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Irish Examiner
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
The Waterboys review: New tunes and old classics in the mix at 3Arena
The Waterboys, 3Arena, Dublin,★★★☆☆ Mike Scott doesn't faff about, jumping straight into a flailing and urgent Be My Enemy, kicking out encouragement to the other Waterboys around him to keep up. To his left, visual foil and professional rock'n'roller Brother Paul chops at the organ keys like they've challenged him to a fight. Without breath or break they charge into Medicine Bow with Scott clanging out the changes on his Perspex guitar and personifying that 'typhoon on the rise'. The Waterboys go at it like a gang of young lads in a battle of the bands rather than a seasoned act. 'Nice to be back. Nice to be home,' honorary Dub Scott tells us before they hurtle on. This Is The Sea is recast ('Things happen, songs change,' says Scott) as mid-period Dylan with lyrics altered to allude to '1933' and 'a thousand ways to complain". It's fairly plain who he's aiming his ire at. The middle section presents their admirably ambitious concept album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper. Despite Scott and co picking the choicest cuts, including a rocking Hopper's On Top, The Who-like Transcendental Peruvian Blues, and a very groovy Michelle (Always Stay), and converting 3Arena into a psychedelic cinema to present them, audience reaction is more polite than rabid, presumably due to unfamiliarity. The Waterboys at 3Arena, Dublin. But while my mate Kate texts 'What's this?' and another nearby punter starts watching GAA on his phone, many more are turned on to some fine music. Job well done, Scott thanks us for listening, and returns to more familiar fare. The opening trumpets swell of Don't Bang The Drum reawakens the doubters and when the beat kicks in – rhythm section Eamon Ferris and Aongus Ralston are solid as the Brian Boru Bridge – the place goes bananas. Brother Paul gets his Keytar out for A Girl Called Johnny, throwing shapes like a man wrestling a particularly slippery fish but in a very funky way. Both he and fellow keyboardist James Hallawell lose it altogether for The Pan Within, duelling from across the stage before wrestling the same instrument to close it out. More cameras flash than for the last papal visit when Scott encores with The Whole Of The Moon, repeating the 'Too high, too far, too soon' refrain for maximum effect. But the best is saved for last as fiddle god Steve Wickham re-joins the band for a truly uplifting Fisherman's Blues, taking this reviewer all the way back to Shinrone in 1988. A game of two halves then, but two very good ones. Read More Iggy Pop review: Veteran rocker makes welcome return to Dublin for In The Meadows
Sydney Morning Herald
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The concept album is dead – and it was never great to begin with
In German, there is a word, verschlimmbessern. It is used to describe an intended improvement that turns out to have the opposite effect. Airbags were invented to save lives, but they explode with such force that they sometimes kill. Cane toads were introduced into Queensland to cut down on harmful pesticides, and whoops, an irreversible ecological plague. There is no greater example of musical verschlimmbessern than that of the concept album – vaguely defined as a record designed around a central narrative, a unifying theme or a particular artistic device. The definition may be hazy, but the very whiff of it sends music critics into fits of schwärmerei (German for 'unbridled and excessive enthusiasm'). The intention is to elevate an LP into a literary work of art, and the artist into a mythical genius. Yet more often than not, the 'concept' serves only to confuse and complicate, resulting in a record that succeeds neither as a collection of songs nor a cohesive piece of storytelling – a half-built ship with a fancy paint job, lost in a desolate sea of compromised ideas. The concept album emerged in the 1960s, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles and its like, and it endures to this day. The Waterboys just released Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, inspired by the Hollywood icon, and Car Seat Headrest will release The Scholars in early May, told from the perspective of various students at a fictional college. It's an exciting idea. Taking a listener on a sonic journey, immersing them in an experience that is both cinematic and enthralling. Occasionally, it works: Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city, for example, transports us to one particularly wild day in the Compton of Kendrick's childhood, explores characters with depth and provides narrative payoff to those who listen from start to finish. The result is the greatest album of the 21st century. But make no mistake: this is the exception, not the rule. Almost always, a concept album (no matter how good the concept might be on paper) quickly devolves into a conceited exercise in ego and forced-together puzzle pieces. Whether the artist is trying to tell an overarching story, write songs from different perspectives, or experiment with the form itself, it's nearly impossible to pull off. Some concept albums try to reinvent the wheel, and find themselves buried beneath their ambition, with the gimmick swamping the songs themselves. Commercial Album by the Residents consists of 40 songs, all one minute long. It's a fun idea, but it runs out of juice quickly, becoming tedious and distracting. The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands sees the Turtles pretend to be 12 bands across 12 songs of wildly different genres, including country, psychedelia, surf rock, pop and R&B – a baffling listening experience. Far worse is the narrative-driven concept album. If, when you look up a recipe online, your favourite part is the long, needlessly complicated story serving no purpose and obscuring the actual food, then concept albums are for you!
The Age
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The concept album is dead – and it was never great to begin with
In German, there is a word, verschlimmbessern. It is used to describe an intended improvement that turns out to have the opposite effect. Airbags were invented to save lives, but they explode with such force that they sometimes kill. Cane toads were introduced into Queensland to cut down on harmful pesticides, and whoops, an irreversible ecological plague. There is no greater example of musical verschlimmbessern than that of the concept album – vaguely defined as a record designed around a central narrative, a unifying theme or a particular artistic device. The definition may be hazy, but the very whiff of it sends music critics into fits of schwärmerei (German for 'unbridled and excessive enthusiasm'). The intention is to elevate an LP into a literary work of art, and the artist into a mythical genius. Yet more often than not, the 'concept' serves only to confuse and complicate, resulting in a record that succeeds neither as a collection of songs nor a cohesive piece of storytelling – a half-built ship with a fancy paint job, lost in a desolate sea of compromised ideas. The concept album emerged in the 1960s, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles and its like, and it endures to this day. The Waterboys just released Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, inspired by the Hollywood icon, and Car Seat Headrest will release The Scholars in early May, told from the perspective of various students at a fictional college. It's an exciting idea. Taking a listener on a sonic journey, immersing them in an experience that is both cinematic and enthralling. Occasionally, it works: Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city, for example, transports us to one particularly wild day in the Compton of Kendrick's childhood, explores characters with depth and provides narrative payoff to those who listen from start to finish. The result is the greatest album of the 21st century. But make no mistake: this is the exception, not the rule. Almost always, a concept album (no matter how good the concept might be on paper) quickly devolves into a conceited exercise in ego and forced-together puzzle pieces. Whether the artist is trying to tell an overarching story, write songs from different perspectives, or experiment with the form itself, it's nearly impossible to pull off. Some concept albums try to reinvent the wheel, and find themselves buried beneath their ambition, with the gimmick swamping the songs themselves. Commercial Album by the Residents consists of 40 songs, all one minute long. It's a fun idea, but it runs out of juice quickly, becoming tedious and distracting. The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands sees the Turtles pretend to be 12 bands across 12 songs of wildly different genres, including country, psychedelia, surf rock, pop and R&B – a baffling listening experience. Far worse is the narrative-driven concept album. If, when you look up a recipe online, your favourite part is the long, needlessly complicated story serving no purpose and obscuring the actual food, then concept albums are for you!
