It's almost hard to
believe I've made it this far in life without seeing Echo & the
Bunnymen live. Coincidentally, the first album of theirs I bought was
Ocean Rain right here in
Berlin on my first visit in 2004. And they played on Halloween of all
nights!
Artist: Echo & the
Bunnymen
Venue: Admiralspalast
Location: Berlin,
Germany
Date: 31 October 2018
Opening Act: And They
Spoke in Anthems
Setlist:
01. Going Up
02. Bedbugs and
Ballyhoo
03. Rescue
04. Never Stop
05. All That Jazz
06. All My Colours
07. Over the Wall
08. The Somnambulist
09. Villiers Terrace →
Roadhouse Blues [The Doors cover tease] → The Jean Genie [David
Bowie cover tease]
10. Nothing Lasts
Forever → Walk on the Wild Side [Lou Reed cover tease] → Don't
Let Me Down [The Beatles cover tease] → In the Midnight Hour
[Wilson Pickett cover tease]
11. Seven Seas
12. Rust
13. Bring On the
Dancing Horses
14. The Cutter
15. The Killing Moon
Encore:
16. Lips Like Sugar
17. Ocean Rain
I didn't see any
reference to an opening band, so I had no idea what to expect. After
the bells stopped ringing, the lights went down, and the spotlight
came on, I was surprised to see a single man surrounded by
instruments. This was And They Spoke in Anthems from Belgium.
His shtick was looping. He mostly stuck to guitar and vocals with
occasional bits of organ and percussion. Unfortunately, his
foot-tapping on the hi-hat with a tambourine was rarely in time, so
it was more of distraction than anything. Otherwise, his songs were
fine and the looping generally worked. The highlight was some
classical or folk-styled guitar parts, particularly one where he
looped a lead part to simulate double-stop thirds.
Half an hour later, the
bells rang again, but it took another conspicuous 15 minutes for Echo
& the Bunnymen meander
on stage to the sound of a Gregorian chant, just like they used to in
the old days. They
even opened with the traditional choice of "Going Up". The
band, nominally just Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant, was augmented
by Stephen Brannan on bass, Gordy Goudie on guitar,
Nick
Kilroe on drums, and Jez Wing on keyboards.
It quickly became
apparent that they weren't planning on deviating from their typical
sound and approach, despite that just weeks ago they released an
album of orchestral rearrangements of some of their classic songs
(The Stars, The Oceans &
The Moon). I had
half-expected that the band would be touring with strings players as
a result. The album is exactly what you would expect: relatively
tired and sappy versions of songs that don't stand of a chance of
improving on the originals. The idea is obvious and not even executed
particularly well. That said, the two new songs are actually decent.
At the concert,
however, you might as well have not known that the new album exists.
They made no mention of it whatsoever, and although the setlist is
unsurprisingly similar to the album's tracklist, the renditions were
essentially the classic arrangements that they've been playing since
the beginning. The only exceptions to the standard mold were that Mac
sang the updated lyrics to "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" and they
performed one of the new songs from the album, "The
Somnambulist". Although it's a good song and it did fit in with
the rest of the set, Mac's claim that "Everyone'll say that's a
classic in twenty years" is probably unrealistic.
The only other
surprises were the various teases of the band's favorite songs that
they threw into the middle of "Villiers Terrace" and
"Nothing Lasts Forever". However, even that wasn't really a
surprise at all; they've been doing that practically since the
beginning. Still, it's fun to see them do it live. Musically, they
were consistently on point. The could hammer out these songs without
even trying, but thankfully they still invest them with energy and
strength. The fact that the setlist is so predictable is a bit
disappointing, but at least the songs they do always play are a
superb selection.
The biggest
disappointment, however, was Mac's voice. For the most part, he still
sings well enough, but he can't hit the notes like he used to. In
"Never Stop", "The Cutter", and "Ocean Rain"
in particular, he changed some of the melodies to a lower register.
It seemed like he was trying to give his all for "The Cutter",
but he couldn't quite make it each time and he sometimes opted for
the easy route. On other songs, you could hear his voice stretch and
fail. "The Killing Moon" was unfortunately the worst
example. Most of the song was great, but I guess he figured he
couldn't just skip the highest parts. He tried his best, but he just
couldn't do it. In general, there was an element of power in his
voice that was missing. The best Bunnymen songs feature sections
where Mac would belt out in an almost unbelievably strong voice, and
that just didn't quite happen.
For a band that got
their start just about 40 years ago, though, they still have a lot to
offer. The songs are as good as ever, and the fact that they are
still able to throw a new one in the mix that isn't an obvious dud is
reassuring. I wish they would've thrown in some more obscurities or
simply played a longer set, but they lived up to their reputation of
being a capable and well-honed band.
Scores:
And They Spoke in
Anthems: C
Echo & the
Bunnymen: B
P.S. Unfortunately, we
weren't granted any special treats for Halloween. In fact, Mac
claimed to "hate Halloween". I wasn't able to understand
his explanation, though.
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