More Chicago Reviews

[In The Margins]

I feel really old after reading this one. But I had some pretty good laughs from reading it!

http://gapersblock.com/transmission/201 ... metro_421/

Last night's show at the Metro was intense to say the very least. The music of Echo & the Bunnymen means so much to so many people and the expectation for a killer show was very much out there. Most of the crowd was a bit older than my modest 30 years and I knew that my age might be a factor to my experience. My first encounter with this band was very much a somber one. My babysitter would play them as soon as she thought I was sleeping, so my association with their music is recalling not wanting to go to bed as I was lulled with a dreamy sound. I can't think of any other band that would fit this mood or a better introduction. Going to sleep as a child can be sad as well as a bit comforting. I think this sums up the Echo & the Bunnymen sound and experience.

The show went on a little late and there was a bit of anxiety in the air to the older crowd who grew up with this music as teenagers. The band released a whole slew of new material with last year's The Fountain. Of course we all want to hear the new stuff, but will "The Killing Moon" be played and would they be as good as they did when they played back in the day were a few of the many questions going around in the audience.

The set started out with "Going Up" from their first album Crocodiles and continued with very early works "Show Of Strength", "Rescue" and "Villiers Terrace". I couldn't wonder to think what it would have been like to have been a grown-up in the '80s hearing some of these songs live before they were classics. Just as I was getting used to the second hand nostalgia "I Think I Need It Too" from the new album was played. It was touching to realize how many memories filled the room.

Some of the lighter moments were when singer Ian McCulloch — who never removed his sunglasses — tried (with all of this mumbled British might) to address the audience. After hearing that it was nice to be back in Chicago,there was some talk about the Icelandic volcano crisis, but most of his communications were not audibly received and the band got right back to playing.

My favorite song of the entire evening was "The Back Of Love" if only for the vocal quality that was as powerful as it was ethereal. I got chills from the balcony as I watched the music escape from his mouth to reach everywhere in the house. I never recalled that song being as amazing as I experienced last night, but this is exactly why seeing music live is so important, to gain a new experience on what we have already heard. "Rust" from the 1999 album What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? was played earlier in the set. It made me tear up as it was played beautifully.

The set ended with "The Killing Moon" and then "The Cutter" both old school favorites that everyone knew. What I enjoyed most about the show was the audience response was that after every first chord (and I mean every) there was overwhelming applause and cheers. I believe the band could have done a Bryan Adams cover and still be given positive response. The cover that brought down the house was half part cover/sampler of Lou Reed's amazing "Walk On The Wild Side" that was part of an extended encore that also included "Do It Clean" and "Lips Like Sugar.

The show was nothing short of amazing and was performed with passion and love for the fans. This was music that helped define a subculture of a generation and the show recalled how important the music we grow up with can be.

[In The Margins]

Some nice photos with this one. Ian's wearing the smelly looking ripped jeans again. I guess he sent all that swag home....

http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/04/2 ... icago-421/

Echo & The Bunnymen finally hop to Chicago (4/21)

Last night at Chicago’s Metro, fans of Echo and the Bunnymen showed up for some nostalgia and found it laced with sugar kisses. Those of us over 30 were transported back in time, to when we’d lie on the floor and listen to the cracks and pops from the vinyl on the turntable, all while staring at the album cover and reading the dust jacket. The mellow, lilting songs sweep us back to that era of teen angst and despair or college days of drunken parties and hooking up. I have a vague memory of seeing one of the Echo and the Bunnymen videos in the upstairs video room at Medusa’s way back when… hearing the UK act in concert brought me right back there. Given that both floors of the venue were packed to near-capacity, I don’t think I was alone, either.

Taking the stage, frontman Ian McCulloch announced it was “nice to be back” (which is somewhat funny given last year’s run-in with the IRS) and took us on a journey through most of their 11 albums, highlighting the band’s latest effort, The Fountain. The mellow songs garnered little more than slow head bobs throughout most of the set, but the die-hard sprinkled amongst the crowd thrusted energized fist pumps into the air along with Stephen Brannan’s thick basslines. Bundled up in a thick black pea-coat and from behind a pair of shades, McCulloch stayed true to his character, belting out songs in between drags on cigarettes, which he then carelessly flicked on the stage. (Let’s just say the smokers in the crowd weren’t too happy.) He spoke to the audience between each song, but his thick accent left many perplexed at his incoherent mumbling. However, McCulloch maintained complete control of the pacing of the night and at times deviated from the setlist, ad-libbing with songs and lyrics, poems and jokes. Additionally, the band played covers of other songs, including a nod to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” which fit in with the trademark fan favorites: “The Killing Moon”, “The Cutter”, and “Lips Like Sugar”.

