Mentions JDD [allstar News Article: Waterboys Inspire Jubilation InFirst North American Show In 10 Years]

[Lkg <Lkg.nyc>]

http://cdnow.com/allstararticle/fid=256609

> Waterboys Inspire Jubilation In First North
> American Show In 10 Years
> March 21, 2001, 3:55 pm PT
> If the Waterboys' Mike Scott is bitter that
> RCA America opted out of distributing his
> latest CD, A Rock in the Weary Land, he
> never let it show in a celebratory two-hour
> show in Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club on
> Tuesday (March 20), the opening night of
> the 'boys first North American tour in 10
>years (for Scott as a solo artist, it's been
>nearly five).
>
> As the Scottish-born singer-songwriter promised after a
> forceful opener from the new album ("Let It Happen"), the
> evening offered songs from all eras of the Waterboys,
> stretching back to a single tune ("Savage Earth Heart") from
> the band's debut and a five-hit flush from the band's
> breakthrough album, This is the Sea.
>
> All of the band's varied releases save Room to Roam were
> represented, as was the impassioned soul of the original
> group's Celt-rock sound. Dublin parish homeboy Steve
> Wickham was back on fiddle, providing Scott with a catalyst
> for instrumental duels that rekindled the flame of a St.
> Patrick's Day just past.
>
> Scott is rarely grouped with the guitar gods of rock but when
> inspired, as he seemed to be this night, his solos achieve a
> raw power similar to that of Neil Young -- without the
> feedback. Longtime associates Richard Naiff (keyboards) and
> Jay Dee Daugherty (drums) were back in the pocket as if
> they'd never been away, while newcomer Jo Wadeson was a
> triple threat, providing support vocals, sharp bass lines, and a
> visual role model for females in the near-capacity crowd.
>
> Though Scott occasionally began a song with folkish acoustic
> strums, as on the lovely "When Ye Go Away," most grew to
> raucous crescendos, recalling the majestic "Big Music" tag that
> was the Waterboys' first incarnation while holding on to the
> gentler Celtic spirits that infused their later work. Though the
> new album doesn't quite live up to the best of the past (a
> rather high bar), the quartet of songs chosen for this night
> sounded much better in performance than on disc, where
> distorted vocals outstay their welcome.
>
> If the band stumbled at all, it was at what should have been a
> transcendent moment -- an encore version of "The Whole of
> the Moon." Though the crowd's enthusiasm never waned, the
> song itself was a bit of a letdown as swirling synth lines
> proved a sad, distracting substitute for the original track's
> trumpets.
>
> All was forgiven, though, when the band re-emerged for a
> second encore -- a blistering version of "Be My Enemy" that
> illustrated how instrumental excess provides a perfect outlet
> for both anger and jubilation.
>
> It's a lesson that opening act Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has
> yet to learn. Riding in on the advance buzz for their
> eponymous Virgin debut, the San Francisco-based trio create
> a muscular and somewhat sullen blues rock that never quite
> turns to sludge, but threatens to.
>
> With smoke billowing from the ceiling or strobe lights spraying
> the stage, the group strives to look and sound as dangerous
> as its name but its best song is the one that sounds least like
> the others, an energetic rave-up asking, "Whatever Happened
> to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song)" Though a credible opening
> act, it seemed rather absurd, given the Waterboys' superior
> set and deeper catalog, that B.R.M.C. was the band with
> T-shirts for sale and posters plastering the lobby. Like life
> itself, record company support -- or lack thereof -- just ain't
> fair.
>
> Waterboys set list:
>
> 1. "Let it Happen"
> 2. "The Charlatan's Lament"
> 3. "Strange Boat"
> 4. "Dumbing Down the World"
> 5. "We Will Not Be Lovers"
> 6. "Fisherman's Blues"
> 7. "Glastonbury Song"
> 8. "All The Things She Gave Me"
> 9. "Is She Conscious?"
> 10. "The Return of Pan/The Pan Within"
> 11. "When Ye Go Away"
> 12. "Bring Em All In"
> 13. "Crown"
> 14. "Medicine Bow"
> 15. "Savage Earth Heart"
>
> Encore
>
> 16. "Don't Bang the Drum"
> 17. "The Whole of the Moon"
> 18. "Be My Enemy"
>
>-- Marianne Meyer