echo & the bunnymen ocean rain tour

Echo and The Bunnymen

Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant

Ocean Rain Live Dates

Excited to announce some very special shows for 2023. We will be playing with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing our classic album Ocean Rain in full.

Tickets go on general sale Friday 9th December at 10am, but you can get exclusive access to the pre-sale on Thursday by signing up to our mailing list https://www.bunnymen.com/newsletter

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Echo & The Bunnymen

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• Date May 26 , 2024
• Event Starts 7:30 PM
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"We'd play small islands on the west coast of Scotland rather than stadiums": Echo & The Bunnymen wouldn't play the game, but that didn't stop them from creating "the greatest song of all time"

Echo & The Bunnymen's Ocean Rain divided opinion upon release in 1984, but time has only deepened its supernatural beauty

Everything seemed to open up for Echo & The Bunnymen in the latter half of 1983. Singles success with The Cutter and Never Stop and gold-selling third album Porcupine had elevated them above their postpunk rivals, at least in commercial terms. But instead of taking the prescribed route into vast arenas, the Liverpool four-piece instead kept it relatively micro, opting to play tours that supposedly followed ley lines from their home town to Scandinavia and the Outer Hebrides. 

“We were at the peak of our powers as a group,” singer Ian McCulloch told us in 2013. “Everyone else was wearing cowboy hats and playing stadiums, while we were rocking the cobbled streets. It was significant that we’d play small islands on the west coast of Scotland rather than stadiums.” 

That attitude extended to their music too. Rather than following the anthemic guitar bluster of U2 or Simple Minds – who would come to signify what became known as ‘big music’ – the band headed to Paris to make the lush, brooding Ocean Rain . 

“It felt like we were taking the whole guitar/bass/drums idea of the band further,” guitarist Will Sergeant told Classic Rock. “We were really into [Love’s] Forever Changes and Scott Walker records at the time, so we wanted to make some sort of grand work. That’s why we got all the strings in. We wanted to make a classic."

Released ahead of the album in January ’84, The Killing Moon was a perfect primer. The band were stretching towards the epic, with McCulloch’s rich baritone vocal addressing fate and a divine kind of power. “It’s the greatest song of all time,” said the frontman, true to his cocky reputation. 

Ocean Rain was conceived very much in the same spirit as The Killing Moon . McCulloch saw the album belonging to a European lineage of Jacques Brel and Édith Piaf – music with a dark and intensely dramatic reach. Bassist Les Pattinson scoped out his sound with a vintage reverb machine; Sergeant used various effects to heighten his textural brilliance; drummer Pete de Freitas tempered his usual approach with brushes and cymbals, plus xylophones and glockenspiel. 

Seven Seas and the equally sublime Silver feel like semi-symphonic raptures, the latter suggesting that the quartet had found some kind of creative release. Rooted in an eastern scale, Thorn Of Crowns feels like Porcupine -Bunnymen, only with renewed ambition and self-belief. Nocturnal Me is all Brel-like melodrama, with inky shadows of Brecht-Weill. The sumptuous title track is a twilit ballad worthy of Scott Walker. 

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Ocean Rain divided opinion upon release in May ’84, but time has only deepened its supernatural beauty. It still stands as the Bunnymen’s greatest moment.

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes . Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.

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Echo & The Bunnymen to perform 'Ocean Rain' in full on orchestral UK tour

They play four very special shows

Echo & The Bunnymen will perform their classic album ‘Ocean Rain’ in its entirety on a very special orchestral tour in September 2023.

Flanked by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Echo & The Bunnymen will play four headline shows including a massive homecoming concert at Liverpool M & S Bank Arena.

The trek also visits Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, Edinburgh Usher Hall and London’s world-famous Royal Albert Hall.

“Excited to announce some very special shows for 2023,” Echo & The Bunnymen said. “We will be playing with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing our classic album Ocean Rain in full.”

Tickets go on sale from Absolute Radio Tickets at 10am on Friday 9th December.

The critically acclaimed ‘Ocean Rain’ was originally released in May 1984, and it spawned the singles ‘The Killing Moon’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Seven Seas.’

Most of the album was recorded in Paris alongside a 35-piece orchestra with the other sessions taking place in Bath and Liverpool.

A top 10 single upon its release, ‘The Killing Moon’ is widely regarded as Echo & The Bunnymen’s greatest song and it has featured in numerous movies and TV shows including Donnie Darko, 13 Reasons Why and Billions.

Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘Ocean Rain’ UK tour dates:

SEPTEMBER 2023:

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall – Tue 12th

Edinburgh Usher Hall – Thu 14th

Liverpool M & S Bank Arena – Sat 16th

London Royal Albert Hall – Mon 18th

Buy Echo & The Bunnymen tickets

Absolute radio's 100 greatest albums of all time:, the velvet underground – ‘the velvet underground & nico’ (1967).

