saw the waterboys last night at the opera house, a completely different set from last time, they played most of the new album, glastonbury song, don't bang the drum (a powerful bare version with mike singing and playing piano while steve wickham played his electric fiddle. they tore through songs with incredible professionalism, a band that actually enjoys playing together their energy was so infectious that the audience which started as reserved and sedate ended up rocking. 
to watch the waterboys is to watch a band playing with energy, mike shifts, changes and manipulates the whole feel of the live sound, adding flourishes, little diversions, (song for cynthia lennon was beautiful and spontaneous).
the stage was fundamentally bare, some nice lights and the album cover hanging in the background, that image 'modern blues' looking powerful and mighty.
the band was a mixture of english and americans and they were incredible, the keyboard player brother paul was just a joy to watch as he made his hammond sound. mike seemed to be in fine form, jumping from guitar to piano and his voice was near perfect. 
the sound was spot on, the opera house either gets it right or wrong but this was magnificent sound, the big music honed for intimacy. wow! what a great night of music and joy.....'purple rain' made the audience go nuts.