"Come with me on a journey beneath the skin" sang Mike Scott on The Pan Within in 1985, a song which bridges his rock and folk influences. I first saw The Waterboys at Birmingham Powerhouse in the Spring of 1986 just after Scott had moved to Ireland. The Big Music set was peppered by an early Fisherman's Blues and growing folk influences mostly courtesy of Steve Wickham on fiddle. It's been a long an interesting journey for Scott (and me) in the ensuing 17 years.

We were treated to all stopping off points at this superb gig at Cambridge. We got Fisherman's Blues of course as well as Strange Boat and When Ye Go Away from the Fisherman's LP as well as 3 songs from its mixed follow up Room To Roam. Also present in the set were Glastonbury Song from Scott's misguided but interesting attempt at mainstream rock Dream Harder (1993) as well as a couple of songs from his underrated 1995 solo acoustic Bring 'Em All In LP.

We also got some songs from the new Waterboys LP Universal Hall. The best of these was the title track which opened this two part set. The first set was acoustic with Scott flanked by the brilliant, virtuoso Wickham and a keyboardist, Richard. Other highlights from the acoustic set included stunning intense versions of Bring 'Em All In and an extended cover of Van Morrison's Sweet Thing. During the latter we were treated to a dream story of Mike's previous visit to Cambridge - he still wanders into the realms of pretentious, self indulgence at times but I can forgive him for this as his music wouldn't be what it is without this intensity. Scott is one of the few artists who has genuinely followed his spiritual muse over the years taking him from London to Dublin, Galway, New York and rural Scotland to where he is now - not always good career moves but moves he had to make, coming from his restless spiritual quest.

And has he still got "it" now?  That wild intensity. It's been calmed a little with the onset of middle age but is definitely still there in his large staring eyes and distinctive, powerful voice. His music now is also a celebration especially on the encore of The Waterboys' biggest hit and best known song Whole Of The Moon which had everyone on their feet. For the second half the acoustic 'Boys were joined by an excellent rhythm section in a set featuring songs from all eras of Mike's career with a blistering Medicine Bow among the highlights - reminding me of when I heard the same song in the packed sweaty Powerhouse all those years ago.

For the final encore The Waterboys played an extended version of the Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want. Once the singing was over Mike put down his guitar and did some manic dancing to the music for several minutes, inviting a few ladies from the front onto the stage before jumping into the audience to carry on his pagan boogie. Fantastic stuff and all very genuine unlike a certain Mr Williams inviting girls onto the stage recently at a much larger gig in nearby Stevenage! A superb way to end an excellent gig.