The 100 Collection on Absolute Radio: The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

The Beatles – ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (1967)

The beach boys – ‘pet sounds’ (1966), aretha franklin – ‘i never loved a man the way i love you’ (1967), jimi hendrix – ‘electric ladyland’ (1968), johnny cash – ‘at folsom prison’ (1968), the rolling stones – ‘let it bleed’ (1969), the doors – ‘the doors’ (1967), bob dylan – ‘highway 61 revisited’ (1965), van morrison – ‘astral weeks’ (1968), marvin gaye – ‘what’s going on’ (1971), stevie wonder – ‘songs in the key of life’ (1976), the clash – ‘london calling’ (1979), eagles – ‘hotel california’ (1976), pink floyd – ‘the dark side of the moon’ (1973), fleetwood mac – ‘rumours’ (1977), joy division – ‘unknown pleasures’ (1979), blondie – ‘parallel lines’ (1978), david bowie – ‘the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars’ (1972), the sex pistols – ‘never mind the bollocks, here's the sex pistols’ (1977), the human league – ‘dare’ (1981), paul simon – ‘graceland’ (1986), tracy chapman – ‘tracy chapman’ (1988), kate bush – ‘hounds of love’ (1985), the smiths – ‘the queen is dead’ (1986), u2 – ‘the joshua tree’ (1987), prince – ‘1999’ (1982), the stone roses – ‘the stone roses’ (1989), bruce springsteen – ‘born in the usa’ (1984), duran duran – ‘rio’ (1982), blur – ‘parklife’ (1994), lauryn hill – ‘the miseducation of lauryn hill’ (1998), massive attack – ‘blue lines’ (1991), nirvana – ‘nevermind’ (1991), oasis – ‘definitely maybe’ (1994), paul weller – ‘stanley road’ (1995), primal scream – ‘screamadelica’ (1991), pulp – ‘a different class’ (1995), radiohead – ‘ok computer’ (1997), the verve – ‘urban hymns’ (1997), arctic monkeys – ‘whatever people say i am, that’s what i’m not’ (2006), franz ferdinand – ‘franz ferdinand’ (2004), the strokes – ‘is this it’ (2001), amy winehouse – ‘back to black’ (2006), the white stripes – ‘elephant’ (2003), beyoncé – ‘dangerously in love’ (2003), coldplay – ‘a rush of blood to the head’ (2002), the libertines – ‘up the bracket’ (2002), the killers – ‘hot fuss’ (2004), kings of leon – ‘aha shake heartbreak’ (2004), adele – ‘21’ (2011), drake – ‘take care’ (2011), lana del rey – ‘born to die’ (2012), royal blood – ‘royal blood’ (2014), wolf alice – ‘visions of a life’ (2017), arctic monkeys – ‘am’ (2013), liam gallagher – ‘as you were’ (2017), noel gallagher's high flying birds – ‘noel gallagher's high flying birds’ (2011), biffy clyro – ‘opposites’ (2013), david bowie – ‘blackstar’ (2016), guns n’ roses – ‘appetite for destruction’ (1987), muse – ‘absolution’ (2003), thin lizzy – ‘jailbreak’ (1976), metallica – ‘metallica’ (‘the black album’) (1991), meat loaf – ‘bat out of hell’ (1977), queen – ‘a night at the opera’ (1975), dire straits – ‘brothers in arms’ (1985), ac/dc – ‘back in black’ (1980), bon jovi – ‘slippery when wet’ (1986), led zeppelin – ‘led zeppelin iv’ (1971), prince and the revolution – ‘purple rain’ (1984), the blues brothers: original soundtrack recording (1980), music from the motion picture pulp fiction (1994), trainspotting: music from the motion picture (1996), saturday night fever (1977), the who – ‘quadrophenia’ (1979), star wars (original motion picture soundtrack) (1977), goodfellas music from the motion picture (1990), drive – original motion picture soundtrack (2011), the beatles – ‘help’ (1965), black sabbath – ‘paranoid’ (1970), foo fighters – ‘the colour and the shape’ (1997), arctic monkeys – ‘favourite worst nightmare’ (2007), oasis – ‘(what’s the story) morning glory’ (1995), radiohead – ‘the bends’ (1995), dr. dre – ‘2001’ (1999), daft punk – ‘discovery’ (2001), led zeppelin – ‘led zeppelin ii’ (1969), muse – ‘origin of symmetry’ (2001), pixies – ‘doolittle’ (1989), the beatles – ‘1967-1970’ (the blue album) (1973), blur – ‘the best of’ (2000), bob marley & the wailers – ‘legend’ (1984), david bowie – ‘the best of david bowie 1969/1974’ (1997), green day – ‘international superhits’ (2001), madonna – ‘the immaculate collection’ (1990), pulp – ‘hits’ (2002), queen – ‘greatest hits ii’ (1991), the rolling stones – ‘hot rocks 1964-1971’ (1971), stereophonics – ‘decade in the sun: best of stereophonics’ (2002).

