Echo & the Bunnymen and Mutant Vinyl at the Roundhouse

An interesting night at the Roundhouse. Now I have seen Echo and the Bunnymen many times over about four decades now. But whereas other bands from the early 80s like the Cure and the Smiths now have a strong following amongst youngsters as well as the old guard, this doesn't seem to have been the case for the Bunnymen. My mate Kieron with whom I went to this gig asked me as we were going down Camden High Street "where are we going?" and I said "just follow the trail of grey hair." It was that sort of gig. Popular with old guys, all streaming towards the Roundhouse.

Not untypically I couldn't find any official  information (ie from venue or band) on line as to stage times or whether there was a support act, but there were some fan comments from previous gigs to say there would be a support act, and that, ominously, a gig the previous week had been cancelled on no notice.

We had a nice dinner at a local Greek restaurant and turned up to find the support were already on stage. Mutant Vinyl are the project of some "multi-instrumentalist" - the guy on sax below. I can only say I wish we had lingered longer over dinner. This was just so boring. I mean clearly the band could play, and boy were they going to show how well they could play sax, guitar, drums or whatever. But this was in the nature of improv jazz. Every piece (each of which was long) sounded much the same, and totally random. While this might appeal to someone, it certainly didn't appeal to me. And seemed a very poor fit with the music of Echo & the Bunnymen. The only people who seemed really to enjoy it were the band themselves. It was as if they had just turned up for a jam session and found that, strangely, there was an audience.

 

The Bunnymen however were truly excellent, playing a greatest hits selection, which is exactly what the crowd wanted. One issue though, as Ian McCullough was at pains to point out from early on, was that he was suffering from a bad back (or "bad bach" as he pronounced it - Ian has the thickets scouse accent imaginable). This became obvious as the set went on and having started singing standing he was soon sitting. And peculiarly the encore consisted of just two songs, and they were delivered separately ie band came back for first song, went off again, and then returned for the last. 

Now being a man like Ian in his sixties, and who suffered from a bout of sciatica a couple of years ago, I could definitely sympathise. And I noticed the phenomenon that the back got really sore, but if one sat for a few minutes, it recuperated, only to be bad again if standing another few minutes.

Anyway, Ian was in excellent voice, which is the main thing from the entertainment viewpoint. He was also at the most garrulous that I had seen him, although his banter with the audience seemed bizarrely random, like listing actors he hated. The only irritating thing though was that he had taken to leaving the audience to sing a lot of the choruses to his best known songs. I don't really want to listen to a lot of pensioners singing - I came to listen to just one pensioner, Mr McCulloch, not least as he has a very distinctive vocal style which the crowd doesn't really replicate.

Oh and the other irritating thing was the obsession with blasting dry ice out into the auditorium. I understand its use to add atmosphere and catch the lighting affects, but this was excessive. Like watching a gig through fog. And the lighting wasn't great. Indeed more darkness affects that lighting ones

Also one must mention that Will Sergeant on guitar was terrific. Indeed overall it was an enjoyable experience. Would still go again even as the band advance to their seventies.