The first time The Waterboys played San Francisco was way back in 1984, when the U.K. rock group opened for mighty U2 at what’s now known as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
It was the beginning of a strong relationship — between the band and its Bay Area fans — the latest chapter of which unfolded in memorable fashion on Thursday night at the legendary Fillmore.
“It’s always a pleasure to play for you here in San Francisco,” Waterboys singer-songwriter-guitarist Mike Scott said to the crowd. “Thank you for making this a sold out show.”
The 66-year-old Scottish troubadour then went about thanking the crowd in the fashion that truly mattered most, as he led the 5-piece through a little more than two hours of sensational music that drew from American country, Celtic folk music and modern rock.
It was, as it always has been, The Waterboys’ patented “Big Music,” a term coined to describe the band’s music early on its career. The phrase is actually borrowed from the title of a song on the band’s sophomore effort, 1984’s “A Pagan Place,” and once reportedly described by Scott as “a metaphor for seeing God’s signature in the world.”
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Of course, The Waterboys have a brilliant songbook to draw from — with Scott being one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll poets of the last half century. Yet, the group would open the show in the pages belonging to another songwriter — Mr. Willie Nelson — with the country classic “Me and Paul.”
The “Paul” originally referred to in this song was Paul English, Nelson’s longtime drummer who died in 2020. But in the context of The Waterboys, the tune serves to spotlight “Brother” Paul Brown, the incredible Nashville keyboardist who now stands as the longtime continuous member of the band besides Mike Scott.
From that opening number onward, The Waterboys would go to great lengths to show that it’s a real band — with hugely valuable contributions from all five members on the stage — and not just Scott plus some backing musicians.
That’s incredibly important to point out since so many have written the band up as basically “The Mike Scott Show” at some points during its career. And those guilty parties would definitely include Scott himself, who years ago was quoted as saying that to him “there’s no difference between Mike Scott and The Waterboys; they both mean the same thing. They mean myself and whoever are my current travelling musical companions.”
Fortunately for fans, his “current traveling musical companions” are all excellent. The keyboard combo of Brown (a Waterboy since 2013) and James Hallawell (back in the fold since 2021, after a stint from 2010-13) brings so much joy and energy to the party. And the rhythm section of bassist Aongus Ralston (since 2016) and drummer Eamon Ferris(joined in 2021) locks down the groove like nobody’s business.
Wearing a cowboy hat, shades, button-up shirt and tight jeans — and once again looking like Dwight Yoakam’s long-lost Scottish cousin — Scott was a charismatic and powerful frontman as he rocked his way through a 21-song set that stopped at various points along the group’s 16-album catalog.
In terms of the older material, “This Is the Sea” — the group’s all-time-great third album — ate up the lion’s share of the setlist. Each of the half-dozen tunes performed from that album were greatly appreciated, although I would have much preferred if Scott had played the title track in its original up-tempo form rather than the slowed-down effort that served up in San Francisco. (For what it’s worth, I also had a problem with the way he juiced up his most lovely ballad, “When Ye Go Away,” the last time I saw the band perform at The Fillmore in 2019.)
The highlight of the early portion of the set, not surprisingly, was the title track to “Fisherman Blues,” the 1988 classic that stands with “This Is the Sea” as the two truly must-own Waterboys efforts. Scott showed off his guitar hero side during this Celtic-rock masterpiece, burning down the frets as the group extended — and energized — the piece well beyond what you find on the album.
The Waterboys devoted the middle portion of its set to this year’s “Life, Death and Dennis Hopper,” a seemingly out-of-the-blue song cycle about the life of the late actor that, we’re guessing, about seven of the people in the crowd owned coming into the show. Despite being unfamiliar to most of our ears, the music still sounded quite strong — especially with the added context that Scott provided during the song intros — and I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of the fans grabbed a few copies of the new album at the merch booth after the performance.
Finishing up the “Hopper” spotlight with “Golf, They Say,” The Waterboys jumped right back into the old classics with the thunderous “This Is the Sea” favorite “Don’t Bang the Drum” and then touched upon their eponymous debut of 1983, for the first and only time of the night, with “A Girl Called Johnny.”
Scott then directed the band right back into “the Sea” for a double shot of “Spirit” and “Pan Within,” the latter serving up some incredibly fun moments on the keyboards — including, at one point, both Hallawell and Brown working the same organ at the same time — and closing up the main set in uproarious fashion.
The Waterboys kicked off the encore segment with its most famous song — the modern-rock power ballad “The Whole of the Moon” from (what else?) “This Is the Sea” — and then wrapped up this all-around winning show with a tremendous cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”
The Waterboys setlist
1. “Me and Paul”
2. “Glastonbury Song”
3. “How Long Will I Love You?”
4. “Easy Rider”
5. “Medicine Bow”
6. “Fisherman’s Blues”
7. “This Is the Sea”
8. “Live in the Moment, Baby”
9. “The Tourist”
10. “Blues for Terry Southern”
11. “Hopper’s On Top (Genius)”
12. “Transcendental Peruvian Blues”
13. “Ten Years Gone”
14. “I Don’t Know How I Made It”
15. “Golf, They Say”
16. “Don’t Bang the Drum”
17. “A Girl Called Johnny”
18. “Spirit”
19. “The Pan Within”
Encore:
20. “The Whole of the Moon”
21. “Purple Rain”