LIVE REVIEW: Deacon Blue - Live at the Astor

There seems to be a refreshing trend happening with ageing, international touring artists these days, and it’s light years away from the norm of only 10 to 15 years ago. Back then, the average concert goer might expect a 50 to 60 minute set, from a vocally out of tune, half smashed, 65 year old frontman with a decent sized beer gut. Not so these days it seems. Scottish veteran rockers Deacon Blue looked sharp, fit and healthy as they delivered a mesmerising two hour show, Saturday at The Astor Theatre… so let’s paint the picture of the landscape.

Vertical light beams of navy blue and purple, symbolised, perhaps, the blue of the Scottish Saltire and the hillsides of heather and thistle, but they lit up the stage beautifully nonetheless, as the predominantly ex pat, Caledonian crowd streamed in and started to pack out the front standing area in eager anticipation of a trip back in time, and memories of their homeland, where they grew up listening to Deacon Blue’s music.

First up though, was Brisbane born country/folk act, Bud Rokesky. Hats off, (and Akubras too), to Bud for securing this highly prized national support, to help promote his 2023 album ‘Outsider’. With a rich, warm, baritone like voice, Bud delivered an easy listening, almost calming set of songs, interspersed with stories of life on the road, driving trucks through empty towns, and yearning the company of loved ones along the way. As he strummed his acoustic guitar, he often blew breath into his neck mounted harmonica, by way of accompaniment to the down to earth lyrics of his songs.

“Baby and I”, “Love My Baby More” and current single “Getting Old” were definite highlights, played and sung beautifully. His version of U2’s, “All I Want is You” also drew appreciative applause from the evergrowing audience, and while comparisons to anyone from Chris Isaak to Don Williams may be drawn, Bud definitely has his own unique vibe. He puts you right there amidst the life of the long-distance trucker, the roadhouses, the red dirt, the swag under the stars. A life of uncomplicated grind. Through his music, you are taken there, and genuinely visualise him propping up a lonely barstool in a pub, miles from anywhere, while the bar tender dries a pint glass with a towel behind the counter. It’s an honest, sincere and melodic kind of country/folk. Enjoyable too! Thanks for sharing it Bud and best of luck with your continued journey!

As an atmospheric, low end, synth note rang out over a scene drenched in dark blue light, the band of the moment strolled on stage to frenetic and rapturous applause. Over a cross-stick, hi-hat count, the crystal like piano intro for “City of Love”, dissolved into a pink and blue haze, and there before us, looking resplendent and happy, emerged Deacon Blue! You could just tell there was going to be a special kind of spiritual magic sprinkled over The Astor Theatre tonight!!

As the song built, Ricky Ross and wife Lorraine McIntosh lit up the stage with their almost humble charisma, Ricky centre stage and Lorraine to his left, adorned in long black frock and doc martin boots, spiralling in small circles, while shaking her tambourine in percussive 8^thand 16^th notes throughout, to the pounding rhythm of Dougie Vipond’s drums. The crowd were in full voice and already, it was on for young and old!

The excited furore continued into “Wages Day”, one of Deacon Blue’s biggest hits from their 1989 classic album, “When The World Knows Your Name”. Hands punched the air, bodies jumped up and down and voices screamed out in a unified chorus of appreciation. Wait, what??…. surely this band can’t be in their late 50’s to mid 60’s?? This is real high energy stuff going on here!! Shouldn’t they be watching ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit?? … Not tonight, Clive, these Scottish superstars are here in Oz to fully rock the foundations! In fact, so much so that, if I’m not mistaken, I think drummer Dougie may have cracked a cymbal during the mayhem!! I’ve actually never seen that happen at a show before, but a couple of songs on, I’m sure I saw a roadie run on with a replacement crash cymbal!! Rock on dudes!!

But I digress, …it’s a hot night in Perth, after a 40°C day. Lorraine adjusts her stage fan for maximum airflow and the band gradually acclimatise themselves over the next few songs. The tribal tom drumbeat of “Bethlehem Begins”, and the gentle rhythm of “Your Swaying Arms”, unite the crowd in good feels, eagerly awaiting all the old 45’s that will follow later. Even the raindrop like, tinkling piano intro into the title track of the band’s debut album “Raintown” makes us all feel like we are somehow being immersed in a glorious summer rainshower, until the first lyric line that is… “It’s a rain dirt town, job hurts but it don’t pay”, brings back the reality of the drudge and doldrums of life for some during the bleak greyness of Glasgow in the mid 1980’s. The music on this classic Deacon Blue album, however, enhanced by the poignant lyric writing and cover art imagery, continue to make it one of my favourite ever releases, by any band, to this day.

With gratitude and thanks, Ricky addresses the appreciative audience. “How are you all doing? You ok? We were fortunate enough to meet some of you tonight, and some of you, believe it or not, were Australian, it was amazing!” …. Thanking everyone for their generosity and kindness, Ross dedicates the next song to the Scots, who have emigrated to Australia, and made him extremely jealous in the process, as they create a future for themselves in a new land, with a new house…..insert segway into “A New House”, title track of their 2014 album, beautifully delivered by James on piano, Lorraine on acoustic guitar and Gregor on a nice crunchy sounding Telecaster.

Flooded in a glow of golden beams, like rays of sun through circular skylights, Ricky Ross sits centre stage at the piano. As he sings and plays his way through the beautiful “Weight of the World” from the “City of Love” album, Lorraine immerses herself in her soft, haunting back up vocal, eyes closed and fully invested. A pensive moment.

