The Waterboys opened their North American Life, Death and Dennis Hopper Tour at the 9:30 Club recently with a set that felt both ceremonial and loose-limbed — Mike Scott’s band dialing up heart, grit, and a storyteller’s sense of lift-off.
Nalinee Darmrong was there to photograph the show!
ChatGPT produced this review to accompany original photographs by Nalinee Darmrong.
From the jump on Sept. 4, Scott steered the room through eras: the chiming “Glastonbury Song,” the tender crowd-swell of “How Long Will I Love You?,” and a bracing “Medicine Bow” that put shapeshifting guitars and fiddle in full flight. By the time “Fisherman’s Blues” rolled in — half jig, half testimonial — the floor moved as a single tide, hands up and voices loud.
Across the night, Scott toggled between preacher and poet, leaning into the mystic with “This Is the Sea,” stretching phrases so the band could punch accents and then melt back into drone and shimmer. The current lineup played with conversational ease: parts slotted together, then sparked — particularly on a snarling “Be My Enemy,” which the group pushed with a rock-club swagger that fit the 9:30 like a glove. When Scott pivoted to newer material (“Live in the Moment, Baby,” “The Tourist”), he treated them as living documents — tempos breathed, bridges expanded, and lyrics landed with a veteran frontman’s timing.
Production stayed unfussy — stage craft in service of songs — letting Scott’s voice and the band’s dynamics carry the drama. A mid-set pause to roll a short film cue (“Kansas,” a Steve Earle video interlude) refreshed the momentum and winked at the tour’s framing conceit without slowing the show’s pulse.
Watch the official music video for “Kansas” by The Waterboys featuring Steve Earle on YouTube:
Opener Anna Tivel set the table with a hushed, magnetic 7:30pm set, her imagery-rich songwriting and trio arrangements (keys and drums in subtle orbit around her guitar and voice) earning close attention from an already-packed floor. She’s supporting the full run, and her grain-of-truth narratives proved a smart tonal foil for the main event.
As first-night salvos go, this one felt like a mission statement: the Waterboys reminding DC that their catalog is elastic — folk, rock, gospel flare — and that Scott still finds new angles inside familiar lines. The final stretch sent fans out beaming, the kind of exit where you catch strangers trading favorite-song tallies on the sidewalk. Tour openers can be careful. This one was triumphant.
Here are some photos of The Waterboys (and Anna Tivel) performing live at 9:30 Club on Sept. 4, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Nalinee Darmrong.
