EATB at AB (Brussels) jan 2012

by **the ghost of guitarplayer** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:26 am

Sounds dire: Crocs in its full entirety plus half of HUH, abandoned in favour of the greatest mini hits set, The Fountain and some unrelated and completely irrelevant song off his new album. 7/10 for that? You can't be seeing many other bands live...

by **crystal89** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:39 am

Let's face it if you piss any one off then
are they going to finish the job?

Not likely.

You lot who decided to aggravate Mac, and probably annoy
the rest of them as well, let's face it Will thinks some of you
are pretty sad anyway, are spoiling it for the rest of us.
I've been when the banter's been good, and let's face it,
that Mac is in his element in those situations.

So next time, don't piss them off, have a laugh together
and we can all have a good time.

Would you want someone barracking you for an hour or two?

by **the ghost of guitarplayer** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:31 am

Depends on what you mean about pissing people off so they won't finish the job. If someone is constantly heckling in what appears to be an aggressive way inbetween every song, fair enough - that person should actually be thrown out of the venue. If it's a few heckles here and there, maybe somebody calling out for a song or doing it because they are getting over excited, which happens to a lot of bands with an almost cultish following, they should just get on with it. I have only witnessed one such event in the years I went to see Bunnymen live and there was a single heckler who only started heckling at the end of the performance. Nobody in the crowd had taken any notice largely as the bloke heckling was inaudible, so Mac (and the band) should have just carried on especially as there was only one more song of the encore to play. I recall finding it an odd experience, something that I'd never experienced before and felt a little short changed so I can imagine how people who go and see them now with this becoming now a regular occurrence must feel. Never had that experience again though, thankfully.

I'd be very surprised though if the hecklers post on here, so I don't know what you are getting at other than ranting because someone moaned about their performance in Brussels - most of the people on here who still go to their gigs get enough out of the experience to go again and again, so must enjoy the performance. If they don't enjoy watching the band live anymore, they don't go. Simple. Even Will acknowledged that in an interview somewhere in the last few years that some Bunnymen fans have become bored with them and moved on. They don't go to heckle and ruin the performance out of some kind of spite. I think it's a shame that these reports of things going wrong seem to be more of a regular thing now. You'd think the majority ageing crowd would have become more subdued over the years and wanting to listen more to the music, while the band would want to give a near perfect performance every time so people keep going to their gigs.

by **kook** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:35 am

the ghost of guitarplayer wrote: half of HUH, abandoned in favour of the greatest mini hits set, The Fountain and some unrelated and completely irrelevant song off his new album.

And all that in place of No Dark Things, Turquoise Days and All I Want. I'd have been rabid!!!

by **kook** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:37 am

the ghost of guitarplayer wrote: half of HUH, abandoned in favour of the greatest mini hits set, The Fountain and some unrelated and completely irrelevant song off his new album.

And all that in place of No Dark Things, Turquoise Days and All I Want. I'd have been rabid!!!

by **crystal89** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:51 pm

We do occasionally get the odd moaner.

I've been to see the Bunnymen 3 times, and they were top
notch everytime. Although, the Palladium show was a little
testy.

It's a shame they missed out the last 3 songs from HUH.

Most people go to have a good time when they see the Bunnymen,
it's a pity that one or two go along to, and not just
Bunnymen gigs, to cause trouble. Those people are usually
the one's who have the money for the tickets, whilst the rest
of us have to scrape the pennies together.
They are often ignorant, rude and completely lacking in self
awareness. Went to see Radiohead a few years ago, a massive fan,
and the number of imbeciles there because they could afford
tickets and were more interested in the prestige of
seeing a big band was not good, and it actually made what should
have been a great concert, merely good.

by **fat cherry** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:54 pm

crystal89 wrote:Let's face it if you piss any one off then
are they going to finish the job?

