Mac/Burgess(Chameleons)-Manchester Ritz 23 May 2008 review

[Dave Smith]

Versus Cancer-Jah Wobble/Badly Drawn Boy/Aziz AbrahimBurgess/Mac/ex Smiths-Andy Rourke/Mike Joyce

Slow climb up the M6 last night with the inevitable stop at Knutsford services for a £3.79 'beef-wrap'.Things could only get better.Sat-nav does us proud and we find the NCP at the back of the Ritz.Unfortunately the parking charges are £7.70 for four hours!Robbing b*stards.

Walk down towards the Ritz and see a couple of sights.The first one being Kristina Grimes from the Apprentice series three looking quite sexy.The other being two look-a-likes for Sacha Baron Cohens 'Bruno' character.Its never boring in Manchester.

Into the venue and catch the last couple of Jah Wobble songs.Fine bass beats and decent stuff.Then the bassline for Public Image starts up and the vocals are taken up by.......Dermo from the long time gone, failed indie band Northside.Oh dear.He was dressed as a jump jockey as well.Next.

Badly Drawn Boy saunters on stage to entertain on piano and guitar.Not really the type of music to fill the 1200 capacity Ritz and he falls a bit flat.The problem he has is that he wrote his best tune, All Around the Block, right at the start of his career and since then he's never quite captured what that tune has.So he ends up playing to people like me who bought that single and then the debut album but nothing else.Plus he didnt play it.Andy Rourke plays bass on one song and he leaves to little applause.Shame for such a talented guy.

Aziz (ex STone Roses/Ian Brown)then plays an absolute stormer.Imagine the offspring of Jimi Hendrix and Ravi Shankar backed with tabla,samples and loops.Wow that boy can play the guitar.Finishes with a mega version of My Star and leaves to some of the best applause of the night.

After a virtuoso performance like that it was always going to be a hard act to follow.So Burgess brings out The Sun and the Moon-the band he formed after the Chameleons to play acoustic, backed on drums with Yves Altana(Sons of God/Invincible).Now TSATM were short lived and this was always going to be a set for the hardcore only.They do their best with sound problems and after a dodgy start pull it back towards the end with Speed of Life and I love you,you b*stard,the latter being one of Burgess's best songs ever.However the overiding sense on watching is why doesnt Burgess get The Chameleons back together?

Suddenly Yves leaves the drums and picks up the guitar.Mike Joyce (of The Smiths) picks up the sticks and then straight into The Chameleons classic,Up the Down Escalator.That more like it!Then the highlight of the night.The two SATM guitarists leave and Aziz and Rourke enter to form a Chameleons 'super-group.Aziz picks up the riff and they play an awesome version of Swamp Thing.Crowd goes mad.Why doesnt Burgess just get the Chameleons back together?

After that you need an artist with a big-ego and talent,particularly to play another acoustic set with an 11 O'Clock curfew approaching.Enter Mr McCulloch.Backed with bass,drums and a young roadie on acoustic you can tell Mac's in a good mood,if slightly hitting the brandy trail.Excellent versions of Rescue and Killing Moon are punctuated with laugh out loud comedy.Some guys from Doncaster giving grief get a riposte-"I'm glad you came here tonight or you may be out murdering people","Christ this is like the Wheel-tappers and Shunters club"..He then introduces Andy Rourke and Badly Drawn Boy as "Randy and Jesus of Nazareth" and they launch into a ten-minute version of Nothing Lasts Forever.There's probably only Mac who could get away with rebuking the ex-Smiths bass player for not going quiet when he should,but Mac gets away with it.A charmimg end to a decent night.Mac solo looks free from the shackles of being 'Mac in the Bunnymen' and this was the old,lively, cheeky Mac,not the surly so and so who haunted the festival circuit last summer.Top stuff.

[Grumpy_Jimbo]

Dave did you see many guys rioting in Manchester with Rangers tops after they lost the league to the Glorious Hopps lol........

According to most huns all the rioters were locals wearing hun tops !!!!!!!

Jimbo

[kook]

Thanks for the review. Great to hear Mac is in good form.

