I've been a Waterboys-Mike Scott fan for a very long time and I've seen them in concert at least 5 or 6 times over the decades starting with A Pagan Place back in 1984. Regretfully though I have to pan last nights show at The Fillmore in San Francisco. I had heard that the show was going to be an evening with, so no opening band and a longer setlist going back to their earliest albums. Full disclosure, I still consider their first 4 LPs, from the self-titled through Fisherman's Blues their finest and Mike Scott at his most brilliant. Of the first three LPs they played only 3 songs and nothing from what I feel is Scott's most brilliant work, A Pagan Place. When you include Fisherman's Blues (3 songs), that leaves the entire remaining setlist spread out over their last 3 LPs, which I feel have taken the band so far afield of their original "sound", whether The Big Music or the Fisherman's Blues style modern celtic-folk-rock. Basically the band has devolved into a kitchy pop-country style with really lame lyrical content, Disagree? Listen to the lyric of London Mick or Nearest Thing To Hip, two of the worst songs Mike Scott has ever written. Mick Jones was spinning in his grave last night I'm sure as The Waterboys performed a song in his name that represented everything in Rock music that The Clash despised. Were there some high points? Of course there were. A Girl Called Johnny, Medicine Bow, and the show stealer and high point of the evening was We Will Not Be Lovers. Unfortunate that they dropped Old England from the set-list. And the closing encore of Whole of the Moon was energetic and a crowd pleaser but replacing the original horns with the electric violin just ruined the song. Of the material from the last 3 LPs which made up the rest of the show (I'll get to the Rolling Stones cover in a second), the highlights were Morning Came Too Soon, November Tale and Ladbrooke Grove Symphony. I understand the band does not want to live in the past, but they have so much good material from other LPs that were left off the setlist in favor of promoting songs from the last three LPs, which are not full of great songs to say the least. And the songs selected from the last three LPs were not the best from those records. Thank God he did not play the Hip-Hop song from Out Of All This Blue. But let's be positive, here's some tips on a better show for your fans. 1. Why on earth, with your tremendous back catalogue would you play a cover of an obscure country western song by the Rolling Stones 4 songs into your set? Have you lost you freaking mind? Did you not notice the deflated energy in the crowd? 2. If you cannot remember the lyrics to even the songs you have been playing for over 25 years (Fisherman's Blues) you should consider retiring from live performances. With the exception of the older songs he performed at the keyboards, Mike read the lyrics from a teleprompter on the floor the entire set. No eye contact with the audience while performing, and with some songs dense with lyrics, particularly from the recent LPs, the performance was lack luster and seemed staged and stilted, he was reading the lyrics not performing from his gut. 3. Fire your lighting director. I was standing dead center about ten people deep from the stage and the super bright spot light on Mike center stage every time he came to the microphone washed the entire front section in harsh light and reflected off of the kick drum right back into the audience. Furthermore it was way too bright. I could see every grey hair on Mike's head and every wrinkle on his face. And it just made the lyric reading more obvious. Subtle songs that required a quieter mood were ruined by the obnoxious spot light. 4. Stop the yammering and just play for God's sake. Too many long ridiculas banter sessions that were just down right embarrassing to watch. 5. Fire the keyboard player from Memphis. What the hell was that keyboard around his neck stunt, just pure lameness. 6.Limit the jam sessions please. If I wanted to see a jam band I'd go see Wilco. There is no need to take a perfectly good 4-5 minute song and stretch it out to 10 minutes long or more with repeated false endings, again, it came across lame and gimmicky. 7. And finally, pick a song people know for your closing number. My Time On Earth, which closed the second set (before the encore) was not only unfamiliar to most of the fans but recalled the worst of Mike's habit of preaching Christian dogma in his lyrics. I have no problem with the spirituality that has always underscored The Waterboys (Think Whole of the Moon, A Pagan Place, Savage Earth Heart, etc), but ever since Mike found God in the 1990s his has occasionally allowed his syrupy Born Again Christian blather to seep into and take control over some of his musical output and that is a shame, and it was clearly on display last night, especially when he threatened a fan in the front row who "blew pot smoke" at him (probably unintentionally). It was just one lame, awkward moment during a night full of them.
Weezer
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