Live Review - Deacon Blue, BIC, Bournemouth
Bournemouth Echo 29th September 2023

 
I attended the Deacon Blue concert at the BIC with a degree of curiosity as to how well attended it would be and the audience demographic. It is now 35 years on from when they impressed me so much with their first UK hit Dignity.

The band has since produced many quality albums, right through to All the 45s collection, which is the theme of the current tour. As the band has matured, album by album (albeit with a few breaks for solo projects), so has the audience, and even attracted a whole new younger audience on the journey. The BIC is one step on a 14 date nationwide arena tour, which requires a huge fan base to even contemplate undertaking.Instead of a conventional support act, the band has chosen to split the set into a 40-minute, eight song acoustic section and a main full electric set. This is an unusual approach, but one which worked surprisingly well.

The band appeared on stage to a backdrop of trains and urban imagery across the five video screens and start with Queen Of The New Year showcasing Lewis Gordon’s double bass and Dougie Vipond’s laid back brushed drums. Three songs from their ever-popular 1987 debut album Raintown was featured including Chocolate Girl. Ricky Ross even joked about the main act being along soon, in case of any impatient audience members. Ross and Lorraine McIntosh have fronted the band together now for almost four decades and there appears to be no indication of them getting stale.

Gregor Philp and Lewis are the current guitar and bass players, although a number of other members have passed through the ranks over time. We had a break after the acoustic set, but then Ross appears and demands everyone gets on their feet as the first number the Hipsters starts. From that moment everyone is up and clapping and just enjoying the melodies and gentle rock sound.The classic Wages Day is played as we all know well, in classic rock format, just impossible to sit down to Ross delivers a monologue prior to playing the band's second single, Loaded, which is actually a socialist anthem. An emotional moment is when he plays tribute to Graham Kelling, the band’s original guitarist who sadly died in 2004 after succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Photos of Graham were shown on the screens as a tribute.

‘Real Gone Kid’ is probably their best known song, which, by the reaction, I believe the crowd agreed with. No need to ask everyone to get on their feet for that one! Allowing for singalongs and Ricky’s chats, it’s amazing how long one song can be made to last! That was easily the pinnacle of the whole show for me, great playing and singing, with the audience going wild. The hits and classics just kept on coming, with appropriate audience reaction. Even the quiet songs had the crowd singing the lyrics with the band. I should give a mention to the absolutely top quality sound and lights.

Not a trace of muddiness, just crisp and clean sounding instruments, topped with Ricky and Lorraine's voices. Ricky introduced the band individually as his best friends during That’s What We Can Do and all too soon the show was over. The crowd predictably demanded an encore and they got four! A thought provoking Peace Will Come was first although the high point was undoubtedly a roof raising, sing-along Dignity. Another Deacon Blue classic from 1989 followed, Fergus Sings The Blues, and to close the whole show, an equally poignant cover, Keep Me In Your Heart. All the band were brought forward here and partook in singing lead, just to show the collective skills and versatility of the musicians. Just to watch the crowd smiling and happy from watching, remembering and joining in with their own musical memories as they wandered into the night, was a joy in itself. John Strange