ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN + ALAN MCGEE (DJ SET) – DE LA WARR PAVILION, BEXHILL-ON-SEA 6.4.22
Echo & The Bunnymen emerged from Liverpool in the late 1970s. Having connections with The Teardrop Explodes, the two bands gigged and later toured together, a neo-psychedelic subset of the wider post-punk scene. Initially on Bill Drummond and David Balfe’s Zoo Records, by the time of The Bunnymen’s debut album ‘Crocodiles’ in 1980 they were recording for Korova, an imprint of WEA. A series of classic albums followed through the 1980s, generating chart hits including UK Top 10 singles ‘The Cutter’ and ‘The Killing Moon’.
Charismatic frontman Ian (Mac) McCulloch left in 1988, but reconvened with guitarist Will Sergeant in the late 1990s, and the band has continued to tour and record since. Inclusion of their moodily atmospheric songs on TV and film soundtracks has brought them to the attention of new generations of fans. We catch the band at the iconic De La Warr Pavilion, right on the seafront in Bexhill, towards the end of a rescheduled itinerary “Celebrating 40 Years of Magical Songs’.
Before the main event there is a DJ set by Alan McGee, famous as the founder of Creation Records and for signing Oasis. As you might expect, he has an extensive collection, and in amongst the indie and alternative classics there will be tracks that doubtless have listeners reaching for their ‘Shazam’ button. A DJ set isn’t really my idea of a support act, although it has obvious practical benefits. Apart from anything else, I imagine it removes the possibility of any young upstart band trying to upstage the headliners.
There’s no doubting the enduring popularity of Echo & The Bunnymen though, and there’s quite a buzz of expectation in anticipation of their appearance. Tonight’s event is long since sold out, although it’s far from packed and quite comfortable standing in the main hall. Doubtless, a few people will have had their plans altered at the last minute by recording positive Covid tests. As the final preparations are made, haze machines are pumping thick clouds of fog across the stage.
The band comes on to warm applause and a loud cheer. Ian McCulloch swooshes up to the mic in his trademark long coat and dark shades, and thanks us for coming out. The band don’t fully emerge into view though. A few pinspots on the first lighting bar provide a pool of light for guitarist Will Sergeant, house left. Other than that, every light is at the back of the stage, pointing towards the audience, lighting up the haze with washes of colour and effectively silhouetting the frontman and the other performers. There are four touring musicians on stage, on bass, guitar, keyboards, and drums. I won’t speculate on who they are, as quite frankly it could be anyone back there in the shadows.
Will fires up an e-bow, a hand-held gadget that generates continuous sustain, and runs it down the strings of his surf green Jazzmaster to launch the vibey intro to ‘Going Up’, from the debut ‘Crocodiles’ album. The vocals kick in, punctuated by a familiar two chord figure, and the past forty years just melt away. ‘Show Of Strength’, from the second album, is powered along by an insistent bass riff and nicely topped off by some twanging lead.
It’s clear by now that no light will be permitted to fall on singer or backing band, and this fog-bound show of shadows is going to continue through the entire set. It’s visually stylish and mildly frustrating all at the same time. I’d like to be charitable and assume this is to make Mac look enigmatic, ethereal, and moodily cool. An alternative possibility is that the singer’s vanity would prefer us to remember him in the pomp of his 1980s pop pin-up days. No professional photographers (including ours) are permitted to shoot from anywhere near the stage. I’ll let you make your own mind up about the lighting choices.
I’m less familiar with the band’s more recent output, but rather taken with the psych groove of ‘Flowers’ from the 2001 album of the same name. Will has briefly switched to a Strat and is wrangling some stridently impressive lead lines. The familiar jangling riff of ‘Rescue’ catapults us back to the first album, with the shadowy frontman snarling the concluding refrain of “Is this the blues I’m singing?” with some swagger.
Will swaps to a Surfcaster for the tremolo throb of 1985 single ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’, hurried along by some lovely tumbling drum fills. Mac conducts an impressive singalong, and there’s a small knot of people dancing, or at least waving their arms about, in the middle of the hall. I’m not expecting things to get too wild though. Much as The Bunnymen were innovators in the 1980s, with hindsight what they were inventing was shoegazing, a decade or so before it became popular. I used to like listening to their music lying on the floor. I’d have a go at reprising that now, if I thought my ageing body would be able to get back up again.
The e-bow is back out for the haunting intro to ‘Over The Wall’, a brooding swathe of sonic magnificence. ‘All My Colours’ is nicely embellished with some rattling rack toms. There’s a huge cheer for ‘Seven Seas’, a UK Top 20 hit from 1984’s ‘Ocean Rain’ album. Will is jangling a 12-string Vox Teardrop, and Mac is conducting more enthusiastic community singing.
There’s a bit of banter with the audience. The singer tells us he has a nice hotel room right on the seafront, but what a day to have it. He’s referring to the weather, which has been far from springlike, with a bitingly cold wind and occasional squally showers.
‘Bedbugs And Ballyhoo’ slides by on a funky groove and reminds me of The Doors on ‘An American Prayer’. There’s a cracking solo on electric piano. ‘Brussels Is Haunted’ is a new number and is rather impressive, steady paced with a huge backbeat. A clever lyrical figure gives way to a particularly satisfying instrumental and bridge section.
I’m not a huge fan of the covers medley, and it’s certainly not necessary for a band with the stature of Echo & The Bunnymen, but they’ve had a predilection for this sort of thing for a long time. Like it or not, we get nods of acknowledgement to The Doors, David Bowie, and Lou Reed. We get back on track with the juddering rhythmic intro of ‘Never Stop’, and the main set concludes with the expansively soaring ‘Lips Like Sugar’. On the clapalong playout, Mac badgers the backing guitarist into a bit of “towel footie”, throwing the sweaty towel that he’s just sneezed into for the axeman to boot into the crowd. Well, there’s a collector’s item for someone!
Needless to say, there are encores. The first is the supremely vibey ‘The Killing Moon’. Will alternates between jangling his 12-string and strumming what looks like an autoharp on a table next to him. Mac instigates the clapping and singing along. The band briefly go off before returning with a magnificent rendition of my long-time favourite ‘The Cutter’. I’m too busy doing my freakiest dancing to notice many details, although the drawled line “couldn’t cut the… mustard” always seems amusingly incongruous in such a menacing song. The crowd singalong is the most impressive yet. ‘Ocean Rain’ seems like an appropriate number to end the evening with, given our location and the prevailing weather conditions. I’m not sure I’ll be walking home along the seafront.
Tonight’s performance, and its visual presentation, seem to have divided opinions amongst the people I speak to afterwards. Some think it was absolutely wonderful, while others detected a bit of end-of-tour weariness and going through the motions. My own view falls somewhere in between, although for sheer nostalgia, invoking the dreamy psych landscape of 40 years past, this set of songs has been an absolute delight to hear again.
Echo & The Bunnymen:
Ian McCulloch – vocals
Will Sergeant – guitar
Echo & The Bunnymen setlist:
‘Going Up’ (from ‘Crocodiles’ 1980)
‘Show Of Strength’ (from ‘Heaven Up Here’ 1981)
‘All That Jazz’ (from ‘Crocodiles’ 1980)
‘Flowers’ (from ‘Flowers’ 2001)
‘Rescue’ (from ‘Crocodiles’ 1980)
‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’ (single 1985)
‘Over the Wall’ (from ‘Crocodiles’ 1980)
‘All My Colours’ (from ‘Heaven Up Here’ 1981)
‘Seven Seas’ (from ‘Ocean Rain’ 1984)
‘Bedbugs And Ballyhoo’ (from ‘Echo & The Bunnymen’ 1987)
‘Brussels Is Haunted’ (new, unreleased)
‘Villiers Terrace’ (from ‘Crocodiles’ 1980) /‘Roadhouse Blues’ (The Doors cover)/’The Jean Genie’ (David Bowie cover)
‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ (from ‘Evergreen’ 1997)/’Walk On The Wild Side’ (Lou Reed cover)
‘Never Stop’ (from ‘Porcupine’ 1983)
‘Lips Like Sugar’ (from ‘Echo & The Bunnymen’ 1987)
(encore 1)
‘The Killing Moon’ (from ‘Ocean Rain’ 1984)
(encore 2)
‘The Cutter’ (from ‘Porcupine’ 1983)
‘Ocean Rain’ (from ‘Ocean Rain’ 1984)
