THE WATERBOYS are to return to Galway for the third time in a year to play a major concert. A mesmerising live experience, the last two shows were about past triumphs, but this upcoming show is very much about the future.
The Waterboys release their new album, Modern Blues, on January 19 and will play a ‘Róisín Dubh presents...’ concert in the Seapoint Ballroom, Salthill, on Thursday October 29.
The band’s concert Christmas 2013 Galway concert celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1988 masterpiece Fisherman’s Blues, much of which was recorded in An Spidéal, while the Galway Arts Festival show this summer treated fans to a greatest hits selection. Hits and fan favourites can be expected at the October show, but so can material from Modern Blues, which is a freewheeling rock’n’roll record with a southern soul edge, as evidenced by epic, guitar driven, new song ‘Destinies Entwined’:
“People should expect the unexpected from The Waterboys,” says Mike Scott. Modern Blues was recorded in Nashville by a line-up including Muscle Shoals legend David Hood (bass ), Austin guitarist Zach Ernst, and Memphis keyboardist Brother Paul. These musicians will also join the band on-stage in Galway, alongside Mike Scott, violist Steve Wickham, and drummer Ralph Salmins.The Waterboys are enjoying a new lease of life and indeed their popular reach has seldom been greater. Last year Ellie Goulding scored a Top 3 UK hit with her cover of “How Long Will I Love You”, while earlier this year Prince performed ‘The Whole of the Moon’. Waterboys’ songs have also featured on the soundtracks to films About Time, Dom Hemingway, and What We Did On Our Holiday.
Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