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By Parke Puterbaugh

Parke Puterbaugh

Suspended somewhere ‘twixt heaven and hell, Echo and the Bunnymen take an oddly visceral pleasure in their spiritual limbo, evoking a vast, white, arctic expanse that’s silent, unbroken and pure — but also deadly. The band’s fourth full-length LP is too often a monochromatic dirge of banal existential imagery cloaked around the mere skeleton of a musical idea. Even the livelier songs — e.g., “Silver,” “My Kingdom” — tend to beat a formula into the ground.

The typical Echo and the Bunnymen number calls for a percussively strummed acoustic; a forsaken, tuneless chant of a vocal, steeped in cavernous echo; and a snippet of a theme, played on guitar and counterpointed by a choppy string arrangement. Sometimes the songs kick in on the choruses, but even there, guitarist Will Sergeant tends to wander around in a fog whenever he assays a solo.

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The album’s low point is “Thorn of Crowns,” wherein singer Ian McCulloch — besides inverting a Biblical image and rendering it incoherent — attempts a Jim Morrison imitation that’s more blustery than gripping. After four or five long minutes, there’s a false ending, then McCulloch bobs up for a kind of verbal jam that’s hard to imagine being delivered with a straight face: “I have decided/To wear my thorn of crowns/ Inside-out/Upside-down/Back to front/All around. ” Well, if the crown fits….

Actually, there are some nifty choruses and nice atmospheres scattered about Ocean Rain, and “Crystal Days” and “Seven Seas” are enjoyable, welcome respites from the dark clouds of doom that spew rain and bile elsewhere. But a handful of good tunes doesn’t justify an entire album, and, for a fourth record, Ocean Rain evinces too little melodic development and too much tortured soul-gazing from Echo and the Bunnymen. Silly rabbits.

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Gig Review: Echo & The Bunnymen at Royal Concert Hall

Echo & The Bunnymen performed  Ocean Rain  in full along with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra...

After a week or so of unbearable heat, the weather changed, and so we had Ocean Rain , a prophecy of the past and future. There was also a potential aurora, but the glare of Nottingham and a blanket of drizzle put paid to any celestial display. On the other hand, there was brilliance at The Royal Concert Hall.  

Ocean Rain is one of those iconic albums that America sometimes forgets about, even if it made it onto film soundtracks. It had not been forgotten here, as tonight witnessed. A full house, but as my friends said, “Has anything changed really since it came out and has the world got better or worse?” I think that depends from where you stand.  

The Bunnymen have been pretty much a constant for me since the eighties. Always there. Somewhere, I have a battered copy of the album. Tonight was an opportunity to hear it as I’d never heard it before: full live orchestral backing, and the Liverpool Philharmonic at that. 

The night was split into four parts; support by Erica Nockalls, who I’d last seen in Camden at Indie Daze. The second part was The Bunnymen playing newer stuff, followed by another break, and then a full rendition of Ocean Rain. Finally, they had an encore.    It’s about ten years since I saw Ian McCulloch at Latitude Festival and he looked leaner and healthier tonight, but still displaying his iconic stance at the microphone, almost rigidly hiding behind it, dark glasses and tussled hair. 

A brief tribute, mentioning Bill Drummond, self-recognition that they were celebrating the “best album ever made”, the recording in Paris, and they launched into the album. At the time of the launch, Echo and the Bunnymen rode the crest of a wave along with The Teardrop Explodes and U2. The world was their oyster.  

An iconic album sleeve, it is still haunting to this day. McCulloch gave hints of depression within the songs and in the intermediate breaks, a reflection of the times, all too relevant today. Difficult to hear him at times, this was beautifully reciprocated when an incoherent heckle lead to him saying “I know they say you have to understand your audience, but really?” Not so much lost in translation as dialects.

The album is a beautiful response, sad and measured to the times of the mid-eighties and the band’s passage through those times. It was a pleasure to have the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with them, neither the band nor orchestra outdoing one another, but a perfect complement and a beautiful tribute to fantastic musicians.  

Popular music is often dismissed, but this stands with the classics. I’m not sure if everyone noticed, but the projected back-set of the Liver birds freeing themselves from their plinths as the band played The Cutter was a perfect and fitting finale.

Echo & The Bunnymen performed at the Royal Concert Hall on 12 September 2023.

