November 30, 2003

Echo and the Bunnymen at Shepherds Bush Empire

Ian McCulloch smoked like a chimney the entire show. And his voice was superb. A bit strained on the ballads, but I never liked those anyway. This was the best "where are they now" concert I've attended. My favorite song would have been "Never Stop" but alas, they didn't have the capacity to play the beautiful string intro, and perhaps therefore left it out of the set. Hence, my favorite of the evening was "Lips Like Sugar". Joyfully, they only did a smattering of songs that were post 1987. Just before the show I had a frightening thought that the band would be on stage sans McCulloch but a quick read on the All Music Guide allayed my fears.