The Waterboys - An Appointment with Mr Yeats

An Appointment with Mr. Yeats sees the words of one of Ireland’s greatest literary sons merged with the music of one of Britain and Ireland’s greatest rock bands, in a truly unique and ambitious musical undertaking.

The project has long been a passion for Waterboys vocalist Mike Scott, who first delivered a new dimension to Yeats’ poetry in 1988, when he wrote a musical accompaniment for the classic poem The Stolen Child, during the making of the Waterboys seminal album ‘Fisherman’s Blues’. Five years later he set another Yeats poem to music, Love and Death, which appeared on their ‘Dream Harder’ album.

Over the years, Scott has been quietly crafting a wealth of material similarly based on the writings of Yeats. A number of these were performed by him at the Abbey Theatre during the Yeats International Festival in 1991, but most have remained in Scott’s private songbook awaiting the right vehicle. An Appointment with Mr. Yeats is that long-awaited context.

An Appointment with Mr. Yeats features an extended Waterboys line-up including fiddle maestro Steve Wickham, new Irish singer Kate Kim, Dublin singer-songwriter Joe Chester, Flook flautist Sarah Allen and Catalan trombonist Blaise Margail. The show encompasses twenty of Yeats’ poems, spanning both famous and lesser known works, from the wry to the romantic, the political to the mythological, all invigorated with the energy and exuberance of The Waterboys.

An Appointment with Mr. Yeats is a unique and memorable opportunity for lovers of great music and great literature to celebrate the union of song and word in one spectacular live performance.

“… not just the strongest collection of Waterboys songs since Fisherman’s Blues, but also a stunning reinvention of Yeats’ poetry.” Irish Times

“… everything from the intro music to the epic encore was magic. If you want the memory of a lifetime, buy a ticket.” RTE