Philadelphia Review

[withahip]

In the audience's defense, you were actually lying face down on the floor, mumbling something, and twitching slightly.

Ok:
A. That was during the encore.

B. Running up to that one uber fan to get her dancing took a lot out of me.

[overeager fan]

Thanks for the support guys! LOL!! It's really just a shame how boring some people can be.

[In The Margins]

http://www.phrequency.com/blog/Echo_and ... chine.html

The rain was completely apropos on Sunday night in Glenside. The seemingly-sleepy town was overtaken by black jackets and teased hair thanks to post-punk legends Echo and the Bunnymen.

Playing to a mostly empty Keswick Theater, opener Kelley Stoltz took the stage not to play music at first, but to discuss his long-running obsession with the group he was opening for. He talked about a special birthday when he was young where his mother got a cake with an EATB single sleeve as the cover. When the sleeve was returned, it was ruined, prompting Stoltz to tell his mother to “keep your hands off my records.”

Stoltz doesn’t show much of an Echo influence on his sleeve, instead sounding more akin to the Jam or even XTC. Songs full of West Coast-feeling ninth and seventh chords without much in the way of fanfare. Not that the band was boring, there just wasn’t much in the way of excitement. It feels like the kind of music you’d drive around to on a boring Summer day; soundtrack music. A sunnier Nada Surf maybe? For those who are reading about Stoltz for the first time, definitely check him out.

After almost an hour of setting up, which caused one usher to say “They’re taking their sweet time. The fans should get rowdy,” Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant led the current incarnation of the Bunnymen to the stage, going directly into the opening track on Crocodiles, “Going Up.” Lights all out, some fog rising and Echo playing on stage; feels sort of perfect.

Sergeant noodled away on a familiar sounding riff before the band kicked in behind him. “It’s always a funny thing,” sang McCulloch perfectly. “Show of Strength” is an almost perfect song, made even better by just how tight the whole band sounds. McCulloch might speak in what sounds like tongues, but his singing voice is still as good as it was in 1980. In fact the whole band sounds better than most of their 80s counterparts who still play, maybe because 3/5 of the band was in diapers when the classic Heaven Up Here was released.

The set ran the gamut of songs old and new, like “Think I Need It Too” from their most recent album, last year’s The Fountain. Nothing would compare to the final few songs. McCulloch cryptically said “It’s time,” as Sergeant strapped on his 12-string and played that oh so familiar riff of “The Killing Moon.” There was an instant roar. Although the song left a little to be desired in the way of being a showstopping anthem, it was still surreal to see this band play that song.

“The Cutter” closed the main set, but obviously they’d be back. Oddly, the encore began with the 1997 single “Nothing Lasts Forever,” which then stretched into a ten minute version of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.”

As that marathon wrapped up, it had to be time for the final piece of the puzzle. The sound of water bled through the speakers, the drums started pounding, then finally that infamous lick. “Lips Like Sugar” even had the aforementioned usher bobbing his head and smiling, just like everyone else in the room.