Boys Back in Town.

“THE show must go on” must have been plastered all over the Waterboys’ tour bus as they began their American tour last week. 

Fiddle virtuoso Steve Wickham will miss the band’s American tour because of a sudden trip to the hospital for an unexpected operation on the eve of the band’s tour.

“We wish Steve a safe operation, and a speedy return to the concert stage,” wrote Mike Scott on the band’s website. “Rich and I will be playing as a two-man band – which we’ve done a few times before and it will be great. We will be changing the set and using the circumstance in which we find ourselves as a creative spur.” 

He wasn’t kidding. The pair performed a stunning set last week at Manhattan’s posh Town Hall that was chock full of tunes from the band’s rich career. The new songs from the fantastic Universal Hall sounded stellar when couched between the classics. “I visited the Aran Islands off Galway not long ago, and I instantly felt at home there,” recalled Scott from the stage as he introduced “I’ve Lived Here Before.” 

“I’ve lived here before in days of old/I recognize these buildings in my soul/I have rejoiced in these fields and I have grieved/ I feel in my blood that I belong,” he sings, accompanied only by a piano. The stark beauty of the song aptly describes the feeling that some Irish Americans probably feel whenever the travel to the Emerald Isle, and it sends chills up this reviewer’s spine even as he types the lyrics. This performance alone was worth the price of the admission. 

“A Man Is In Love” from the classic Room to Roam was a mighty singalong, as was “Bring ‘Em All In.” The band lit into Van the Man’s “Sweet Thing,” proving once again that Mike Scott is one of the few artists capable of improving a Morrison song. Scott was lost in the music, interjecting the Beatles’ “Blackbird” into the mix along the way. There is always a sense of community whenever the band’s fans converge, and this warm musical rapport created by the fiery performances and the communion with adoring fans kept the chill of the night air away from the bones on this chilly December night.