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Echo & The Bunnymen : Ocean Rain

With three albums completed and released, a few hits and mostly a cult following, Echo and the Bunnymen could have gone the way of most bands—that is, nowhere fast. Instead, they managed to record a landmark album, the most critically-lauded of their career: the epic, sweeping and majestic Ocean Rain . Every aspect of this album found Echo at the peak of their artistic prowess. Will Sergeant’s guitars were at their most angularly evocative; Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas were at their most hypnotically rhythmic; and Ian McCulloch was pure vocal and lyrical genius. The songs were both artistically challenging and had mass appeal.

The cover of Ocean Rain , as Spinal Tap would put it, could be none more blue, immediately setting a tone for the music within. Then you have Les and Pete each manning an oar, propelling the boat, as they do the band with their tight rhythm section. Then there’s Will, arms crossed, pensive, sitting in the middle of the boat. He is somewhere between the artistic vision of Ian and the musicianship of the other two, wanting to be adventurous, but also keeping it reined in. Finally, there’s Ian, leaning over the bow, one finger touching the surface of the water, ever inquisitive, trying to glean something from the blue.

The Bunnymen benefited from the help of Adam Peters, who arranged all the string performances as well as piano. The album begins with Sergeant’s Washburn guitar strums in the song “Silver,” but it is the strings which announce the oncoming sound of the new Echo. McCulloch’s lyrics are as obtuse as ever, making sense in only the rarest of occasions. “Nocturnal Me,” one of the most dramatic on the record, takes musical cues from the Soviet bloc, like some kind of marching Russian anthem. McCulloch takes after some of his musical heroes, selling the song with cabaret acting skill, just like Scott Walker and David Bowie. “Crystal Days,” though not released as a single, certainly could have been. It is one of the songs that bridges the gap between Ocean Rain and their self-titled record. “The Yo-Yo Man” continued their obsession with the Doors and Jim Morrison’s dark poetry with McCulloch singing about the cold wind blowing through his headstone.

“Thorn of Crowns” is decidedly Velvet Underground or Suicide influenced, though I have no idea what the whole stuttering vegetable medley is all about. McCulloch has never been yelpier or more dramatic. This oddity of a song, one of my favorites, leads way to my absolute favorite—and a favorite among most fans—the legendary “The Killing Moon.” This song, a tale of predestination wrapped in a love song, is undoubtedly one of the band’s finest moments. It carries enormous weight without any one piece of it becoming unwieldy. Sergeant’s guitars are muted strums or jangly notes when needed. Strings sweep delicately throughout, only coming to the surface to be noticed specifically. Timpani rolls at the end of the song play up the drama of oncoming finality. “The Killing Moon” is sheer perfection and it’s no wonder that it became such an influence on the film Donnie Darko . Oddly, however, director Richard Kelly wanted to use INXS’ “ Never Tear Us Apart ” over the opening credits instead, which he does on the Director’s Cut version. But the themes in the song exactly mirror those of the film, making its last minute replacement a matter of kismet.

“Seven Seas,” the third single from the album, features a second nod to Bowie’s “Life on Mars.” “Thorn of Crowns” featured the quick lyric, “ men on mars / April showers ” and “Seven Seas” mentions “ Hear the cavemen singing, ” which is a recall to “ Look at those cavemen go. ” It’s also one more song with nautical references, enhancing the album’s loosely woven theme. Another brilliantly put together song follows in “My Kingdom,” a dark song to be sure, but entertaining. McCulloch overlaps the refrain “ten-a-penny” with the last potent lines,

You’re a between-the-lines person, And your death is well overdue, You suck the foot that kicks you You kiss the hand that hits you.

The title track rounds out the album with the most nautically themed song on the record. This quiet and understated song uses a string arrangement that is more beautiful than any on the album, bookending it with the more tense “Silver” and its strings. Songs that surrounded the release of Echo’s fourth album were also stunners including the “All Night” version of “The Killing Moon” stretching the already almost six-minute track to over nine minutes. “Silver” also had an extended version called the “Tidal Wave” version. “Angels and Devils,” the b-side to “Silver” has been added as a bonus track to the Rhino reissue. This reissue also includes the Life at Brian’s EP, a series of live tracks recorded at Liverpool Cathedral, including their cover of “All You Need is Love,” which, just as John Lennon ad-libbed lyrics to “She Loves You,” Ian ad-libs lyrics to their own “Read it in Books,” the Beatles’ “Girl,” the requisite “She Loves You,” Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” Englebert Humperdinck’s “Release Me” and James Brown’s “Sex Machine.” Now that’s a medley.

Ocean Rain , even without the bonus tracks, was already a monumental and epic album, and the best from the Liverpool band. At this point, each member was firing on all cylinders. It was that utmost peak of perfection, a snapshot of a band on the precipice, on one side the journey past, on the other their uncertain future. They would have one more album full of hits in them, including “ Lips Like Sugar ,” a song that benefited from massive airplay but ultimately didn’t chart as high as “The Killing Moon.” Ocean Rain at its simplest interpretation is a stellar pop album with accessible songs and lush melodies. At its most complex, it is a densely layered and intricate masterpiece, carefully constructed and performed with songs that either have multiple or no meanings, but always captivating. If each band in the world could only pick one album to last for eternity, to show what they accomplished on this earth, Echo & the Bunnymen would simply have to pick Ocean Rain .