Echo and the Bunnymen first got their start in 1978 and though time has taken us many places since then, it’s nice to know that sometimes we still get the opportunity to relive our youth. Music has a way of transporting us through time in a way that little else can. McCullough’s voice exhibits the wear of time, and was a little raspy in his performance, but, as he says himself: “Nothing Lasts Forever”.

[In The Margins]

http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/2995/1

Echoes from the Past

It may be another chilly Wednesday evening in Chi-town, but inside the Metro is boiling with vibrant energy. A loud and chatty crow, mostly in their early forties, patiently wait for Echo and the Bunnymen’s performance to begin. Having already cancelled their gig in town last year, the band was due for a visit. While a couple of UK bands were stranded in Europe because of the Icelandic vulcano eruption, Echo and The Bunnymen made it to the USA to play Coachella the week before, so there was no doubt or excuses this time they would make their stop Chicago date.

Echo is one of the 80’s adored post-punk English bands, a genre which mostly led by Joy Division and The Cure, basically created more elaborated music than punk but not necessarily less wistful. Add to it a bit of the sound and the irreverence of The Doors, and you have Echo and The Bunnymen. Today, the only original members from their debut in 1978 are the chain smoking singer Ian McCulloch and guitarrist Will Sergent. However, after 30 years in business, Echo is not only still producing new material, but has been able to maintain a following of loyal fans across the ocean from their Liverpool homeland.

Opening up by with “Going Up” from their 1980 debut album “Crocodiles” and continuing on the same time path to “Show of Strength” and “Rescue”, Echo quickly set up the nostalgic tone for the evening. Even though the venue was not sold out, the lively audience cheered with the devotion that made you feel as if the place was really packed. Measure by measure, drop by drop and several cigarettes afterwards, Echo pretty much played their extensive “the best of” catalog from their glory days on its entirely. Ironically, there are touring to promote their 11th album “The Fountain”, from which they played…one song.

There is nothing wrong about only playing songs from the past. Echo seems to recognize and accept that their most treasured masterpieces belong to the 80’s and it is right back there that everyone at the Metro was transported to. The fans gladly sang along to “Seven Seas”, danced along to the Doors-sounding-like “Begbugs and Ballyhoo”, and cheered to “Bring on the Dancing Horses” as if they grew up listening to Echo’s songs. The band also covered Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wildside” and played James Brown “Sex Machine” for a brief moment, which added more frezy to the already welcoming setlist.

But Ian did not only bring his songs from the past, but also his “enigmatic” attitude. By sporting a dark coat and jet black sunglasses, his mysterious persona fit well in the nothing but foggy stage set up. Challenging not only press photographers (who were only allowed to shoot them from the balcony), the intense yellow strobe light may have burned the retina of a few in the audience. At times, there was so much light coming from the stage that appeared as if the stage was on fire. Well, Ian did throw his cigarettes buds on floor stage, didn’t he?

In between songs, Ian was either lighting up the next cigarette or rambling in his thick British accent. There was a constant interaction with the audience throughout the show, which added an even closer touch to the already very intimate setting at the Metro. Even though everyone cheered every single time he opened his mouth, it was incredibly hard to make sense of his sentences, and the more puzzled everyone looked around as if asking for subtitles.

Their hit “The Killing Moon” was received with well deserved ovation towards the end of the night, only to be followed by my favorite “The Cutter”. Echo closed their juicy two hour time-travel set with “Do It Clean” and the famous “Lips Like Sugar”. Ian may not sound as good as he did 30 years ago, but tonight Echo delivered the best songs throughout their career. It was great performance though a bittersweet trip back down the memory lane.

[zabird]

No wonder his voice sounds extra raspy ... if he's chain-smoking like that

For Mac's between song banter, venues could install subtitles above the stage like they do for foreign language operas.

[JackT]

No wonder his voice sounds extra raspy ... if he's chain-smoking like that

For Mac's between song banter, venues could install subtitles above the stage like they do for foreign language operas.

Or you could listen to a woman's voice translating over headphones like at the UN.

[withahip]

It is time for Ian to do a cover of this tune with that voice of his:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840B27zYfOk[/youtube]

[Mr. Brian]

Or you could listen to a woman's voice translating over headphones like at the UN.

I would like this but only if Bonnie Tyler does it.

[black francis]

I feel really old after reading this one.

The Exploding Hearts will fix that.

[zabird]

Or you could listen to a woman's voice translating over headphones like at the UN.

hey, maybe that's why mac and that aha guy were wearing those little earpieces.