MIKE Scott will "always remember tonight as the Battle of the Barbican".
His face was wreathed in smiles as he said it, for Friday had been a night of glorious triumph for The Waterboys, but one that prompted a dozen in the front seats to walk out, demanding a refund, upset by the bank of dancing devotees that had gathered pretty much from the start.
"We arrived expecting this to be a standing gig as this is an electric rock'n'roll show," said Scott. "So get up and dance." He was so into his stride that news of the walkouts had him him roaring he would "******* pay them back himself".
More cheers erupted! Scott and his latest incarnation of The Waterboys were on a roll, on a high, exhilarated both by York being the first sell-out of their autumn tour and by the reaction to the most kinetic gig your reviewer has seen this year.
Rock'n'roll is no longer a young man's game: The Rolling Stones and The Who put paid to that, and Mike Scott, himself 56 now, puts his faith as much in veteran Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood, Muppets-style Memphis keyboardist Brother Paul and percussionist Professor Ralph Salmins as he does in his perennial sidekick, electric fiddle sublime, Steve Wickham, and young-buck Texan lead guitarist Zach Ernst.
What a magnificent noise they made, akin to Neil Young Crazy Horse or Prince on last year's guitar-crazy Hit And Run tour, as they knocked the merry bells out of this year's Modern Blues album, reactivated The Return Of Jimi Hendrix from Dream Harder and aptly ended with Purple Rain as York's waters began to rise again.
All night long, a neon-lit WOW! shone out behind the ever-adventurous Scott of the Barbican: the World of Waterboys had Walked on Wonder.
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