Label: Sire

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Echo And The Bunnymen announce ‘Ocean Rain’ UK tour – ticket details

Band to perform celebrated 1984 album on six-date tour

Echo And The Bunnymen are set to play their 1984 album ‘Ocean Rain’ in full on a September UK tour.

The six-date tour, which kicks off in Manchester on September 24, will see the band joined by a string section.

The gig run will be the second tour in succession that Echo And The Bunnymen have revisited an early album on. They toured late last year, playing the whole of their first two albums ‘Crocodiles’ and ‘Heaven Up Here’ .

Echo And The Bunnymen will play:

Manchester Palace Theatre (September 24) Birmingham Symphony Hall (25) London Palladium (26) Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (28) York Grand Opera House (29) Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (30)

Tickets go on sale on Friday (March 25) at 9:30am (GMT). To check the availability of Echo And The Bunnymen tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094 .

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Newcity Music

Reviews, profiles and news about music in Chicago

Songs to Learn and Live In: A Preview of Echo & the Bunnymen

by Bart Lazar | May 16, 2024

Echo & the Bunnymen/Photo: Echo & the Bunnymen

Smoke swirls. Up from just below the microphone. Ascending trajectory toward the light above. Black sunglasses and tousled hair. Cigarette. Silhouette. Atmospheric harpsichord guitar. The chanteur howls. Thick warm sounds Surround. Comfort and.

For forty-three years or so, Echo & the Bunnymen have presented as much a feeling as a sound. Fashioned out of the Liverpool punk scene, their psychedelic, chilling, haunting and often propulsive sounds have served a decades-long soundtrack. For many Chicagoans of a range of ages, “The Killing Moon” or “Lips Like Sugar” evoke memories of following a call to action on the dark dance floor of Neo or smartbar. An immersive multi-dimensional embrace knowing that you are unique, but among strangers. Sharing something with those strangers, though that something may only consist of that time, that place, that music, that knowledge and that comfort—the moment of shared experience.

As mainstream as Echo & The Bunnymen may sound today, when they first came into being, their goal was to not be punk or even rock ‘n’ roll. Singer/lyricist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant founded the band, initially jamming with a drum machine, trying to capture and eschew pieces of garage, glam, psychedelia and punk. Sergeant liked the Doors, Them and the Velvet Underground and then punk came along. The band members experienced all of the first wave of punk, and they openly pay tribute to some of these influences, continuing to include the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” or a Velvet Underground song in homage to Jim Morrison and Lou Reed in their shows. On this tour, the band has even segued into Bowie’s “Jean Genie” and Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.”

McCulloch has always embodied a brash, independent, “don’t give a shit” punk ethos like one of his heroes, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, while maintaining some form of a groove. He has declared that he created the greatest song ever written—”The Killing Moon”—and like a wrestler asserts that Echo and the Bunnymen is the best band in the world. When “Crocodiles” was released in 1980 the music looked backward with mashed 1-3 chorded guitars lifted from the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and lyrics with drug-use references from the Velvets in “Do It Clean.” Yet their sound also contained a reinvented depth not present in the punk sound that was a precursor to much of what is now considered “eighties” music would become. As Sergeant remembers “[t]he term post-punk hadn’t been invented at the time so no one knew what to call us. We were called post-modernist for a while, then long overcoat music, then neo-psychedelia. We had loads of stupid titles. Nowadays, people think we’re goth!”

At some point, McCulloch found his imagery from sailing on the open sea and romance. Somehow, the dark sound, positive image of dark skies, the ocean, romance and atmospheric guitar merged in a kind of “goth-lite” which has helped them become even more popular today than when they started out.

The current tour comes a long way from their first visit to Tut’s on April 12, 1981. Based on set lists, it looks like the band is revisiting virtually all of its repertoire, so you expect to hear every one of their hits. Though, to be fair, it is unlikely to be a Vegas/Broadway simulacrum performance—it will be real, with some variations and extemporaneous bursts or muttering from McCulloch as well as excursions into lesser-known songs and/or some of the covers noted above. Ian’s voice has always been gruff, and at sixty-four, he has been a high-volume cigarette smoker for decades. He has acknowledged his voice can go, due to the smoking, not the singing. To give his voice (and maybe the audience, too) a rest, on the current tour, the band has been doing two sets. He might not be able to hit the high notes of a “Lips Like Sugar,” but with a large part of the audience blaring along you might not notice—especially if you are capturing your moment and are singing too.

