From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-moderated-digest) To: seven-seas-moderated-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #276 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-moderated-digest Saturday, November 8 2003 Volume 02 : Number 276 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 07:11:30 -0700 From: "K. F. Smith" Subject: seven-seas-moderated BOSTON (Billboard) http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031031/review_nm/review_mu sic_e cho_dc_1 Reviews - Reuters Concert Review: Echo & the Bunnymen Thu Oct 30, 9:15 PM ET By Annie Zaleski BOSTON (Billboard) - The slogan on a T-shirt sold during the opening night of their 25th anniversary tour of America -- "Echo & the Bunnymen: The Most Influential Band Ever" -- sums up the cheeky ethos of England's mouthiest post-punkers. Indeed, Echo frontman Ian McCulloch's Liverpudlian-brogue braggadocio and hilarious interviews are almost as legendary as the Bunnymen's music, a mix of Doors-esque doomy poetics and Velvet Underground-influenced droll strumming tinged with ragged English punk and string-laden psychedelic swirls. Yet the shirt's boastful phrase has its merits -- both Coldplay's crooning piano pop and Interpol's dark rock owe more than a little to Bunnymen classics like "Lips Like Sugar" and "The Killing Moon," two hits which delighted the crowd at Boston's packed Paradise. In fact, while the show celebrated the band's legacy with hits spanning its entire career, the Bunnymen's unparalleled invention was just as big a factor in the night's energy and success. A midset rendition of 1987's "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" dropped the album version's plinking, late-new wave keyboards to tread closer to the seductive strut of its original single version, thanks to pattering percussion and a funky bass line. "Crocodiles," taken from the band's 1980 debut of the same name, turned into a punked-up adrenaline roar, while "Over the Wall" stretched out into a charging psychedelic guitar storm shuddering with apocalyptic yearnings. The mercurial McCulloch was in high spirits during the entire set. Sporting a leather jacket and dark sunglasses and mostly shrouded in dark light, he playfully drop-kicked a cigarette and an empty cup, constantly slithered like a serpentine figure channeling Elvis and even mumbled an alluring "Oooh, foxy lady" into the microphone before "Wall." Yet his nicotine-aged voice was strong during the high notes of an energized "Sugar" and the criss-crossed riffage-laden "The Cutter," showing his strongest range in years. The only other original member present, strong but silent guitarist Will Sergeant (original bassist Les Pattinson builds boats and drummer Pete DeFreitas is deceased) stood stage right, bathed in a bit more light than McCulloch, but let his trademark riffs on "Rescue" and "Back of Love" do his talking for him. With keyboardist Paul Fleming, rhythm guitarist Gordon Goudie, bassist Peter Wilkinson and drummer Simon Finley rounding out the Bunnymen lineup, the band's energy never wavered, whether it was on the yearning, gentle "Silver" or a brooding, tribal version of "All My Colors." By the time the set closed with the swaying "Ocean Rain," which reached several transcendent peaks of soaring synths and melodies, the typical Bunnymen arrogance seemed not only appropriate but entirely justified. Here is Echo & the Bunnymen's set list: "Show of Strength" "Rescue" "Silver" "Seven Seas" "Rust" "Crocodiles" "Bring on the Dancing Horses" "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" "All My Colors" "Over the Wall" "Angels & Devils" "Back of Love" "The Killing Moon" "The Cutter" Encore 1: "Nothing Lasts Forever" "Lips Like Sugar" Encore 2: "Ocean Rain" Echo & the Bunnymen (Thurs. (23), Paradise Rock Club, Boston) Reuters/Billboard ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #276 ******************************************