Echo and the Bunnymen

After two exhibitions in the morning and a walk round Hyde Park in the afternoon, I rounded off my Sunday with another gig, Echo & the Bunnymen at Shepherds Bush Empire. I should start by saying that I really do like the Empire as a venue - an old theatre with all the decor remaining, albeit the seats removed. But it is really nice. I arrived early to secure a spot at the front - it doesn't stay this empty for long....

The support act was Then Thickens, a little band from Chorley. There you are, you will never hear of them again, so no more to say.

And onto Echo & the Bunnymen, promoting their first studio album in some years. I do like the Bunnymen. I guess I first saw them about 30 years ago. And I like the fact that they still do new albums. Although they haven't had any real commercial success since the Eighties and their best work ended with the Ocean Rain album then, the new stuff they knock out is still very palatable. In this gig they opened with Meteorites, the title track to their new album, and followed with Rescue, one of their oldest standards, and tended to alternate like that through most of the gig. The difference between old and new is just that the new stuff isn't as inspired as in their heyday. The slightly abstract lyrics aren't as inventive, the shifts musically within songs not as clever.

I am glad I wasn't the floor manager though. Ian McCullough seemed in a right grump, having words or signalling irritation after every song. Not sure what about as the sound seemed good to me throughout. And if you look at say, the fourth photo below just in front of the drums, you will see Ian's own private bar area with an array of drinks to choose from, replenished throughout the gig.

They finished with two encores, the first ending with a clever medley of Lips Like Sugar drifting into in my view the best track off the new album, Market town, and then merging back. Neat. And then the second encore was just their best ever song, Ocean Rain.