The Waterboys

The Waterboys and Ella Hooper live at Astor Theatre, Perth | 12 May 2026

The Astor Theatre was packed with punters of all ages keen to catch a glimpse of The Waterboys on the Perth stop of their Australian Tour. With Ella Hooper booked in for support, it made for a genre-spanning night of music. Where punters were treated to a foray of decades-spanning talent.

Ella Hooper was the first act on stage for the night. Likening herself to being a ‘bit of a hippy’ at heart. She leant fully into her set. Stoking the flames of 60s rebellion by showcasing an as-yet unreleased song for punters to jive to. Lyrically telling punters to tell anyone to touch grass, or hug a tree if they are coming out as a bit of arsehole. Armed with just a guitar and her robust vocals. Hooper gave a robust performance, that was full of zest and energy. Successfully warming up the crowd for The Water Boys.

The Water Boys gave an incredibly eclectic performance. It was pure, unadulterated chaos for the uninitiated. The crowd was provided with a buffet of anecdotes from lead vocalist Mike Scott, who provided interesting bits of band trivia between songs. Having 45-years of career highlights to go off of.

Sometimes the set felt like an impromptu jam session between band members. With the band jumping into impromptu jam-outs at a moments notice. This included pretty intensive electric organ and keytar solos at times coming from “Brother” Paul Brown and other pianist James Hallewell who would bounce off of Brown on the opposing piano on the stage.

With their piano solos sometimes going for several minutes, it honestly looked like they were engaging in some form of divine intervention that was giving them the holy power to rip out intense keyboard solos. In an intense, bromancey back and forth.

A memorable moment saw the band wish bassist Steve Earle happy birthday in reggae style. Other improv moments included Scott asking the band to do ‘the rolling stones covering disco badly’ and finishing a set in the style of American rock band KISS. Needless to say, these moments brought excitable humour and fun to their set and kept punters on their toes.

The crowd were lucky enough to see The Waterboys play several tracks off their latest record Life, Death and Dennis Hopper. Which saw Scott explaining the story and background between each song that depicted a moment in American actor Dennis Hopper’s life. With moments of blues infused with classical rock n’ roll. It was a cool way for punters to explore the life of the late actor live.

Finishing off their set with ‘Spirit’ and ‘The Pan Within’, multiple punters coalesced around the stage to shake a leg to ‘The Whole of the Moon’. Punters chanting out the memorable lyrics of the chorus in jubilation. Stomping their feet and letting the ground shake as the band finished their show with an encore of an Irish folk song.

Review by Joe Wilson

Photography by Shotweiler Photography

The Waterboys