From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-digest) To: seven-seas-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-digest V7 #170 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-digest Saturday, October 24 2009 Volume 07 : Number 170 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:04:54 -0700 From: Ronda Scott Subject: Re: seven-seas San jose Merc Review of last night's Fox show Wow. I thought the first two songs from the Ocean Rain set were flat and the sound garbled, but that they found their stride and the rest of the set was fantastic. This reminds me of the last Twilight Sad show I saw. Half the post-show tweets raved about them, the other half said they sucked and bored people to tears. Heh. On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Paige K. Parsons wrote: > Couldn't have said it better myself. The Ocean Rain set was so > disappointing. I was at RCMH, and the difference in the ocean rain > portion of the performance was like night and day. The bunnymen never > even introduced the conductor at this show, they were poorly lit and > their sound was muddy and tag along. > > I had a photo pass (no thanks to Pete and Peasy, but that's another > story) so I was able to hear the first three of Ocean Rain from right > up front, the next two from the center of the balcony, and the rest > from center floor, so I had a real chance to hear the sound throughout. > > I'll have pix up later today - the light was the worst of any show for > any artist I've ever shot - and I've shot a lot. > > - Paige > > > Review: Echo and the Bunnymen deliver wet Ocean Rain > > Posted by jharrington on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:59 am | Categorized > as Concerts | Tagged as echo and the bunnymen, Fox Theater, Ocean Rain > > By Jim Harrington > > It was a tale of two sets. > > Echo and the Bunnymen s first set on Thursday night at the Fox Theater > in Oakland was a disappointment. The worse news is that was the set > that most of the approximately 2,000 fans came to see a complete > performance of the band s most highly rated album, 1984 s Ocean > Rain, with orchestral accompaniment. Fortunately, the Liverpool alt- > rock act made up for the weak first half by delivering a wholly > enjoyable nightcap filled with other classic material. > > So, in the end, it all evened out, right? Not exactly. This was > supposed to be a magical night the chance to enjoy a splendid re- > creation of one of the signature albums of the 80s. That was how it > was sold to ticket-buyers, and, in that regard, it fell well short of > its promise. > > Ocean Rain, the record, was a moody masterpiece, one that did employ > soaring strings from an orchestra to help realize its vision. It was > widely hailed as the band s finest moment in the studio, yet, as fans > found out at the Fox, the live stage is a whole different ballgame. > > Kicking off the show with Silver, and continuing, in order, through > all nine of the album s tracks, Echo and the Bunnymen performed like > the weight of the world was resting on its shoulders. It was like the > players were fully aware of the magnitude of the moment, and they let > it crush them. > > Overall, the music was very rigid and cold, possibly an inescapable > factor of a rock band trying to work with a conductor-led orchestra > quickly assembled from local players at each stop on the tour. There > were a few meaningful moments when the violins and cellos added depth > to the music, but mainly the orchestra felt like an anchor dragging > behind the boat. There was no joy to the performance, and the music > seemed quite lifeless. > > When the set concluded, with the album s title track, the crowd > responded appropriately somewhat meek applause for a lukewarm > performance. The fans seemed to realize that they had just witnessed > something that was supposed to be important, yet also something that > was but a shadow an echo, if you will of its former self. > > When the band returned for the second set, minus the orchestra, things > improved greatly. For at that point, the concert transformed from > being an artistic experiment to a raucous rock show and, oh boy, > Echo and the Bunnymen sure are comfortable in that realm. > > The sextet, led by vocalist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant, > treated each song like it was the closing encore, performing with a > kind of passion and conviction that justified all those Doors > comparisons over the years. The group opened the set with a mad dash > through the early single Rescue, from the 1980 debut Crocodiles, > and then proceeded to its second album, 1981 s Heaven Up Here, for a > Herculean Show of Strength. > > Continuing on through the Crocodiles -cut Villiers Terrace and the > fairly recent single Stormy Weather (from 2005 s Siberia ), > McCulloch sounded vastly stronger than he did in the first set. He was > clearly fired up, to the point where he chastised one fan for making > too much noise during a song. > > Shut the (expletive) up, you (expletive) (expletive) head, he said > in his thick Liverpool speak, which only occasionally resembled English. > > Sergeant, the engine behind all Echo shows, was also in much better > form during this set. Without the orchestra onstage, the guitarist was > able to stretch out and deliver his signature atmospheric leads that > add so much to the material on the live stage. > > The group even took the opportunity to perform a couple of cuts > ( Think I Need It Too and Forgotten Fields ) from its latest album, > The Fountain, which was released earlier this month. Both tracks > held their own amid the greatest hits and fan favorites. The show > closed with a triumphant version of Lips Like Sugar, from the > group s 1987 eponymous fifth studio set. > > If the band decides to perform another album in its entirety during > its next tour, Echo and the Bunnymen would be a great choice but, > with due respect, please leave all the unnecessary strings behind. > ____________________________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **************Bunnymen Online Presence******************** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.bunnymenlist.com * http://www.bunnymen.info http://www.bunnymen.com * http://www.fotolog.net/sgtfuzz/ http://www.villiersterrace.com/ * http://www.angelfire.com/wy2/discog/ http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stevedoughty/index.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-digest V7 #170 ********************************