:
The
Return of Pan (mp3) |
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Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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