Music
Deacon Blue
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Nicola Meighan
four stars
RICKY Ross from Deacon Blue has recently written the song of his life. It is a highlight of the Glasgow band's latest album, Believers, and it's a shimmering rock psalm called Delivery Man. First impressions might suggest that it furthers Ross's knack for writing anthems for the working man – see 1987's Ragman, or 1989's Wages Day (the latter of which had a raucous airing at this typically glorious show) – and it does, in a way. Yet it's also a song about Ross, and how he sees his calling. “I'm just a singer of songs,” he sings. But sometimes, songs mean everything.
You wonder if Ross has always felt a slight unease at being a pop star. It's not that he doesn't command the stage – his charisma (think Jute City rock 'n' roll preacher), storytelling and politicised rants have always made him an excellent front-man – but there's long been a sense of him being an outsider in his work. Delivery Man upholds this viewpoint (“I've been in these songs too long / I know you love them more than I ever could / That's cause you never stood where I stood”), and it's telling that their set includes another (potentially) self-referential pop hymn, in 1991's gentle, ego-deflating A Brighter Star Than You Will Shine.
Along with terrific recent singles like This Is A Love Song, there were myriad Deacon Blue favourites. Chocolate Girl, Real Gone Kid, Loaded. And Dignity – which saw Ross try to make himself heard over a deafening delivery from a sing-a-long crowd, but that ship sailed long ago. The song is ours. Sometimes, when you give people things that they love, the best thing they can do is return them.
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