don't bang the drum - the waterboys

1984 and i am wandering around the usa, i'd found some work at a water skiing area, driving boats. on my days off i'd wander down to the lake and take a book, i think at this particular time it was catch 22, there would be a few of us sharing days off so we would usually meet around the lake and just relax in the sun, swim and read, share dreams. i had a walkman in those days, something i picked up in nyc, i had some tapes, the blurred crusade which i had played so much the tape was stretching and distorted on most of the songs, i had simple minds, new gold dream which was falling apart from overplay and a bowie mix i had made at home, one of the other workers a guy from manchester lent me the waterboys, the first two albums on a c120 cassette and i lay back and looking out across the empty lake at the beautiful forest and majestic skies i hit play and for about two hours i was gone.
those two hours were transcendental, as the big music and lyrics took me into my imagination, and some unknown territory, nothing quite beats that feeling as you hear something for the first time and recognise it will profoundly change your life. that's how it was with this music, such huge arrangements, sweeping piano's and 12 strings, and that voice singing out stories, a narrative from the pages of a novel, this was poetry of a higher order.
i listened to that tape for months, i travelled all over the usa listening to it, and about a year later i saw them play in london at hammersmith, where they blew my mind with incredible powerful stage presence and music that was the equivalent of ambrosia, it was the sounds of angels playing rock and roll but with words that lifted the spirit and allowed it to fly, this music was big not just in production and sound but in the fact it was of the spirit, it was spirit music, not soul music, not rock, not pop it was spiritual music.
mike scott always wrote great songs, he is a word man, a man who never compromises his music, exploring all genres and exposing his influences and exploring traditions, you do have to go back to go forwards and mike took the waterboys into his roots which worked although commercially failed in the short term but where are ultravox now? 
i'd seen the waterboys play in london a few times, in their different incarnations but it had been about 26 years and last week they were in sydney, played a show of their yeats tour, which was brilliant and amazing, although it was not until the band played 'bang the drum' and 'fisherman's blues' that the audience showed any sign of life.
and then they played at the opera house, man it was incredible, a blistering set of all the classics with 'purple rain' as an encore. 
the audience this time were on their feet and clapping and cheering and the band were just masters of their instruments and one another, they were fluid and spontaneous, diverse and colourful, these guys were in the music with us, the waterboys, thank you so much, what a brilliant night, come back soon.