[Dave Smith]

Dave did you see many guys rioting in Manchester with Rangers tops after they lost the league to the Glorious Hopps lol........

According to most huns all the rioters were locals wearing hun tops !!!!!!!

Jimbo

erm...not much rioting round by Canal Street!Rangers could blow it today as well....

[Frank The Bunny]

erm...not much rioting round by Canal Street!Rangers could blow it today as well....

Funny you should mention Canal Street and "blowing it" in the same sentence.
Isn't Canal St. the "pink triangle" district of Manchester?

[Dr Cheese]

Mac solo looks free from the shackles of being 'Mac in the Bunnymen' and this was the old,lively, cheeky Mac,not the surly so and so who haunted the festival circuit last summer.Top stuff.

I know I keep harping on about this but here's yet more evidence that Mac now resents being chained to the Bunnymen! Contradict me if you dare.

[kook]

I know I keep harping on about this but here's yet more evidence that Mac now resents being chained to the Bunnymen! Contradict me if you dare.

Why don't they just throw in the towel then? If Mac performs well on his own, plenty of people would have their faith restored in him. Will could probably do quite nicely with Glide, they both earn, everyone's happy.

[Dr Cheese]

Why don't they just throw in the towel then? If Mac performs well on his own, plenty of people would have their faith restored in him. Will could probably do quite nicely with Glide, they both earn, everyone's happy.

I think it boils down to the name, "Echo and The Bunnymen" is widely recognised, people know what they're getting. Ian McCulloch? Will Sergeant? Who? Would Mac or Will sell out the RAH on their own? I doubt it. At the end of the day Mac has bills to pay and a lifestyle to support and like it or lump it the Bunnymen provide him with the means to do this. There's no doubt in my mind that if he thought he could have the same sort of income by going solo he'd be off like a shot.

[Fish Hook Girl]

[Dave Smith]

I think it boils down to the name, "Echo and The Bunnymen" is widely recognised, people know what they're getting. Ian McCulloch? Will Sergeant? Who? Would Mac or Will sell out the RAH on their own? I doubt it. At the end of the day Mac has bills to pay and a lifestyle to support and like it or lump it the Bunnymen provide him with the means to do this. There's no doubt in my mind that if he thought he could have the same sort of income by going solo he'd be off like a shot.

He's always looked far happier solo to me.Problem is though he's not a big draw in his own name nor is Will so they soldier on.

[tonywojo]

I know I keep harping on about this but here's yet more evidence that Mac now resents being chained to the Bunnymen! Contradict me if you dare.

Yeah - wants to become next fs - but would need to become establishment.

[tonywojo]

I think it boils down to the name, "Echo and The Bunnymen" is widely recognised, people know what they're getting. Ian McCulloch? Will Sergeant? Who? Would Mac or Will sell out the RAH on their own? I doubt it. At the end of the day Mac has bills to pay and a lifestyle to support and like it or lump it the Bunnymen provide him with the means to do this. There's no doubt in my mind that if he thought he could have the same sort of income by going solo he'd be off like a shot.

Again spot on - the whole is way bigger than the sum of the parts.

[tonywojo]

He's always looked far happier solo to me.Problem is though he's not a big draw in his own name nor is Will so they soldier on.

Somebody said Mac drew 50 in Chelmsford - case closed.

[Mr.Sparkle]

He's always looked far happier solo to me.Problem is though he's not a big draw in his own name nor is Will so they soldier on.

Pretty much. If Mac's solo career had taken off like Morrissey's, for example, the Bunnymen never would've got back together. Ever.

[black francis]

I've been saying this for years but Mac's 2003 solo show blew away anything post 97 Bunnymen I've seen. It was disappointing he didn't sell out a smaller venue but he was charismatic and played the fuck out of his guitar. Best live version of the Killing Moon I've ever heard and even the Candleland era songs were roughed up a bit and sounded fantastic. His voice was amazing and he was showboating a bit with it. Amazing night.

Will's Glide albums are night and day better than anything the reformed Bunnymen have out out (with a few song exceptions).

But Dr. Cheese is right. There's always bills to pay.