Echo & the Bunnymen will perform at Riviera Theatre, 4746 North Racine, on Sunday, May 26. Doors at 6pm; show at 7:30pm. Via Mardot opens. Tickets here .

Bart Lazar is a Chicago-based independent music journalist, vinyl DJ, playlist creator and concert producer. Bart has a monthly residency at Sportsman’s Club where he educates hipsters on fifty years of independent music. In addition to Newcity, Bart’s writing can be found on his blog, www.oldpunksrule.com and his book “Declaration of (Dis) Interest” is available on Amazon. By day, Bart is a partner at Seyfarth where he is one of the nation’s leading advertising, data privacy and intellectual property attorneys. Contact: [email protected]

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Fans transported back in time as Echo & The Bunnymen return for home gig

Fans were on their feet as Echo & the Bunnymen returned home as part of their latest tour.

Formed in Liverpool in 1978, Echo & The Bunnymen have been responsible for some of the most celebrated singles over their now 40+ year career. One of the most influential bands to hail from the city and Britain, the group have had twenty top 20 hits and nine top 20 albums in their long career since their debut, Crocodiles, in 1980.

Last September, the band enjoyed a momentous homecoming at the M&S Bank Arena, reprising the seminal Ocean Rain album now released 40 years ago, in collaboration with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. So I was excited to see what their latest tour - Songs to Learn and Sing - would bring, before it wraps up in the UK and the Europe and US legs follow.

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The Liverpool Empire Theatre on Monday, March 25, was the first show of two in the city, as a second the following night was added due to popular demand. In the foyer before the show starts, there's scores of devoted fans who've followed the group through the decades, as well as the next generation of what appeared to be students and even children accompanied by family members.

Then there was my dad and I, who were lucky enough to be seeing the band for the second time, after first seeing Echo & The Bunnymen open for The Rolling Stones at Anfield Stadium in 2022. Echo & The Bunnymen's last studio album, The Stars & The Oceans & The Moon was released in 2018 - but the night saw them revisit their catalogue of incredible music still loved decades on.

Kicking off the night was singer and violinist Erica Nockalls, support act for the entire tour. Performing on stage with guitarist Jean-Charles Versari, the pair came on just after 8pm as the crowd steadily grew.

The lead vocals of Erica were powerful and at times haunting and throughout the performance, the combination of violin solos and guitar riffs was impeccable. A stand out song for me was Eiffel's Eye and they later concluded with Making Friends With an Alien, leaving the stage with a warm reception from the crowd. I think I'll definitely be revisiting her music.

Have you seen Echo & The Bunnymen live? Let us know in the comments section below.

After 9pm, a purple haze and dry ice filled the stage as Echo & The Bunnymen emerged. In the low-lighting, you could see Will Sergeant heading to the far left with his guitar and a silhouette of frontman Ian McCulloch in his signature sunglasses and bouffant hair.

Saluting the crowd as he walked on, McCulloch, as cool as ever, said 'hello Liverpool' before diving straight into Going Up and All That Jazz from their debut album. Moving seamlessly from one song into another, only a few words were mumbled in between songs to the crowd throughout the night and at some times it was hard to make out.

But with hits like theirs spanning decades, you arguably want as many songs played as possible and devout fans are there for one main thing, the music. As the set went on, more and more people were getting on their feet, and as someone who has grown up in an era where concerts and gigs are full of a sea of camera phones - it was nice to see the crowd just absorbed in the music, enjoying hits and not spending too much time watching it through their small screens.

The audience were transported back to the pinnacle of the band’s heyday and the despite performing hits from years gone by, the songs felt contemporary and revived. Echo & The Bunnymen were on form, confirmed by the huge applause and cheers that followed each song.

At one point, the band also played a new song, with frontman Ian telling the crowd "sing along if you know it - but you shouldn’t." Concluding the first half of the set was Bring On the Dancing Horses, a real crowd pleaser, before the band took a 20 minute break, with hits like Blondie's Heart of Glass and M's Pop Muzik playing over the PA while the audience got ready for part two.

Back on for 10pm, McCulloch heads to the mic - "did you all have a bevvy? Here’s the second half." It was a true Scouse homecoming, with members of the audience shouting "go on Ian lad" throughout the night.

Show of Strength and Over the Wall kicked off the second set, but the atmosphere became more electric when Seven Seas and Nothing Lasts Forever was played. Back on their feet, the crowd was singing along - but the audience truly erupted when the band played The Killing Moon.

It's the track that everyone waits for and to see it be performed in Liverpool - 40 years on from its original release - is a moment I will never forget. As soon as the opening riff was played, the energy from the fans was unbelievable.

To hear it played in their home city was always going to be something special. The Ocean Rain album was among those to define the the sound and atmosphere of the early 1980s and the crowd lapped up every line.

