Echo & The Bunnymen @ C2 26th June 2003
Published 22nd May 2003 by Alison

Thursday 26th June 2003 Echo & The Bunnymen. This promises to be a cool, intimate show, with the guys performing songs from the acclaimed, recently released album "Slideling" - a terrifically uplifting slice of pure pop - pus some Bunnymen songs and covers, proving that their frontman and founding member Ian McCulloch is still on fine form. This is the exclusive warm up show for Glastonbury. 8pm. ?15.

---------------
In January 2001, Will Sergeant and Ian McCulloch, the founding members, and driving forces behind Echo & The Bunnymen since 1978, were at The Dairy, a studio in South London, finishing the mixes for ?Flowers?, their eighth full length album. The two of them were working close together, having fun and hit a creative peak on a par with those halcyon days of 1984 when they were writing and recording the classic ?Ocean Rain? record. For the new album, Ian and Will worked together for ten days writing the songs before recording them in their home town of Liverpool. Alongside Ian and Will were three local players; Alex Gleave (bass), Vinny Jamieson (drums) and Ceri James (keyboards).

The first fruits of this latest Bunnymen venture were the single ?It?s Alright? released in April followed by the release of the album ?Flowers? in May, on Cooking Vinyl. The second single ?Make Me Shine? was released in August 2001. The album garnered some of the best reviews of their career with The Times suggesting it was their best since the 'comeback' in 1997 and The Independent considering it their best to date. 'Flowers' is an instantly recognisable Bunnymen record which hints persistently and remarkably at their astonishing debut LP from 1980, 'Crocodiles', with its chiming guitars, psychedelic flashes, melodic hooks and plenty of Will Sergeant 'weirdness'. As of old, it's driven by a powerful drum sound and looping bass lines underpinning Ian McCulloch's self-styled crooning and impassioned vocals.

Echo & The Bunnymen also released a four CD retrospective box set in 2001, entitled 'Crystal Days - 1979 - 1999' which featured the rare, the unreleased, the lost and the live over 72 tracks, starting from the original version of 'Monkeys' through to selections from 1999's ?What Are You Going To Do With Your Life'.

The band have toured extensively throughout the rest of 2001, starting with a sold out U.K. tour in May, followed by shows in Scandinavia at the beginning of June. The Bunnymen then did a sold out North American tour in July, before jetting off to Japan to headline the Red Stage at the Fuji Rock Festival, and finally ending six weeks of touring with six shows in Australia, their first gigs there in nearly 20 years.

August 17th & 18th saw the Bunnymen play two amazing shows in their hometown, Liverpool, at Paul McCartney?s Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). The shows were recorded for their first official live Bunnymen album & DVD, both to be released on 4th February 2002 on Cooking Vinyl. The 17 tracks include classics such as ?Rescue? ?Never Stop?, ?Killing Moon?, ?The Cutter? and ?Nothing Lasts Forever?.

A very successful promotion trip to Brazil at the end of September for Mac saw him perform live on nearly all the top radio & TV stations. The band will hopefully go back to Brazil to play more shows there at the end of February 2002.

Mid October saw the band play in Europe taking in Spain, Germany, Holland and France, before they headed back to North America to co-headline a tour with The Psychedelic Furs.

Tour line-up is: Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Pete Wilkinson (bass), Vinny Jamieson (drums), Ceri James (keyboards), Ged Malley (guitar).

4142 Views