Me? No I'm a silent pint cuddling foot tapper who stands in the middle towards the back - and you know when you do the applause thing using the back of one hand rather gently so as not to spill any beer, but look like youre giving positive feedback? I understand thats not good enough for some of the fanboys around but bollocks to them. Lets face it the bands louder than any heckler so they could just play - but its always with the lights and the mix and then with the band if not with the tosser element of any audience. Seems its any old excuse to pack it in early these days.

by **crystal89** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:06 pm

Sounds like me, though usually I'm about 4 or 5 rows from the front.

Spend most of the time with my eyes shut, the strobes are quite intense.

by **the ghost of guitarplayer** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 2:24 pm

crystal89 wrote:Went to see Radiohead a few years ago, a massive fan,
and the number of imbeciles there because they could afford
tickets and were more interested in the prestige of
seeing a big band was not good, and it actually made what should
have been a great concert, merely good.

Well, that goes to show that they are at a lot of gigs as I said. Radiohead didn't storm off stage in protest though did they? I was also reading this week about a bit of a fracas at The Horrors' performance in Liverpool, funnily enough, and thought of the Bunnymen. Some idiot was pissing off the crowd (as proper full-on hecklers and the like actually do), climbed on the stage, got hit or "clipped round the ear" by Faris Badwan, set upon by the crowd and then chucked out by bouncers. The show continued and was much more enjoyed by the crowd and the band as a result. Goes to show that the crowd actually attending the gig for the music will respond to any proper idiot(s) spoiling their enjoyment. FC is right, Mac should just carry on regardless if he gets "heckled", ignore the bloke and go right into playing the next song to drown out his shouts. The same goes for the lights and the mix not being to his liking.

by **crystal89** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 2:56 pm

radiohead all wear in ear monitors. So they probably don't hear the heckles.
Perhaps the Bunnymen should do that?

by **lazarus** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:24 pm

Shaketownman wrote:Lips? He didn't play that yesterday, last song the cutter was well done.
I agree with you that the crocs part and HUH were good, but man.... The encore was terrible.
And why was he so mad towards his own musicians and techniciens?
Was he drunk?
I didn't understand the tambourine fuzz.... what went wrong?
I've never seen Ian like this before....

No Lips of course, i was tired, got it wrong. The cutter is always fine, live.

The HUH part was huge, but to cut it after two thirds was a major disappointment for us old fans.
I'm really bored to death by NLForever, barely a bside, one of the weakest tracks off (the excellent) Evergreen (and weakest tracks ever too).
Mac is always like this with the technical crew, was it your first bunnymen gig ?
Ian drunk, well.. Same question.

by **Ocean Rain** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:19 pm

voz wrote:All by all I find it one of the better gigs of the past years with two minor points:
* not playing No Dark Things, Turquoise Days and All I Want (the hit-jukebox I heard for a dozen times now);

Ian always fucks up the lyrics to Turquoise Days, though. I'd rather not hear it live,

by **crystal89** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:36 pm

Ocean Rain wrote:Ian always fucks up the lyrics to Turquoise Days, though. I'd rather not hear it live,

Ian can't "remember" writing let alone being able to recall singing Turquoise Days.
Maybe that's why those little segues in the middle of Lips, NLF and Villiers Terrace are there because he forgets the words.

by **Voodoo Billy** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:31 pm

Listen to Turquoise Days on 2010's Live CD from Liverpool, no it's not a carbon copy of the album version and yes he does seem to forget the words but it's still sheer bloody class,what a song.

by **voz** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:37 pm

I saw EATB/Ian/Electrafixion/EATBII for about 20 times.

I rate this one 7/10 because of the songs and the first part of the show.
Compared to the last shows I saw since the Siberia era, this one gave me back some youth sentiment.

The moodiness of Ian, I learnt to accept it trough the years, so it don't botter me that much. Reading the forum past months made me go to the gig with low expertations, but like i mentioned earlier, all by all the performances were good.

I'd rather heard All I Want, Turquoise Days and No Dark Things instead of the jukeboxsongs, but I allready listened to the LiveCD of it twice today instead.

EATB at AB (Brussels) jan 2012

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