Friday, April 23, 2010
Concert Review: Echo and the Bunnymen at House of Blues
Posted by Michael Gallucci on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 8:52 AM
- Is there an echo in here? What about a bunnyman?
One of the few U.K. post-punk bands still kicking around, Echo and the Bunnymen launched their new tour with a performance at Coachella earlier this month and then hit stateside clubs in support of their most recent album, last year’s The Fountain, a moody, atmospheric record that sounds a lot like their subdued releases from the middle of the decade.
Singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant are the only remaining original members. They’ve fleshed out the lineup with a group of capable young hired hands.
Their 90-minute show at House of Blues last night began inauspiciously with the tepid “Going Up,” then picked up with “Rescue,” a psych-rock cut where Sergeant flexed his musical muscles as McCulloch quoted the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues.”
While McCulloch bantered freely with the half-capacity crowd, he admitted, “Apparently when I speak, people can’t understand me,” referring to his thick accent.
His singing was solid, however, especially in the snappy “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” and melodic tunes like “Bring on the Dancing Horses” and “Lips Like Sugar.”
Playing on a dimly lit stage, the band didn't offer much to look at (it didn’t help that McCulloch wore sunglasses for the entire set) and didn’t go to any great lengths to engage the audience.
In fact, their lack of enthusiasm subsided only during “The Cutter,” the best song of the set because it retained the group’s original snotty post-punk spirit, which surfaced too infrequently over the course of last night's performance. —Jeff Niesel
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Comments (2)
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mcculloch has worn sunglasses onstage at nearly every bunnymen show i've seen in the last decade; that's kind of his "thing." so is the dim lighting. their snotty, post-punk attitude kind of subsided after their earliest days, too -- after the debut, Crocodiles, they quickly became atmospheric and much more interesting. yeah, they still had attitude -- but it was more arrogant than snotty, i think.
i'd be more curious to hear how a) the new songs stood up to the old stuff, esp. since they're so much glossier and b) how mcculloch voice was holding up. recent videos/live albums have revealed him to be pretty raspy. didn't bode well at all.
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