Liverpool Tonight

[macshack]

Greetings, my first post here.

Went last night (sun)....not seen them for 11 years having somewhat lost interest in their live performance (still bought the albums, which contrary to opinion on here I reckon are pretty decent offerings).
Got to the venue in good time and was pleasantly surprised by the venue (well inside anyway!!)....old style theatre/hall and i like the look of the balcony - with pughs to rest your pint pot on !!
Plently room down the front for the support - very impressed with Kelly Stolz, so much so I bought his CD (baragin £7) and got it signed by the man himself. Very humble and nice chap to boot.

Onto the main act - this was exactly why I was hooked back in the early eighties as a schoolkid - the aura presented by the dry ice and silhouettes - awesome ! Even hid all Mac's jowelly features - the hair was big and the shades were cool... could've been 82 again....although time has not been too kind to WS round the waistline

The interval at the end of Crocodiles was a surprise although a welcome khazi break it kindof took the wind out of the sails. The band nailed both albums throughout and Will was as mesmerising as ever.. what an unlikely axe-hero. Sound was perfect even three rows deep ..... this venue ought to be used more.

Perfect 5 song choice as before for the encore, finish 11.30pm. Back in yorkshire 1am, wheels intact on my mates car and wallets still in pocket. Perfect night

[Dave Smith]

The shame of this is that I actually,foolishly,thought that when the adverts said "EATB play Crocodiles/HUH" then at least half of the people attending might actually invest a bit of time and listen to the bloody things beforehand for a reason.No offence to anyone on here who has never seen them before but....if I hear Walk on the f*cking Wildside one more time when they could be playing ANYTHING off the first two albums now instead......I just hated how the encores sprung 75% of people attending into life but a hyper-charged fucking incredible It Was A Pleasure got a mild round of applause.

Oh hang...Im off to see Mac on Saturday...."little Joe never gave it away..."AAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHh

Im going to shout for Turquoise Days and get thrown out.

[Dr Cheese]

I just hated how the encores sprung 75% of people attending into life but a hyper-charged fucking incredible It Was A Pleasure got a mild round of applause.

My thoughts exactly, as soon as Lips started everyone around me started jumping around like someone had stuck a cattleprod up their collective arse! Bastards.

[Frank The Bunny]

With the audience springing to life during the greatest hits, I hope that doesn't give Mac ammo to say "see, you're right. this is what they come for". Because it seems to me, dusting off the seldom-played stuff is what's reinvigorated him.

Maybe an extensive tour of Crocs/HUH (Europe/USA) is a bad idea. He could wind up getting bored with these tracks and going through the motions like the usual GH sets they'd played for the last decade.

I say the band brush up on all the songs from the first 5 albums plus Evergreen and WAYGTDWYL, put the titles in a hat and pick out 20-25 to play each night at random.

[Dr Cheese]

With the audience springing to life during the greatest hits, I hope that doesn't give Mac ammo to say "see, you're right. this is what they come for". .

Sadly I think that's probably true, a lot of the punters on Saturday looked a bit bemused by some of the less well known tracks but as soon as something familiar started up off they went jumping and singing. Which is only natural I suppose, nobody wants to go to a live gig and listen to semi obscure album tracks they've never heard before but there has to be a better way than sticking religiously to the same tired old songs gig after gig after gig until the end of time like the Bunnymen do. I sometimes think the usual setlist was handed to Mac by fucking Moses!

[Voodoo Billy]

I think he swallowed the tablets Moses gave him a while ago.

[Dave Smith]

At Glos two blokes next to me chatter all the way through Crocs/HUH.Lips starts up and they hug each other and jump up and down like two demented pools winners.I'm like "do you not fucking know what youve just heard....motionless through two of the greatest albums ever then a slightly above average single gets played and you start gooning around like Take That fans who have grown pubes????".

And there lies the problem.Answers on the query that is the Bunnymen attract devotees and drunken greatest hits singalong types.How do you keep both happy?

[Dr Cheese]

The amount of people pushing their way to the bar and back on Saturday during the gig really pissed me off, it was like they were in the pub with the Bunnymen providing incidental music in the background, why fucking bother, I mean really, why bother going if you're going to ignore 90% of the gig? Just stay in the pub you knobheads.

[Dave Smith]

Brum for me was the best because there seemed to be a lot more people actually there to hear the albums not just get pissed.Bunnymen have always had a good following in Birmingham going back to playing the Odeon time after time and I think all the post-punk veterans had come out.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Same thing happened where I was at Brixton. I felt like them to stop it for they were encouraging Mac.

Still, 25 songs wasn't it. That's a alot of songs. Even if they put Lips and stuff like that, they could easily mix up songs in a set list to satisfy fans, the here and now 80s nostalgia tour brigade and Take That fans in the future. But they won't. Hey, I might even consider going again to the greatest hits tours if this kind of thing was in permanently. Actually, if they could box the whole way the band looks in this youpubes vid I'd buy that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIIpsTytU5o[/youtube]

[Dr Cheese]

I might even consider going again to the greatest hits tours if this kind of thing was in permanently:

You've got more chance of Mac taking his shades off and telling the lighting guy to turn the lights up.

"Dave on lights - follow the orders!" Mac to "Dave on lights" after "Dave on lights" failed to turn them down at Mac's request.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

I couldn't see it from where I was, but I noticed on some of the youtube footage Mac was still doing his rolling up and kicking the old towel and shooting the lights with his hand routine. So for some things over the last week, it was as you were. Business as usual.

[Dr Cheese]

Yeah, that was all in full effect on Saturday.

[Dave Smith]

"Come on Dave....fuck....Im not even going to get you to explain that error after the show it was that bad".Mac at Birmingham

The crime?Dave on lights put a 'badly' timed set of striplights straight on Mac for a nano-second.

I think by the end of the week Dave thought "fuck it-smoke overload"!Loads more at Liverpool than last weekend.

[jigsawman]

The gig was GREAT on saturday so why OH why is everyone moaning. Anybody reading this forum would think that we got ripped off, or is it the done thing moaning once your over 45.