Bring on the Review of Echo and the Buh-ney-men's show!

NOT IAN MCCULLOCH OF ECHO AND THE BUNNY MEN

03/17/2006

Funny thing about living in Austin (among other things of course)? Spring Break. Everyone has it at the same time. Back home, they stagger the dates for spring break so all the kids don’t end up having the same free time. Either that or they’re afraid that when all bunched up, one of them might come up with an original thought. Anyway- over here, all the schools (pre-schools, kindergartens, elementary, middle, junior, high, community, vocational and oh, yeah- UT) all have the same week off. Funny- cuz the whole city seems to go with that flow and have a week off as well. I mean yesterday, going downtown at the middle of rush hour traffic was not stop-and-go. It was mostly go. And then they schedule SXSW (and the rodeo) that same week.

So, we saw Echo and the Bunnymen again last night. They were part of SXSW’s series of show free to the public. So, the only way you couldn’t get in is if you were ugly. Needless to say, I had to sneak in. They played at a park by the river that everyone calls a lake that’s just by where I work. It’s funny going to a show in the shadow of the building where you work. The venue was cool- very festival atmosphere and Holly & I were able to find a spot on the grass that hills up just a bit so that tall people can stand in front of us and not block our view.

There were four bands on the list and we came in at the tail end of the second act- the wonderfully named Blackalicious. A hippity hop band that didn’t rap about gang banging, misogyny or the kinda things that make the genre annoying. A pretty energetic act that just made you want to wave your arms like you just don’t care.

(PS: strangest thing I saw that night? A girl picking up after herself and throwing away her litter)

Then came the local favorite Spoon. I didn’t really care for their set- but a lot of the crowd did.

Echo and the Buh-ney-men (as Jed the Fish on KROQ calls them) came on at about 8:20pm. I not a huge fan of the Bunnymen. I only have one of their CD’s and it’s the Best Of one. But the songs I know I do like and have liked for a while. They really impressed me the last time I saw the open up for the Cure as well. They’re not a band you go to yell, mosh and rock out. I mean, they do rock- but in a way you just want to sway slightly, get with the tune of the song and enjoy Ian McCulloch’s awesome voice. Even the songs I didn’t know (aka the album tracks) were really enjoyable. The first single they played was “Bring on the dancing Horses” which was a weird one for me to play at the beginning of a set as it feels like a song to end the night with. However, I do like the song- so, small complaint.

Then they played a slower paced song that somehow segued into the Velvet Underground’s Walk on the Wild Side. I heard this last time I saw them and really impressed me. It was cool to hear again. A couple more album tracks and then their biggest hit- The Killing Moon. Another small complaint was that an overcast sky obscured the beautiful full moon we’ve had the past few nights. The Killing Moon is the perfect Spaghetti Western- the kind of tune you’d expect to hear as the Man With No Name wanders into town, stared upon and bothered just because he’s a stranger. Most kids nowadays know the song from Donnie Darko- a movie I have yet to see.

Next was my favorite song of theirs- a tune I affectionately call the Gundam song as there are slight similarities to the first theme song to Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories. A bad ass song no matter how you look at it. They closed out their main set after about fourty minutes- about the same length as the last time they saw them. But at least they played a song Holly’s been wanting to hear (and one they didn’t play last time) with Lips Like Sugar. And unlike last time, they came back with an encore and played Rescue and Ocean Rain (which Ian McCulloch is the most beautiful song in the world- it isn’t but it’s a decent attempt I guess). Holly and I were able to get closer up too and see the band at a better vantage point.

Good show- a little short and ended way before 10pm. Great plus in that they gave away free posters of the event with art by Tara McPherson.

Five Stars!

Three straight days of music. And only one of them was a SXSW show. Pretty damn fun if you ask me. Holly wants to try to see the Charlatans UK tonight. We still don’t have wristbands but who knows?
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