Sergeant's talent cannot be understated and during the track, the spotlight was on him alone. After loud cheers came another fan-favourite, Lips Like Sugar, which saw the audience still up and chanting the lyrics.

What came next was two encores - and if you can't do it in your home city, when can you. First up was The Cutter and then when the band returned on stage for the second time, they concluded with the iconic Ocean Rain.

A crescendo end to an incredible night, as homecoming gigs go, this was triumphant. "Songs to Learn and Sing" is the title of the tour and every song proved to be timeless - I agreed with my dad at the end of the night when he said it was "one for the history books."

Today, March 26, concludes their UK leg of the tour with a final show at the Liverpool Empire and it wouldn't' surprise me if those who went the first night tried to get their hands on a ticket for the second. To find out more about The Liverpool Empire Theatre, click here.

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• 1985 Scandinavian Tour  ( 9 )
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Average setlist for tour: Ocean Rain 30th Anniversary Tour

• Lips Like Sugar Play Video
• Rescue Play Video
• Bring On the Dancing Horses Play Video
• Think I Need It Too Play Video
• The Disease Play Video
• All That Jazz Play Video
• The Back of Love Play Video
• All My Colours (Zimbo) Play Video
• People Are Strange ( The Doors  cover) Play Video
• Nothing Lasts Forever Play Video
• Walk on the Wild Side ( Lou Reed  cover) Play Video
• Don't Let Me Down ( The Beatles  cover) Play Video
• In the Midnight Hour ( Wilson Pickett  cover) Play Video
• The Cutter Play Video
• Silver Play Video
• Nocturnal Me Play Video
• Crystal Days Play Video
• The Yo Yo Man Play Video
• Thorn of Crowns Play Video
• The Killing Moon Play Video
• Seven Seas Play Video
• My Kingdom Play Video
• Ocean Rain Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

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11 concerts to see this week, including Khruangbin, Rufus Wainwright, Hozier and more

Rock, groove, space out, and enjoy some shows this week.

Here are 11 concerts to see in the next seven days, all around Philly. For tickets and more information on these shows, head to the WXPN Concert Calendar .

Sun. 5/19: Echo and the Bunnymen at Franklin Music Hall

Post-punk in the springtime? Make it make sense! If that’s the goal, though, Echo and the Bunnymen are up for the challenge. Their roots dig into the occult and mystical (if KLF biographer John Higgs is to be believed) and their discography stretches across four decades, most recently gaining a new entry with 2018’s The Stars, the Ocean, the Moon . Their show at Franklin Music Hall on Sunday, though, will showcase the span of it, promising (like their 1985 greatest hits collection does) an array of  Songs To Learn And Sing . // 8 p.m., $49.50, AA

Sun. 5/19: Moor Mother at Solar Myth

Lauded Philadelphia experimentalist Moor Mother tours the world with her jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements and delivers solo sets of her avant garde electronica at festivals from Vancouver to London. She’s also been busy as an educator at USC’s Thornton School of Music, so having her back home in Philly is a rare treat. Moor Mother’s latest,  The Great Bailout , released in March, and is a visceral mix of evocative poetry and chilling sound design contemplating generation trauma and collective liberation. // 8 p.m., $37.08, 21+

Tue. 5/21: serpentwithfeet at The Foundry

serpentwithfeet has emerged as a genre-bending must-see artist immersed in gospel, opera, and everything in between. His music pushes the limits of R&B, expanding and experimenting with the genre and featuring some of its biggest names, and he brings this winter’s GRIP LP to The Foundry on Tuesday. // 8 p.m., $35.25, AA

Tue. 5/21, Wed. 5/22, Thu. 5/23: Khruangbin at The Met Philly

Effervescent groove riders Khraungbin are set to bring not one, not two, but three nights of impossibly cool music to Philly this week, headlining a monster run at The Met Philly. The band’s fourth album, A La Sala , was released last month and has all the vibes you need to help you with that slide from spring into summer. // 7:30 p.m., $60.10, AA

Wed. 5/22: Pouty at Johnny Brenda’s

Philadelphia-rooted indie rocker Rachel Gagliardi returned this spring with  Forgot About Me , a stellar set of sun-kissed punk that marries the grit of the scene that gave her a start with the blis of her current California home base. Pouty pays a visit to Philly for a Johnny Brenda’s headliner with Gladie, The Talking Kind (aka Spraynard’s Pat Graham) and a UK band called Shit Present, a perfect bill for anyone who missed out on getting super sold out Mannequin Pussy tickets this week. // 8 p.m., $15, 21+

Wed. 5/22: Rufus Wainwright at Keswick Theatre

For the past 25 years, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has been bridging the worlds of effervescent pop and rock with grandiose musical theater and opera. This week, his brings his collaborations and covers collection  Folkocracy to The Kewswick Theater in Glenside. // 8 p.m., $44, AA

