Starsailor with a string ensemble (22.10.2026) live at The Lighthouse, Poole.
This was a good gig to fall on the doorstep. This series of anniversary dates mark 25 years since the release of Love is Here. Starsailor, the full band, are backed by a string ensemble consisting of three violins, two violas, two cellos and a harp. What a great full sound this provides.
I bought the album on cassette when it charted (No.2 in UK 2001) and picked up a CD copy years later in a bargain rack. I didn’t see them live back then but in the last five years or so I have seen Starsailor and James Walsh solo in various festivals, Portsmouth Guildhall and a pub in Southsea. Always a good listen but this is up on another level.
No support tonight and the band start with what I see as the best song they’ve released: Alcoholic.
“Don’t you know you’ve got your Daddy’s eyes; your Daddy’s was an alcoholic..”
What a start. I sipped carefully at my red wine.
Then the Love is Here LP is played in a shuffled order. My best picks? Aside from Alcoholic, would be Poor Misguided Fool (with strings live YouTube) and Good Souls… but a gem of an album, which sold over 300,000 copies. The crowd are upstanding for the last two. That LP is the first half of the set and the band are off for an interval.
The sound is perfect. It’s the right environment for the strings – home of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
James Walsh introduces the songs more as they leave the anniversary LP behind. Gently spoken with the big voice. No theatrics. As he points out to a fan shouting out for songs, you can’t just play what you want with a string ensemble being conducted behind you.
Where the Wild Things Grow, title track of a 2023 LP I am well versed in, was a highlight as the selected tracks dived into five other Starsailor albums.
When Walsh announces that ‘this song is by John Lennon’, you know there’s a treat coming. Jealous Guy. With the strings and Walsh’s voice, this is exceptional. There is a live album of the Liverpool gig with strings, recorded in February this year, and this makes me want get hold of that.
They finish the second half with Tell Me It’s Not All Over, from their fourth, 2003 LP. Everyone is standing again and a bit of weaving about, in what can be a very sedate, though peaceful seated setting.
They return for an encore of two songs from the Silence is Easy LP, Four to the Floor and then the title track.
A pretty unique treat this one to celebrate a classic album… and on my doorstep.
[That’s gig 57 for me this year, pipping my 2025 total – I am alive and kicking, with two more to go in this six gigs in six days. Rock on.]
