Echo & The Bunnymen @ ThePalais, Melbourne (4/2/10)

Thu 11th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

First up for the night were Yanks Black Gold; the standouts were dance number Breakdown that probably wasn’t the best for a seated venue but still good, and their new single Shine from the debut LP _Rush, which has an almost Beatleque feel to it.

Next up were the Scots Frightened Rabbit. Aside from having accents straight out of Orson Welles’ Macbeth, they played pretty well, the highlights were Fast Blood and Swim Until You Can’t See, which have some nice contrast between the drums and guitar lines. The whole time though I couldn’t help noticing the lead singer kind of hops around like a rabbit, but that’s probably just me.

Although back with only Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant; which is like having a Smith’s reunion with just Morrisey and Marr; Echo & The Bunnymen sound completely phenomenal. The six piece is filled with more than adequate replacements for the missing members, from the driving tom-toms of All My Colours, to the threatening, rubbery, Birthday Party-like base in The Disease or Seven Seas.

The Palais made for a good choice of venue – allowing the natural echo of the Palais’ walls to enhance the band’s sound but especially Sergeant’s off-kilter reverb-drenched guitar lines and McCulloch’s swoon. Speaking of McCulloch, despite years of cigarettes, his voice remains as surprisingly smooth as it always did, only becoming gravily during banter with the crowd. The banter though was all but impossible to make out as the reverb placed on his voice turned his normal speech into a sea of almost incomprehensible Liverpudlian vowels and consonants. Though I did make out that the recent absence from Laneway was due to a healthy baby girl (probably what he said anyway), as well as some terrible knock knock jokes.

On stage they were perhaps not the most animated of bands; McCulloch in his long coat and sunglasses kept still with even the same foot stance except for his smoking arm. But for a band like Echo what is most important is mood which they had in spades, with the fantastic cyan & orange lighting striking their black silhouettes against the stage like film noir thugs. The older-oriented crowd clearly enjoyed themselves too, happily bopping up and down in their chairs to poppier numbers likes The Back of Love, and the best of feeling with the older-material-oriented set list going over well with the crowd.

The only real ‘problem’ with the night was that every song was fantastic, and even though they played for around an hour and a half, it was frightening just how suddenly time disappeared and inevitably there were going to be songs missed. But with The Cutter and The Killing Moon closing the initial set, and a encore medley with Walk on the Wild Side and In the Midnight Hour there’s no complaining. Besides, the best nights always leave you hungry for more.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW