LIVE: Deacon Blue – Perth, 28 Jan 2026

LIVE: Deacon Blue – Perth, 28 Jan 2026
Astor theatre, Perth, Western Australia
Review & photos by Pete Gardner

Nearly 40 years after the release of Raintown, Deacon Blue’s debut album and tribute to their home town of Glasgow, detailed the struggles of inner city life against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Ricky Ross shows his matured and sublime songwriting skills as the band start their Australian tour at the Astor theatre, showcasing their eleventh album Great Western Road.

Opening the night, local Alt Country singer Siobhan Cotchin entertained the early crowd with a set including a haunting cover of Springsteen’s I’m on Fire and songs from her latest EP Redemption Arc, plus a new offering describing the perils and disasters of online dating titled Until the Next Dud Comes Along.

More used to playing sold out arenas, having recently finished their UK tour including sold out nights at Wembley arena and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, the Astor was a great venue to see the band up close in a far more intimate setting, with the mostly Gen X crowd enthusiastically singing along to the hits as the band delivered a career spanning set.

The heavy lifting for the night is done by the new album though, with songs such as set opener Late ’88, a celebration of the bands heady early years when they dominated the charts, and title track Great Western Road, a love letter to the road from Glasgow up the west coast through the Scottish highlands and terminating on the Isle of Skye, a route I am intimately acquainted with from my old climbing days as a student in the UK, and can attest is one of the most beautiful drives in the world. You can hear the love Ross holds for that land in his voice as he introduces the song. One real stand out is Ashore, where the Depth of Ross’ penmanship really shines through. This testament to Ross’ songwriting really shows in how the new songs hold up well against the older material. Only the deep familiarity that comes from listening to these tracks for over 30 years separates the old from the new.

Of course, the crowd are here for those hits, singing and dancing along to original chart toppers Loaded, Wages Day, Real Gone Kid, and of course, Dignity. The Astor crowd sang along word for word – after all, if you went to a Deacon Blue show and they didn’t play Dignity, there would probably be a riot.

Onstage the band look happy and relaxed, Drummer and original member Dougie Vipond grinning away behind the kit reveling in his natural habitat, and the ever beautiful Lorraine McIntosh showing her vocal talents are as bright as ever, defining the unique Deacon Blue sound.

They may not be in front of a 12,000-strong arena crowd, but the closeness had Ross chatting away, making quips on the advantage we have in Australia now, as we can slag off our kids on social media and they will never know, and rebuking a couple down the front for chatting away during Lorraine’s beautiful hymn-like rendition of Cover From The Skye. Ross also takes time to remember original member James Prime who passed away last year, dedicating the wistful How We Remember It to his memory.

After nearly 40 years Deacon Blue are still relevant and fresh, producing new music and refusing to rest on past glories, They are happy to acknowledge their past and a time when they seemed to be all over the radio and TV, but also have the enduring appeal of a band that looks forward, still producing excellent music, and loving what they do. As Ross said, they used to dream of running away to the circus, and after 40 years they have realised that is exactly what they have done.

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries