Strings and things tour reviews

[allthatjazz]

Has anyone recorded the reworking of Stars Are Stars? I've heard a lot of negative comments but have yet to come across a clip or link...What did you think of it?

[MightyWhyte]

Just walked through door after seeing Mac do himself proud in Birmingham it was excellent and was ten times better than the night before, different performance audience etc etc lets see what Manchester brings Monday but well done Mac and Co even though you fecked up Stars big style Villiers was a nice treat tonight cheers.

[allthatjazz]

Here's another from their Liverpool set: http://www.getintothis.co.uk/2018/05/ec ... lharmonic/

[allthatjazz]

Just walked through door after seeing Mac do himself proud in Birmingham it was excellent and was ten times better than the night before, different performance audience etc etc lets see what Manchester brings Monday but well done Mac and Co even though you fecked up Stars big style Villiers was a nice treat tonight cheers.

Did they go back to some original versions? I heard a clip of Seven Seas from Birmingham tonight. It sounded as though they did it straight, not 'transformed,' as they say.

[MightyWhyte]

Just walked through door after seeing Mac do himself proud in Birmingham it was excellent and was ten times better than the night before, different performance audience etc etc lets see what Manchester brings Monday but well done Mac and Co even though you fecked up Stars big style Villiers was a nice treat tonight cheers.

Did they go back to some original versions? I heard a clip of Seven Seas from Birmingham tonight. It sounded as though they did it straight, not 'transformed,' as they say.

Yes seven seas was a tiny bit reworked, and kicked off with Rescue Villiers and All that Jazz I thought he had decided to sack the whole idea. He even said apologised for date changes " Sorry for all the shit" which is good enough it will be interesting to see how the tour develops.

[allthatjazz]

Has anyone taken advantage of Peasy's offer to get the live stream...I hate to admit my technical incompetency...But, where/how do you go about accessing it...Really interested in seeing their Albert Hall performance.

[King Of Kings]

Brummie review

This Echo and the Bunnymen gig in Birmingham is one that almost didn’t happen, on a tour to promote the soon-to-be-released The Stars, the Oceans and the Moon, their first album since 2014’s Meteorites. With their beloved Liverpool FC playing Real Madrid in the Champions League final, the band initially tried to shift the show to another day and put out a press release stating that long-stays Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant wouldn’t be able to put their hearts and souls into things with their minds firmly focused on events in Kiev.

It seems that their fans in the Midlands aren’t quite so passionate about the beautiful game though, and the uproar that this announcement created was enough to make things quickly revert back to the original arrangements. However, nothing in this show suggested that Mac and Will were mentally anywhere else and, after a brief intro tape of Medieval plainsong, the band ambled onto a stage bedecked with chandeliers and lush lighting, to tear into a cracking version of early single “Rescue”, accompanied by barrel-loads of dry ice and an added string quartet. This was immediately followed by the Velvet Underground-like “Villiers Terrace”, which slipped into a lift from The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”, and the raw and energetic “All That Jazz”.

Despite being billed as a showcase for a new album touted as “Bunnymen classics transformed with strings and things attached”, their added string quartet seemed to be on stage just to beef up the band’s sound, rather than to create any significant musical transformation. That is, until the encore of “The Killing Moon”, which was reworked as a beautiful torch song with strings and a grand piano and which suggests that, in an age of cheap cash-in repackaged back catalogues, the new disc will truly add something worthwhile to the Bunnymen legend.

The set may have featured tunes from throughout the Bunnymen’s almost 40-year on-off-on again career, from the crowd-pleasing “Seven Seas” and “Lips Like Sugar” to new songs like “The Somnabulist” and “How Far?”, but it was 1987’s “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” with its whirling sound and trippy Doors-like keyboards that provided the peak of a cracking show that eventually had most of the all-seated crowd in this almost sold-out gig up on their feet. The view from the audience at Symphony Hall also spookily suggested that age hasn’t withered either the 59-year-old McCulloch or 60-year-old Sergeant and that they have plenty to offer fans of their psychedelically-tinged indie rock. Sunglasses, sympathetic lighting and a ton of hair dye might have something to do with it, but even they don’t adequately explain a singing voice that seemingly didn’t require any lubrication despite a constant cloud of dry ice, but that was still more than capable of belting out classic after classic without any need for backing singers.

Their football team may not have had a great night in Kiev, but Echo and the Bunnymen played a blinder in Birmingham.

[bobkind3]

Brummie review

Despite being billed as a showcase for a new album touted as “Bunnymen classics transformed with strings and things attached”, their added string quartet seemed to be on stage just to beef up the band’s sound, rather than to create any significant musical transformation. That is, until the encore of “The Killing Moon”, which was reworked as a beautiful torch song with strings and a grand piano and which suggests that, in an age of cheap cash-in repackaged back catalogues, the new disc will truly add something worthwhile to the Bunnymen legend.

Got to say that Will's guitar part on the verse of ''Angels and Devils' was very different. Spent an age trying to recall what it was redolent of then realised in was the harmonia melody on John Barry's Midnight Cowboy. Don't know if anyone else spotted it and agrees.

[allthatjazz]

Looking for a review from last night in Manchester and came across this from the legendary Birmingham gig...https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/echo- ... am-review-–-mac-and-will-hit-road-added-strings

[Stuart]

I was sat right next to the three pricks shouting for Simple Stuff after every song last night in Manchester.

Rescue
Villiers
All That Jazz
Angels and Devils
Zimbo
The Cutter
Killing Moon
Somnamulist
Nothing Lasts Forever
Seven Seas
Never Stop
Lips Like Sugar
Stormy Weather
Dancing Horses
How Far
Rust
Bedbugs
In the Margins
The Cutter
Ocean Rain

[username]

are there any audio recordings? i'm fascinated with them starting with nlfe

[NOF]

http://louderthanwar.com/echo-bunnymen-manchester-bridgewater-hall-live-review/#.Ww5yVFt3JXA.twitter

[fat cherry]

funniest review I've read of anything for a while. Good old john rob, northern grout empire etc.

[Kounelaki]

http://louderthanwar.com/echo-bunnymen-manchester-bridgewater-hall-live-review/#.Ww5yVFt3JXA.twitter

Thanks!

[allthatjazz]

There's a world of difference between the review by John Robb for Louder Than War in Manchester and David Hall for Getintothis in Liverpool. Robb's article seems to be more a review of E&TB's long storied career. While Hall offers much in constructive criticism from the evening in Liverpool. The latter might help them get on the right track. Though they would have to believe they're headed in the wrong direction for any of it to resonate. It is very difficult these days to find an honest critical review as opposed to PR puff pieces. Getintothis had to deal with a bunch of garbage for publishing this review in their hometown. I hope they will always report the truth regardless of push back.