The Corn Exchange is a venue with a valid connection to the world of psychedelia, something that, in over three decades of attending gigs here, I have witnessed many an act acknowledge with their own sugar cube flashbacks. The area, too, is a touchstone to the king of that late sixties colourful UK scene, Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, what with it being his home city and later life retreat, not to mention this being the final place he appeared on stage. Mike Scott and The Waterboys are tuned in as well, with Mike reading tonight the chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind In The Willows’ that Pink Floyd named their first album after. During the rousing encore of The Whole Of The Moon, Mike leads the crowd through a “too high, too far, too soon” singalong, at one point adding “for Syd Barrett!” The band’s intro music, too, is a glorious freak-out of mellotron-drenched wonder setting the scene for what’s to follow, for the Waterboys of 2023 have a melting pot of forty years of incredible song writing to pick from, a positively psychedelic flange of music and tonight they bring that cauldron to the boil with dazzling intensity. There aren’t too many bands who can throw songs as bold and beautiful as Glastonbury Song and How Long Will I Love You into the opening three numbers and still have a vast array of highlights left in the pack.
The days when Mike Scott leapfrogged between his rock god persona, the questing spiritual visionary or the rousing raggle-taggle gypsy are long gone. I have been to many shows where you sensed some audience members were attending for the previous tour and had yet to catch up with Mike’s latest direction; he did move quite fast and loose for a few years there. These days, though, he has unlocked the door to connection, as if to paraphrase Neil Young, he has realised it is all part of the same thing. It helps that the current combination of Waterboy players are a tight, locked-in unit, ready and able to follow wherever Mike leads, then take the wheel occasionally when the song demands. For example, it is piano maestro James Hallawell who steps to the front later during A Bang On The Ear to conduct the audience through a vocal exchange and highlight his unexpected falsetto voice. There are several other moments when flame-haired keyboard wizard Brother Paul straps on a keytar (something I previously associated with tinny eighties synth bands that Mike at one point refers to as “that thing”) and absolutely shreds the instrument in a manner that Hendrix would surely have approved of.
Mike Scott himself remains the singular, principled individualist he has always been. As the band opens with the perfect pot-boiler, Where The Action Is, he is staring down his microphone, climbing aboard his sonic saddle, looking to shake out the Pan within. I feel that tonight is a night when the spirits do indeed fly, and it is then that he settles; by the time he is pivoting left to right like the road crew have plugged him into the mains, he is also regaling us with memories of visits to this venue dating back over five decades. Stories of arguments with former girlfriends, backstage discord with managers (apparently, one told him to do more interviews and play shorter shows, “he didn’t last long”) and even a fly landing in his mouth whilst singing The Whole Of The Moon, it all happened here. Tonight, though, should be remembered for the music. A majestic slowed-down version of This Is The Sea that allows the singer to caress the lyrics and build the dramatic emotion. A soaring The Pan Within bookended with Springsteen’s Because The Night and incorporating an abrasive keyboard dual. A Fisherman’s Blues that quite remarkably did not even miss the fiddle as the organs and keys rolled and tumbled in those spaces instead.
Tender moments such as the timeless When Ye Go Away were counterbalanced by out-and-out rockers like Be My Enemy and Medicine Bow, and the evening was closed with a faithful and oh-so soulful version of Prince’s Purple Rain. I actually was not especially up for this on the way to the gig tonight. The streets of Cambridge were flash flooding in a torrential downpour, and as I arrived, I was absolutely drenched. But the Waterboys just let their music cast its magic over me, so I was warmed and lifted. They really are one of the most incredibly pure and wonderous bands you could wish to see on the modern-day live circuit. Do yourself a favour and catch them if the opportunity presents itself; three hours in the company of musicians like this reveals why music is such an essential, life-enhancing thing to obsess over in the first place.
https://waterboys.org.uk/tour.html