Still Burning... (Waterboys - Live)

Member Name: asmalk

Product:	Waterboys - Live
Date:	07/07/02 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, intimate stage, Great atmosphere, Brilliant songs

Disadvantages: Too many Mike Scott songs, More instruments would have been nice!

The Waterboys' tour this year is more acoustic-based than previous tours, although happily, the term 'acoustic' is used here rather loosely. On Saturday June 29th, my boyfriend and I took the train from Clapham Junction to Crawley to see my favourite band. It was not just any old gig: to my delight there was an entire folk festival going on with stalls selling all kind of hippy memorabilia, folk CDs, and the most amazing fiddles and double basses I have ever seen.

The Crawley Arts theatre is very modern, but very small, and it wasn't even half full on the night of the Waterboys: there could only have been about 300-400 people there. The stage was crowded with all kinds of instrument, and we waited in trepidation. The atmosphere was relaxed and happy, so unlike many london gigs I have been to.

As soon as the band started to play, we were in heaven: despite having seen the band before, I was pleasantly surprised as they again surpassed my expectations. The first couple of songs were new, including the funky 'Vampire Man' and a rather crazy story/song about a wedding. Several classics were played, including 'Fisherman's Blues' and a minimalistic version of 'Don't Band the Drum' which comprised Mike Scott's vocals with a piano. Disappointingly, 'The Whole of the Moon' was omitted, but its absence was more than made up for by the fantastic 'The Pan Within', undoubtedly the climax of the show, accompanied by the most incredible fiddling ever. It could only have been bettered with the presence of a saxophone, like the recorded version.

A couple of Mike Scott solo songs were performed, and although competent, they were not the highlights of the show. On the whole the Waterboys songs are much better and more space should have been devoted to them, but this is only a minor point.

Somewhere around the middle of the show, during the gorgeous cover of Van Morrisson
's 'Sweet Thing', a little old man started dancing at the front of the stage. It was hard to tell if he was drunk or not, but everyone cheered him on. The atmosphere was almost magical, everyone was in such a good mood, partly due to the intimate nature of the show and the brilliance and happiness of the music.

We had to run afterwards to catch the last train back: we didn't really want to be stranded in Crawley for the night. But for the evenining, the Waterboys had given us a small piece of heaven in this nondescript town. (sorry if anyone lives in Crawley!)

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