DEACON BLUE BRING THEIR ‘GREATEST HITS TOUR - ALL THE OLD 45s!’ TO EDINBURGH FOR TWO SOLD-OUT SHOWS AT USHER HALL

★★★★★ (5/5)

DEACON BLUE PERFORMING AT EDINBURGH’S USHER HALL
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN

On Tuesday night of this week I was lucky enough to get to go to one of my favourite Edinburgh venues, the Usher Hall, to see a band I’d never seen before, Deacon Blue, whose first album. in particular, has been a long term love of mine, one of my few teenage fixations which has survived without my love being diminished, my originally vinyl copy still in very good condition.

As ever the Usher Hall staff were meticulous in their organisation and incredibly friendly in their welcome, I always enjoy gigs at this venue as the acoustics are great, the views unrestricted and the general atmosphere is usually very good.

Deacon Blue had decided to be their own support act tonight, the show opened with an acoustic set by them which was followed up by a plugged-in electric set (in more ways than one!).

The band wandered on to stage about 8pm, looking relaxed and like they were ready for a good night, they opened with an acapella version of Wages Day, which was short at only one versebut incredibly sweet and set the tone for the night. You could instantly feel the bond between the band and the crowd, both willing each other on to have as good a time as they could (although one over enthusiastic member of the audience was reminded by Ricky Ross of the old Dundee saying ‘shut your puss’ which bought back memories of my time living in the city).

As acoustic sets go this was flawless, with all of the band demonstrating the full range of their talents. Ricky and Lorraine’s voices still blend beautifully and the rest of the band demonstrate just how tight and talented they are. I particularly enjoyed Chocolate Girl and Queen of the New Year, however there wasn’t a weak song and I think I could have happily spent the rest of the night listening to them play without plugging in. It was incredible just how much energy they generated without plugging in for Queen of the New Year!

DEACON BLUE PERFORMING DURING THEIR ACOUSTIC SET AT EDINBURGH’S USHER HALL
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN

After a brief break Deacon Blue came back on stage just after 9 and played until 10.40, given the impression at the end that they really didn’t want to leave. Throughout they had the feel of a band who were having the best time and really enjoying connecting with their fans but really Ricky, how many Anne-Marie’s’ and Sengas did you honestly expect to find in an Edinburgh crowd?

Opening the second set with The Hipsters they clearly quicky got into their livelier mode, Wages Day full version got large numbers of the crowd up on their feet dancing. But the highlight for me of the earlier part of this set was undoubtedly the iconic Raintown.

Never having seen them live before I wasn’t aware of how much Ricky talks on stage. He’s definitely got a future career as a raconteur. I particularly enjoyed his introduction of the rest of the band, even implying Lorraine was not the first choice member for either Dougie or himself.

Loaded was an impassioned statement about the state of the UK today and Ricky also addressed recent events in the middle east in the encore.

When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring) became a mass singalong and I’m sure a cathartic moment for all those who have experienced unrequited love but the highlight of the latter part of the second set for me was undoubtedly the double whammy of Twist and Shout and Real Gone Kid, everyone was up dancing, everyone singing along, the band were riding a wave of enthusiasm and love that they were clearly enjoying.

After a very brief break the encore started with Peace Will Come, a new song from a couple of years ago, a plea for sanity amid a currently insane world.

But then the biggest of the big guns was called upon, Dignity, the song that first brought the band to my attention all those years ago as a teenager, it was executed perfectly and is still incredibly poignant but joyful. It’s tale of saving up to buy a dinghy and maintaining dignity in the face of all life can throw at you is just a wonderful song. The audience clearly agreed, I did wonder if the Grand Circe was going to stay up the reception was that enthusiastic!

As Ricky took great pains to point out, if the second last song they played had been played in the recent Scotland v England game the score would actually have been Scotland 5 England -2, however it wasn’t and instead Fergus Sings The Blues was a joyous, foot stomping, hand clapping, dancing along, singing your heart out conclusion to the night, except it wasn’t, I think everyone in the crowd thought we were done but Deacon Blue didn’t want to leave, they were having too much fun!

They closed with a wonderful version of Warren Zevon’s Keep Me In Your Heart, a fitting end to a band who are clearly deeply embedded in the hearts of many in the audience at the Usher Hall. A second night on the 11th of October awaits before Aberdeen and Glasgow complete this section of the tour although they are then heading off to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa for the rest of this year (it’s a tough life but someone has to do it).

Having left it so long to see the band than made Raintown, one of the greatest albums by a Scottish Band and have since followed it up with loads of other wonderful music I am now determined to see them live again as this was a joyous, life affirming concert. Full of energy, emotion and fantastic music delivered by an incredibly good band with a fantastic front man and a rapport between everyone on stage which draws the crowd in and makes you want to be part of their gang. I left the gig last night with a big smile on my face and a desire to listen to their music again there and then, if that’s not what you want from a band Deacon Blue live are not for you but I’d question why not, they are a great live act!