Folky alt-pop artist Rachael Sage told us about her Waterboys experience.
Rachael Sage: Recently I attended The Waterboys show at Webster Hall in New York City, and it was such a brilliant concert that I’m still buzzing from it weeks later! Mike Scott has always been one of my favorite songwriters and performers, since I first heard him when I was a teenager in Ireland, working at The Abbey Theatre as an intern (with Riverdance composer Bill Whelan).
The band was simply spectacular, and each member had such a unique presence onstage. The palette of the band - organ, electric guitar, bass, drums, and piano - is so classic, but there were also fun surprises, like when the organ player brought out a wildly decorated keytar and rocked it with some brilliantly aggressive power chords - sort of like electric guitar - and a playful, exuberant attitude that had the whole room cheering. The pianist was absolutely brilliant, and the mix of memorable melodic hooks and just the right amount of jazzy spontaneous improvisation, taking the arrangements to some pretty out there dynamic moments, made the crowd go wild.
One of the other things about the show that was so fantastic was that The Waterboys’ new album honors iconic actor Dennis Hopper. The second half of the set (after the first containing a lot of familiar older material) featured this song cycle accompanied by the most evocative video footage related to Hopper’s life and career, and the juxtaposition of the songs and the visuals transported us to an entirely different realm.
As an artist, I really strive to have my shows and my albums contain all of these various dynamic levels - the storytelling, the ambitious musicianship, the messages of positivity and compassion, and the kind of interplay between my myself and the other band members that makes the audience feel like they’re witnessing something soulful and elevated by a certain amount of risk. Seeing The Waterboys in covert was the perfect “reward” for me after the completion of my new album Canopy - especially since I first discovered their music at a formative age and there’s no doubt that it’s been an influence, however subtle, all these many years! The day after the show, I left for another leg of my U.S. tour and I had all that kinetic energy of their performance as well as their very lively and loyal audience pumping through my veins. It was the perfect send-off, and reminder that sometimes my favorite moments as a musician are when I can just be an audience member and enjoy other artists’ talent and vision, purely as a fan!
Rachael Sage & the Sequins' new album Canopy is out now.
Photo credit: Anna Azarov
