Deacon Blue Clyde
Auditorium
The Scotsman 6th December 2014
Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow
Star Rating: ***
THE
all-seater Armadillo was presumably not Deacon Blue’s first choice of venue for
a Glasgow homecoming in support of their latest album A New House. Ironically,
The Hydro next door – which they headlined this time last year – stood empty on
the first night of a double-header of shows, with Culture Club having cancelled.
The atmosphere felt stilted in spells, with a crowd who seemed to have
overwhelmingly come for a handful of specific hits electing to mostly stay
seated (in fairness, stray dissenters were harshly instructed to sit down by
stewards). But these 1980s-vintage Scotpop one-time chart-toppers – more
recognisable these days as familiar voices and faces off the telly and radio –
made the best of the situation, and there was plenty to admire across their
career-spanning set. Not least on matters sartorial – any band of 50-somethings
still getting away with skinny jeans and short skirts have evidently looked
after themselves well.
Husband-and-wife vocalists Ricky Ross and Lorraine
McIntosh’s lithe and very complementary voices have similarly defied the ageing
process, while their songwriting skills haven’t dated too much either, judging
by new numbers Wild and the soaring, chiming Stars. There was a nice sequence of
wet-weather-themed dedications to the typically rainy metropolis surrounding the
Armadillo, focused on Deacon Blues’s classic 1987 debut album Raintown. There
was a funny introduction to Fergus Sings The Blues, as Ross described Twitter
trolling he’s endured from a man ironically named… well, you can probably guess.
As predictable as a Glasgow downpour, Real Gone Kid – played mid-set – and
de-facto alternative national anthem Dignity at the end got the night’s runaway
best receptions, and everybody on their feet at last. David Pollack