Music > Live Reviews

Deacon Blue

Norwich Theatre Royal

20/11/18

Deacon Blues is a Steely Dan song, written in 1977 by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, about “...a broken dream of a broken man living a broken life”. The band who took their name from that song are currently celebrating 30 years since the release of their debut album Raintown, a career which features two number 1 albums and no less than twelve Top 40 singles. Still touring, and still making music, there is nothing broken about Deacon Blue.

The band are currently on a celebratory tour of the UK, and Sunday night at the Theatre Royal was their first visit to Norwich since playing here in 2013. Not surprisingly, as with most dates on the tour, the Theatre Royal is sold out for this Sunday night show, and the sense of excitement and anticipation in the foyer is tangible. I don't know what's going on upstairs in the circle, but from my seat in the stalls, just ahead of the sound desk, the audience is pumped up and ready – a mixture of mums and daughters, couples of all ages, and friends with shared memories and a passion for the music made unforgettable by the combined voices of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh.

It starts with I Was Right and You Were Wrong, a single from 1994 and a shimmering builder of a song with which to open. There are a number of welcoming shouts and screams, but the bubbling enthusiasm remains in check and everyone is still in their seat. That all goes out the window, though, within seconds of Raintown starting up – it begins with just a few, but spreads like a front-to-back Mexican wave. Within seconds, everyone who can stand is on their feet, and the tone is set. A majority sit back down for the quieter For John Muir, but they are back up on their feet and clapping to the next up-tempo number. And so it goes. At least one couple in the front row remain doggedly standing for the entire show, but for the rest of us it is a bit like watching the action at Carrow Road – we know we should be sitting down, but we don't want to miss out on any of the action either, so we all jump up every time the person in front of us does the same.

The setlist is generous and all-encompassing – 26 songs if you include the encores, and lasts longer than a football match. The sound and lighting is wonderful, with a five-panel video display working alongside the bank of spots to lend ambience and bring memories flooding back, as original promo videos for songs like Loaded remind us how the band (and we) looked in those heady late 80's, as well as augmenting more recent songs like The Hipsters.

The biggest cheers are saved for the biggest hits – we savour every 'woo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo...' of Real Gone Kid, and sway to their classic version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's I'll Never Fall In Love Again. There is a tribute to Joni Mitchell by way of Both Sides Now; a rendition of Chocolate Girl that segues into Carole King's You've Got A Friend; and a mash-up (or perhaps a NutriBullet smoothie?) of When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)? with the Chi-Lites' Have You Seen Her.

Rick Ross is the welcoming spokesperson for the band, and host for the evening, thanking us for coming and reassuring us how much our support has meant to the band over the years. However, my favourite moments come when he takes time out to firstly comment on the current political dilemma facing the country before introducing That's What We Can Do, and later reminding us of the plight of Honduran caravan migrants arriving the US border. This preceded the moving, and relatively new song, Birds, with its beautiful, and metaphoric, accompanying film footage of murmurating starlings.

The generous encore concludes with the refrain from The Capitols' Cool Jerks leading into an impressive Fergus Sings The Blues, which ends with a thumping drum solo from Dougie Vipond before the band return for a very final cover of the classic Always On My Mind.

Tour support comes from Ross Wilson's band Blue Rose Code. This Edinburgh born musician possesses a heartfelt voice and a collection of songs that sits somewhere between Van Morrison, Jack Johnson and Paolo Nutini, and they went down well with tonight's Theatre Royal audience. Blue Rose Code will be back in Norwich on March 22nd at the Octagon Chapel, when they will be supported by our very own Ginny Dix.

Deacon Blue's 'To Be Here Someday - 30th Anniversary Tour' continues in the UK throughout November and December, climaxing in a homecoming gig at Glasgow's SSE Hydro on December 15th, then heads back out to Spain at the end of February.