With reference to where it all began, and the difference in “size of venues” played during the band’s career, Ricky tells the story of early touring in small pubs throughout the UK, in particular, the crowd reaction to one of the band’s very first songs, “Loaded” and how somehow, even through adversity, the song seemed to give them hope and make them feel better for a while. As the crowd sang this song repeatedly at the top of their lungs tonight at The Astor, you could also feel a sense of belief surging through the people that were here too. A huge rock version of “Your Town“ and powerful anthemic rendition of the classic “When Will You (make my phone ring)”, followed, with the crowd once again in fine voice.

Then, a slight shift in dynamic, with a small ‘campfire’ session… (minus the campfire of course..haha, Ricky joked that it was still in transit, in a shipping container sent from Greenock, Scotland, last Tuesday). The band sat on stools, playing acoustic instruments, James Prime on accordian. An intimate singalong to the much loved “Chocolate Girl”, led into an equally melodic version of “I will and I won’t”. At this point, as James sat at the piano in grandpa shirt, flat cap and braces, I had a flashback to my own dear old grandfather, who always used to love a bit of a singalong by the piano back in the day.

On the way out of ‘carols by campfire light’ the band slowly shifted gear, with a change of momentum as they prepared for the onslaught of hits that followed. An energy driven “Queen of the New Year”, complete with Lorraine’s thigh slapping tambourine, built nicely as she joined hubby in a nice ‘front of stage’ dance moment towards the end of the song, then it was time to round the bend and thunder down the home strait!!!

A quick run through “The Hipsters” led to a cheeky appeal from Ricky to the audience to join in with some old style Scottish country dancing… haha, “Maybe a Dashing White Sergeant or an Eightsome Reel or something” he joked. The punters were up for it totally though, as they sang their hearts out and danced their way through “Twist and Shout”, (no not the Beatles song, … but Deacon Blue’s upbeat, ska like banger!). ‘I see a…Pale girl in a, Blue room with a, Pink dress and a, Wide Smile”….classic stuff!!

Then… the roof raiser! As Ricky, Lorraine and Gregor primed the audience from the front of stage, Ricky asking “Are You Ready??….I mean, ARE YOU READY???”…. The piano rumbled underneath a clean guitar momentarily, until the notorious piano riff took over, ringing out and engulfing the place in overwhelming joy!! I remember blasting this song out, driving down West Coast Highway with the car windows down, back in the day feeling on top of the world. “Real Gone Kid” is such a feelgood song. As Lorraine McIntosh pirhouetted her way around The Astor stage, banging her tambourine above her head, the band drove home an absolute anthem! And then, as the song drew to a climax, Ross gathered his band mates to the front of stage, teasing the crowd that they weren’t finished yet by a long shot…. In almost Springsteen like fashion, he taunted the faithful, with the band musically and energetically shifting into absolute top gear, then with a….1,2….1,2,3,4 count, screams of “Wooo ooo, wooo ooo, wooo ooo”, filled the theatre, as outstretched hands reached for the sky until the end of the song.

A couple of more songs “The Believers” and “That’s What We Can Do”, nicely rounded out the main set, as Ricky introduced the band members, poetically and affectionately, if not again a little Springsteen like, but the crowd absolutely loved it, giving rousing applause to every member, especially their darling, Lorraine McIntosh.

The songwriting ability and showmanship of Ricky Ross are absolutely world class, and, coupled with the driving rhythm section of Dougie Vipond and extremely talented ‘youngest member’, bass player Lewis Gordon, there’s a real energy about Deacon Blue that, even in their ‘late’ prime, is truly exceptional and inspirational.

As the band left the stage to thunderous applause, of course, we all knew there was more to come…., maybe even ‘Peace will Come’. Deacon Blue must be one of only a handful of bands who don’t even have to sing for the main part of their encore, and you get the feeling even if they wanted to, the crowd wouldn’t let them!! As soon as they hear that low ‘F’ note on the piano and the chopping mute guitar, it’s on…

“There’s a man I meet, walks up our street, he’s a worker for the council, been 20 years…..and he packs his lunch in a Sunblest bag, the children call him bogey, he never lets on, but I know ‘cos he once told me….”, and on and on the crowd sing right throughout the classic that is “Dignity”. Unadulterated mayhem, meets sheer class!

I’m not sure, where the ability to pen lyrics of this nature comes from, but it does appear that Ricky Ross has almost been spiritually gifted with this talent. He tells a good story too! In a cheeky dig at the English football team over a recent Scotland loss, he relays a quick tale of how a ‘change of the song Scotland sang on the night’, would have resulted in the final score being a lot different. “In fact”, he says, “it would have been ‘Scotland 5, England 0 instead”…. The crowd chuckled and as the undeniably familiar riff of “Fergus Sings The Blues” filled the Astor theatre, it was apparent that ‘all the old 45’s had now been successfully delivered! Towards the end of the song, with outstretched arms, shaking ‘gospel priest’ like, and looking skywards, perhaps for some sort of divine intervention, the 65 year old Ross still looked surprisingly fresh after 2 hours rocking out and sweating in the night-time Western Australian heat. In fact, he even wanted to squeeze in just one more song…

The band quickly strapped on their acoustic guitars and ended the night with their own hauntingly beautiful version of Warren Zevon’s ‘Keep me in your Heart’. Drummer Dougie Vipond and guitarist Gregor Philp sang a verse each along with Ricky and Lorraine and another feelgood, if also slightly emotional moment was delivered. As the hall emptied and the DB faithful trickled out onto Beaufort St, compliments in thick accents flew everywhere and happiness abounded.

As Deacon Blue continue on their “All the old 45’s” world tour, throughout Australia and New Zealand over the next few months, a huge and appreciative thanks must be given for the 3 shows played in Perth. They were all outstanding! Thanks guys… may you enjoy the sun, and stay fit and healthy until next time!