Photos by David Schnur, text by Marke B.
Ian McCulloch, dark and lovely
Somewhat surprisingly sprinkled with young fans, a rapturous crowd received ’80s guitar-pop heroes –Echo and the Bunnymen with open arms and singalong voices at the Fox on Thursday. The two remaining Bunnymen, singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant, definitely still had it, recreating with ease the big sound and goth-romantic poetry that positioned the Bunnymen in a direct line from Joy Division to U2 — even wearing more of their original influences on their sleeves, with covers of the Doors and Lou Reed and new material that reflected their admiration for Oasis.
The main attraction for this overdue valedictory tour was the inclusion of a 10+ member orchestra to recreate in full the Bunnymen’s most ambitious album, 1984’s Ocean Rain, which was just lovely, if the sound was a bit muddy at times. No one can resist the beauty of such tunes as “Killing Moon” — if you were a kid when it came out, the spooky and then-unique juxtaposition of bunny drum machines, lunar jewels, strummed steel strings, and cosmic murder was mindblowing, and those shivers returned in ample waves here.
Will Sergeant, left, creating his indelible sound