Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The show must go on, its part of the process, the grief must find an outlet, and by doing so the road we walk upon becomes one of a newfound exploration of how to see life through the lens of a greater appreciation of life and the mystery of the unknown.
What is blessed is when that unknown manifests itself into the identified and established belief to which many will praise and recognise, rejoice alongside and raise a glass of warmth and toast with ease and observation. To that cheer of familiar friendship which to stirs up memories across time, Deacon Blue’s appearance in Liverpool at the start of their latest tour is one of profound understanding that despite the tragic loss of member James Prime, The Great Western Road deserves to be heard in the atmosphere of the live setting, and where better than the acknowledged second home of the Scottish band, that of the M & S Arena by the river that never sleeps.
Deacon Blue have regularly made their way to Liverpool, it is a home away from home, a place where the audience understands the beauty of their music and the ethic of the working-class art to the very marrow of their core; and as the band opened up the evening with the songs Turn Up Your Radio!, Up Hope, and Bound To Love, that special relationship between artist and crowd is once more ignited and given the freedom of expression it fully deserves.
A night of classics and latest hits, filled in between with the sweet serenade of the vocals that has been at the heart of Deacon Blue for forty years, Lorraine McIntosh and Ricky Ross, this is the kind of night that Liverpool fans adore, and it showed with abundance as the polish and the humour, as well as the truly heartfelt sincerity of James Prime’s place within the history of the group was acknowledged in a beautiful speech by Mr. Ross, took the venue by storm.
With songs such as Fergus Sings The Blues, Raintown, I Will And I Won’t, How We Remember It, the swinging pulse of life lived in Wages Day, Your Town, The Great Western Road teeming with its reminiscences and allusions, and Real Gone Kid, Deacon Blue’s presence in the city was once more full of passion, verve, style, and class, a boundless enthusiasm of persistent charm carried by one of the true greats of our time.
A start to the tour which despite the grief and sadness evident was one of huge personality and upbeat cool; Deacon Blue never disappoints.
Ian D. Hall