On Liverpool and Birthdays

Today is Lorraine, my wife’s birthday. I’m always slightly jealous as hers, invariably, falls on one of the loveliest days of the year. Mid May in Scotland is usually the best weather we can hope for and this year has not disappointed.  My arrival, on the other hand, came three days before Christmas and is easily submerged into other festive celebrations.

We have enjoyed a few great birthday days in various locations and situations but one particular birthday will never be forgotten. We were on tour in 1989 and shortly before the tour began the tragedy at Hillsborough in Sheffield took place. Within  a few weeks of that awful day we found ourselves on tour in Liverpool where, before any internet, bundles of letters and notes were left for us at the stage door of the Royal Court Theatre. The letters contained stories of family and friends who’d been caught up in the disaster. In some cases we were told of young men who had tickets for our show but had been killed in the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s football ground. Inevitably we knew we had to take a moment to remember those lost lives and grieving families during the show.

I’m told we played a song called Take Me To The Place which is essentially a reworking of Abide With Me and during that song and even before the audience threw large bunches of flowers on to the front of the stage.  As the song closed the Liverpool voices took over and 2,000 people sang You’ll Never Walk Alone back to us. I turned round to the band to get the gig going again as, by now, I felt so emotionally exhausted by the strength of love and sorrow in the room that we needed to somehow change the mood in some way. Needless to say the band were equally frozen in grief and it took all our effort to bring the gig back to some kind of normal order. There was, however, nothing normal about that night. The gig seemed to form a bond between Deacon Blue and the Liverpool audience that has remained very special since that time. A couple of days later we visited Sheffield and there Lorraine and I were asked to visit a young man (who later died) who was in a coma in the local hospital.

36 years on memories of a unique evening still resonate. For the people of the city however insult was added to injury in the months and years following as blame was aimed at supporters and responsibility for the deaths of the victims had to be dragged out of the Police and those responsible for ensuring the safety of football fans. The pain still lingers and to the city’s credit, those victims and their families are never forgotten and, only a few weeks ago, tributes were again made as the football club paid tribute to the Ninety Seven. So many were so young and in those years in between 1989 and 2025 so many hard birthdays have been endured by those who loved them.

Liverpool is, of course, Britain’s very own music city. So much of what we now revere about pop music was formed in and around Merseyside. In America’s Music City, Nashville, there is still a deep love of everything Beatles related. I’m pleased to say that one of the people who loves that music more than anyone is our Nashville correspondent, Bill DeMain who wil be joining me on this week’s radio show. Expect Bill to tell you some stories about songs you know and love as well as a nod to events in and around Music Row. We’ll be on air from eight on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.