Into Live Music Review: The Waterboys
Some gigs just feel like they’re going to be a wee bit more special than others. The Waterboys in Dublin on a Saturday night was one of them. That feeling was only heightened by discovering our hotel was next door to the venue. Sometimes the stars really do align.
I’ve seen plenty of Waterboys gigs over the years, but never a Revue. Even the name conjured up memories of Dylan’s legendary mid-’70s Rolling Thunder Revue. So, what did we get? A musical journey, loosely divided into four staging posts, with the boundaries between them becoming increasingly blurred as the night unfolded.
First up: the core six-piece band. Mike Scott on vocals and guitar, Brother Paul Brown on organ and keytar, Famous James Hallawell on piano and keyboards, Aongus Ralston on bass, Eamon Ferris on drums and Roar Øien on lap steel. Musicians all aligned and as intuitive as the E Street band in their prime.
They hit the ground running with Don’t Bang The Drum, Scott kicking his way to the front of the stage as the band locked into their familiar groove. Brother Paul already wigging out on his mysterious guitar-keyboard contraption. The crowd fully engaged.
After a run that included A Girl Called Johnny and ‘their No.1 hit’ How Long Will I Love You, came The Whole Of The Moon. The place erupted. The crowd were both surprised and elated to hear this modern classic so early in the set. And for a moment, it felt as though the Waterboys had already played their trump card. Then, at the next musical junction, came the sound of a violin, drifting in on an imaginary breeze.
Steve Wickham joined the band for the first of the Fisherman’s Blues classics, We Will Not Be Lovers – Scott reminding us that he first met Wickham while recording This Is The Sea, where he guested on The Pan Within. That was the last track recorded for the album, and followed immediately after WWNBL, the musical DNA connecting the two was unmistakable.
With Wickham now in tow, the evening became a rollicking celebration of the album the Revue was named after – five Fisherman’s Blues album tracks in succession, the band ebbing and flowing like the Liffey just down the road. They were loose and tight, powerful and delicate. A jam that somehow knew exactly where it was going.
And then, to finish this first movement, The Stolen Child — Yeats’ words, Scott and the band’s musical soul – Colin Blakey appearing to add flute, just as he had almost 40 years ago. The atmosphere changed completely. The crowd sang along in a reverential hum, the song hanging in the air long after the final notes had disappeared.
Around 75 minutes and a dozen songs had elapsed since the band took to the stage, arguably good enough to be a standalone Waterboys gig – but not this Revue. Following a short break, the band returned and Scott welcomed an honorary Waterboy to the stage: Steve Earle.
The next section of this musical road trip began with Scott and Earle sharing centre stage on the latter’s Copperhead Road — hard-hitting and all the better for it — before Scott stepped aside and left Earle and the core band to it for several more of his songs. It was a brave move. Handing the stage to a guest midway through the evening could easily have stalled the momentum, particularly with a Saturday-night crowd primed for the big Waterboys moments. Fortunately, it didn’t.
If anything, Earle’s presence added weight, gravitas and depth, making the musical connections between The Waterboys’ Celtic-infused sound and the folk/Americana traditions of the United States even more obvious. No song demonstrated this better than My Old Friend The Blues. The Proclaimers’ version is great – however its Earle’s song, it’s in his bones, and tonight, it seemed, in every audience member’s soul.
The finale when it came felt less like another section of the show than the culmination of everything that had gone before. By now the stage was bursting with vitality, fun, passion and musicianship. A couple more Fisherman’s Blues tracks gave way to Kansas, from last year’s Waterboys album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper with Scott and Earle sharing vocals.
Then came a seriously kick-ass cover of the Stones classic Dead Flowers, the band attacking it with passion and fervour. Scott briefly turned down the heat for a liltingly acoustic Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?, which gradually morphed into a rumbustious, dance-along version of Light Shine On Me, one of those Fisherman’s Blues-era session tracks that could so easily have made the original album.
And just when our feet were beginning to complain, Scott launched into And A Bang On The Ear, complete with two additional verses supplied by Earle. A rocking folk band with soul, what’s not to like?
Then they were gone though thankfully, not for long. In many ways, the encore perfectly demonstrated why the Fisherman’s Blues Revue worked so well. Galway Girl, with Earle leading from the front with 13,000 backing vocals, moved swiftly into Fisherman’s Blues— the song that finally managed to get even those who had remained stubbornly seated onto their feet, shouting ‘woo-hoo-hoo’ as they did.
To finish, a seemingly never-ending Will The Circle Be Unbroken. If one song demonstrated why this Revue worked, it was this one. A song that has travelled from the Carter Family through Cash & Dylan to The Waterboys, carrying with it a history of folk, country, gospel, Celtic music and Americana. It framed the entire evening perfectly. Musicians passing songs between generations. Traditions crossing oceans. Old friends joining the circle. And everyone — audience included — becoming part of the same musical conversation. That, ultimately, was the magic of the Fisherman’s Blues Revue.
It wasn’t simply a Waterboys greatest hits show with a few famous guests bolted on. It felt alive and open-ended. Peak 2026 Waterboys, with added Steve Wickham, Steve Earle, the Carter Family, Dylan, The Stones and everyone else whose songs have travelled down the same musical river. So, will Scott and his merry men keep the Revue rolling? It would be fascinating to see.
Like Dylan’s Rolling Thunder, perhaps the cast will change, more musical friends will climb aboard, different songs will emerge and the whole thing will evolve as it travels. If they do, make sure you meet them at the station when their train comes along.
All aboard!!!
Brian Davidson @weepeople1