Day 350. Where are you going? Where have you been? (16/12/13)

The first thing that needs to be said is this;

Unless you have ever stood in a crowded, unbearably warm room being blasted by its majesty at full volume then you don't actually know 'The Cutter'.

The 1983 version is a damn fine pop song, eastern tinged, (synthetic) cello driven with nicely odd guitar lines running throughout, the kind of song that could hit top 10 back in the eighties when we were still bothered about actually inventing and creating but in these gorgeous 'rap artist featuring insert name of other slightly lesser rap artist' hit making days wouldn't trouble the lower reaches of the 100. (Do charts still go that far? Does anyone know? Or care?)

Live though? Live, The Cutter is an absolute wall of guitar, a massive celebration that now takes an almost permanent place at the end of Echo & The Bunnymen's main set, secure in the knowledge that no other song is able to immediately follow the shock and awe that it brings with it.

And if you have the end of your gig set in stone how do you, thirty five years into your career, start your night? A classic, obviously. A 'Rescue' from the first album,  'With A Hip' from the second, 'Lips Like Sugar' the great 'almost a hit, bit late 80s but much loved and taken on a new lease of life in the last ten years'? No surprises obviously, there's no need for anything disorienting, we're here for reminiscence after all, a look back at the youth that we all thought was lasting forever.

"This is Lovers On The Run"

Sorry? 'Scuse me? I'm fairly sure I know all your songs, that ain't one of them.

"That's great" stated Mac at the end of this slice of new Bunnypop, self critiquing as ever. First listen, great? Not entirely sure. Good with great bits would be more accurate, very in the style that the band have fallen into since their mid nineties comeback, a little safe, hints of their classic sound but not really stretching themselves. Still, (guitarist) Will has his side projects, Glide and Poltergeist to take care of both his electronic and prog tendencies so a Bunnymen gig can tide him over while he does what he really wants to do.

Two things give the lie to that last paragraph;

1. 'Holy Moses' - a second new track introduced toward the end of the set and a prime slice of 60s flavoured pop, a touch psychedelic in places, full of hooks and a melody that went to interesting new areas away from the 'Bunnymen by numbers' approach.

2. The entire sodding remainder of the set. Men in their early to mid fifties proving that they have more energy and attitude than the bands that are living off the inspiration of bands that were inspired by the Bunnymen themselves; guitars thrashed and bit, drums and bass rolled and rumbled, Mac threw shapes, Elvis shapes, Christ shapes, Rock Star shapes, proper rock star shapes as only a man born to the role could.

You could claim Saturday to be a greatest hits set but few of the songs included were actual hits; even at their height this was a band that had too much quality to bend to the commercial. What the night was, instead, was a reminder of how great the Bunnymen's catalogue is, of just how many career highlights there have been; from throwing long time encore and fan favourite 'Do it Clean' in as second song in the set to the shimmy and shake of 'Bedbugs & Ballyhoo's skittering dance, the pure pop of Bring On the Dancing Horses, through the grandeur of (as it is generally introduced onstage) "the best song ever written", 'The Killing Moon' (look, he has a bloody good point on that one), the stretched and ad libbed even if we all know the ad libs of Rescue, Lips... and a 'Nothing Lasts Forever' which has always morphed into 'Walk On The Wild Side' and 'Coney Island Baby' but did so with more resonance now that we've lost Lou.

There are very, very few poor Bunnymen gigs (one night at the Philharmonic lifetimes ago) but this was stellar.

How good were they? They didn't play 'The Back Of Love' and I only realised the fact on a fan forum earlier tonight; they can drop a classic without missing a beat because they have so many others.

Always leave them wanting more.