Echo and the Bunnymen Vancouver show

[isabelle_guns]

What: Echo and The Bunnymen
Where: Richards on Richards
When: Friday, December 2, 2005
Status: Not sold out but packed.
Price: $25
Rating: 7 bunny ears out of 10.


After enduring harassment courtesy of the staff at Richards on Richards and an impatient wait as the Bunnymen were 90 minutes late, the reunited Bunnymen eventually appeared on stage.

I’m familiar with some of the Bunnymen material thanks to Donnie Darko. After all the raving from friends and critics I owed it to myself to see what the fuss was about.

Many fans appreciated the Bunnymen reunion. I’m still wondering how the other members were able to convince original vocalist Ian McCulloch to re-join the band.

At first I dismissed the show as nothing more than a re-union (to cash in on the nostalgia trend) until I heard some of the material off their new album. It was then that I realized that the Bunnymen’s show actually had purpose.

I appreciated the new song “Scissors In The Sand”, however, the over use of the strobe lights during the song gave me a headache. In fact throughout the show the whole strobe light thing annoyed me. I’m surprised that I didn’t have a seizure.

The sound of Echo and the Bunnymen can be best described as a cross between The Cure, The Smiths and New Order. I appreciated their older songs, which was enough to convince me to pick up some of their older albums this weekend at HMV.

The band were great, however, Ian McCulloch vocals were shit. He butchered “The Killing Moon”. He sounded like a pubescent boy trying to sing a high school love song. He should’ve done what Bono does, sing in a different key.

I stood at the back of the bar with a nice couple who were die hard fans of Bowie/T-Rex who decided to adopt me for the night.

Inspite the annoying strobe lights and the failing vocals of Ian McCulloch at times, I give the Bunnymen show a 7 out of 10.

 

[gmc]

Interesting thoughts.

The Mac / Bunnymen have had a long running fued,if that's the right word,since the 80's when U2 supported The Bunnymen in the 1980's.I don't think The Bunnymen got as "big" as they had hoped,and seeing U2's career take off better than them,they were always a bit bitter.One of Mac's quotes was something like...."...we don't need to wave a white flag on stage to make good music..." or something like that.But having said that,didn't Adam give a nod to them,saying Vertigo has a little bit of Echo & The Bunnymen in there?

Was The Mac chain-smoking on stage during songs? May account for the voice.....There was a show earlier in the year,somewhere in the US,when the band turned up late,Mac was allegedly drunk,had 3 attempts at the first tune (Lips Like Sugar if I remember right) asked if anyone in the audience could remember the lyrics & decided to call it a night.

Bang on Songs to Learn & Sing on your CD player,that'll see you right.....

 

[Schooner]

I think the feud is over now. Mac said, in an interview on Virgin Radio recently, that he had always kind of liked U2 and that they were now one of the best bands around. Whenever, The Bunnymen played in Dublin, U2 would send crates of Guinness to their dressing room.

 

[Schooner]

Has anyone heard their new album. What's it like?

 

[-macphisto-]

I saw them in San Diego just recently, and I loved his cracked deep voice. I much prefer voices like that then over well trained voices, except for Bono of course.

 

[GibsonGirl]

I got tickets for that Vancouver show. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a plane ticket.

The Bunnymen have a great back catalogue. I don't care much for their current music, but albums like Porcupine, Ocean Rain, Crocodiles, and Heaven Up Here are fantastic.