By Dan O’Farrell.
People Come First: Deacon Blue connect.
It’s the last night of the Southampton Summer Sessions and The Guildhall Square is as crowded as it’s been all fortnight, but with a slightly more relaxed, mellow mood than my previous visit. It feels like the last day of term after a busy fortnight; the air slightly cooler, the vibe slightly lighter. If pets come to resemble their owners, band’s audiences surely start to resemble their musical heroes, and Deacon Blue’s crowd is chilled, friendly and devotedly loyal.
Lightning Seeds kick-off proceedings at 7pm with a sunny and melodic set of Ian Broudie’s classic ear-worms. He’s a relaxed performer, clearly enjoying himself with a great-sounding 5-piece band which includes his son (‘Life of…’) Riley on guitar. Broudie confuses all in attendance by exhorting us to ‘Enjoy your Friday night!’ – not once, but twice – which has people around me checking their watches. It’s been such an over-heated week that no-one’s really sure anymore. The look on Broudie’s face when someone from the crowd corrects him and he realises that it is, in fact, Saturday night is pure comedy and he blames it on being stuck in a van all day. To be fair, with as many good tunes in his pocket as Broudie has, he could tell us its Christmas Eve and we’d just nod and wait for the next catchy chorus. Highlights tonight include ‘Lucky You’, Terry Hall co-write – and personal favourite – ‘Sense’ and the bubble-gum pop delight of ‘Pure’, whose naggingly insistent synth-line is still rattling around my head as I write this.
I don’t know if its deliberate or not, but this set of Summer Sessions has tapped into a highly topical vein of World-Cup singalongs. I’m not sure if Alex James’ ‘Britpop Orchestra’ attempted ‘Vindaloo’, but last Friday, I saw Peter Hook & The Light give ‘World In Motion’ a full-throttled tilt and – naturally enough – Lightning Seeds offer us a heartfelt rendition of ‘Three Lions’, with Broudie pointedly changing the key-line to ’60 years of hurt…’. The rabble-rousing impact of ‘it’s coming home!’ might have been slightly lustier if England’s previous match hadn’t been a fairly lacklustre draw with Ghana, but I guess that’s the point of the song. It remains a masterclass in terrace-sing-along-ability however, and it’s a reminder that Broudie’s song-writing gifts and way with a melody should – perhaps – be celebrated more frequently than they seem to be. Lightning Seeds end with a lustrous ‘Life of Riley’ – which must be fun for the eponymous guitarist – and can’t help but send football-fans of a certain age straight to memories of Match of the Day goal-montages. Good vibes all round.
Deacon Blue have quietly become one of the longest-lasting sure-fire acts around. Formed in 1986, they’ve been pulling massive and passionate crowds for nearly forty years – only pausing for a 5-year hiatus in the late ‘90s. As a ‘non-convert’ (albeit with a sneaking ‘guilty pleasure’ affection for ‘Chocolate Girl’ and ‘Real Gone Kid’ from when I was pretending to be too cool to like such smoothly-produced records), I was eager to try to put my finger on their undeniable appeal. I didn’t have long to wait: 8:30 on the dot, with no discernible fanfare, the six members of the band amble on stage beaming and relaxed. These are the most genial and unflashy ‘pop-stars’ you’re ever likely to encounter.
There’s a suspicion that a band enjoying its fortieth year and playing to such huge crowds might be forgiven for regarding these concerts as something of a ‘victory lap’, and Deacon Blue play into this theory at the start of their set. After a pleasingly ‘busked’ snatch of disco-classic ‘Rock The Boat’, they launch into ‘Late 88’ – lead single from their most recent album, 2025’s ‘The Great Western Road’ – with the huge screen behind them displaying a montage of their younger-selves. It’s a nostalgic and self-referential move – the chorus proclaims ‘We did it all!’ – but manages to come across as touching and resilient rather than self-indulgent. It’s also absolute catnip to the rammed square of Deacon Disciples (Blueys?), many of whom have obviously stuck with the band since first-album days. Ricky Ross spends a good few minutes later on pointing out and naming individuals in the crowd, thanking them for their support over the years. Deacon Blue offer a much more personal connection, it’s clear, than other acts in their stratosphere.
Musically, the band mine a soulful seam, built around pounding piano-lines and the powerful twin-vocals of Ross and ‘love of his life’ Lorraine McIntosh. Live, it’s a rawer take on the blue-eyed Scottish-soul sound that made Wet Wet Wet superstars, but imbued with the same Celtic-folk ‘big-music’ pulse which powered Mike Scott’s best work with The Waterboys, and a Springsteen-esque way with story-telling in the lyrics which proudly proclaim ‘People Come First’.
Visually, McIntosh is a whirling dervish, spinning and reeling in a flowing white dress and adidas trainers – the juxtaposition perhaps offering another insight into the band’s staying power: dressed for romance but with feet very much on the ground. It’s hard to take your eyes off her as she sweeps her beribboned tambourine in feverish abandon, occasionally switching it for an acoustic guitar or a floor-tom. Her unceasing energy lets Ross hold centre-stage in a crooner-like stance, pouring his heart into unstintingly passionate vocal performances. He steps frequently to the front of the stage, connecting with the crowd with likeable sincerity, including a touching tribute to their founder-member keyboard player – James Prime – who died last year shortly after working on ‘The Great Western Road’.
It’s all highly uplifting and I find myself increasingly won-over, song by song, no longer the sceptic in a sea of believers. The spiritual analogy may seem far-fetched for a summer night gig in Guildhall Square, but there is an air of a ‘religious revival meeting’ to proceedings – enhanced by the salvation army tambourine and the stained-glass window effects that fill the screen for ‘Fergus Sings The Blues’s tale of the redemptive power of music. There’s a gospel fervency setting in.
Stand-out songs tonight include the title-track from ‘The Great Western Road’ – an ode to the band’s Glaswegian roots which proves they’ve lost none of their talent for writing epic-sounding numbers; the timeless story-telling of ‘Chocolate Girl’, played with Ross at the piano and new keys-player Brian McAlpine shifting to accordion and crowd-favourite ‘Dignity’ – the song that seems to best sum-up their blue-collar ethos. ‘Twist And Shout’ is a lost soca-tinged pop-classic and ‘Real Gone Kid’ remains an absolute chart-hit belter and a supremely catchy reminder than sometimes the most memorable lyric a human can write is the line ‘woo-hoo-woo-hoo-whooooo!’, hollered at key moments in a ‘Born In The USA’-rivalling keyboard-riff.
Leaving us with a whimsical romp through Bacharach and David’s ‘What Do You Get If You Fall In Love’ as the encore, Deacon Blue send the happy crowds out into the suddenly cooling Southampton night at a football-friendly 10pm sharp and you get the feeling that most of them will be at the next Deacon Blue gig too. I may well join them.
- In Common is not for profit. We rely on donations from readers to keep the site running. Could you help to support us for as little as 25p a week? Please help us to carry on offering independent grass roots media. Visit: https://www.patreon.com/incommonsoton