Thu. 5/23: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram at Upper Marion Concerts Under The Stars

Blues ripper Christone “Kingfish” Ingram puts on a killer show, whether he’s at Free at Noon, the XPoNential Music Festival, or NON-COMM. We’re stoked at the opportunity to see him play a gig outside of our immediate network, though, and his songs from  662 and his self-titled debut will absolutely smoulder under the stars at Upper Merion Township. // 7 p.m., $35, AA

Thu. 5/23: Drexel Sonic Soup at World Cafe Live

A fixture of the Drexel University music industry program, the annual Sonic Soup showcase brings together an array of talented Philly artists who have spent the past semester in promotions and development with a group of student-run record labels. This gig is the culminating event, and stars Djella, Laur, Luke Santana, Greaves, Boy Beverly, Sophie Price, Karlia, and Heavy Metal Chess Club, making for a jam-packed night of Philly-centric music. // 7 p.m., $5, AA

Fri. 5/24: Another Michael at Johnny Brenda’s

Ambitious Philly indie rockers have grown from the heart-on-sleeve 2021 debut  New Music and Big Pop to this past year’s grand two-part release; last fall’s  Wishes To Fulfill showcased their hookier, pop-leaning side, while the new  Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down  will delve into their more experimental releases when it drops at the end of this month. A week out from drop date, the band headlines a hometown show at Johnny Brenda’s in the midst of a tour supporting both projects.  // 9 p.m., $15, 21+

Fri. 5/24: Sun Ra Arkestra at Union Transfer

The leader of the world’s most unpredictable, imaginative big band, Marshall Allen turns 100 this Saturday! To mark the occasion, a major centennial bash is happening this Friday at Union Transfer in celebration of a person and collective that has constantly striven to move music forward, both under the spiritual guidance of the legendary Sun Ra, and under Allen’s own time conducting the Arksetra and bringing its spirited live shows into a new century. If you’ve never witnessed a Sun Ra Arkestra concert, this is one you don’t want to miss. // 8 p.m., $30, AA

Sat. 5/25: Hozier at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion

Andrew Hozier Byrne went and did it again. Last year’s Unreal Unearth is his latest entry in a discography of instant classics, mixing existential dread with infectious pop on “Eat Your Young,” “Francesca,” and the Brandi Carlile collab “Damage Gets Done.” His last two Philadelphia concerts, a pre-release pop-up concert at World Cafe Live and a late summer headliner at The Mann Center, both sold out before the album even released. In the comparatively bigger Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, tickets held out for a little longer, but don’t wait to snag yours. // 8 p.m., $70.48, AA

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Things to Do in Monino, Russia - Monino Attractions

Things to do in monino.

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• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. The Central Air Force Museum

2. Church of St. George

Heaven up Here (Deluxe Edition)

Echo And The Bunnymen

16 SONGS • 1 HOUR AND 4 MINUTES • MAY 30 1981

• TRACKS TRACKS
• DETAILS DETAILS

Echo & the Bunnymen's dark, swirling fusion of gloomy post-punk and Doors-inspired psychedelia is driven by the majestic voice and outsized persona of singer Ian McCulloch and the frequently brilliant guitar work of Will Sergeant. The band started off as an angular post-punk group on their first album, 1980's Crocodiles, but by the time of 1984's Ocean Rain they had become cinematically Baroque. After stripping their sound down to basics for 1987's self-titled album, which produced the deathless hit "Lips Like Sugar," the band ran into problems and experienced tragedy (like the death of drummer Pete de Freitas), but eventually McCulloch and Sergeant cemented a musical bond that cracked but never shattered over the course of a lengthy careers -- leading them to release introspective gems like 1999's What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?, 2014's Meteorites, and 2018's The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon) that illuminated their mysterious, dramatic spark.

The Bunnymen grew out of the Crucial Three, a late-'70s trio featuring vocalist Ian McCulloch, Pete Wylie, and Julian Cope. Cope and Wylie had left the group by the end of 1977, forming the Teardrop Explodes and Wah!, respectively. McCulloch met guitarist Will Sergeant in the summer of 1978 and the pair began recording demos with a drum machine that the duo called "Echo." Adding bassist Les Pattinson, the band made its live debut at the Liverpool club Eric's at the end of 1978, calling itself Echo & the Bunnymen.

In March of 1979, the group released its first single, "Pictures on My Wall"/"Read It in Books," on the local Zoo record label. The single and their popular live performances led to a contract with Korova. After signing the contract, the group discarded the drum machine, adding drummer Pete de Freitas. Released in the summer of 1980, their debut album, Crocodiles, reached number 17 on the U.K. charts. Shine So Hard, an EP released in the fall, became their first record to crack the U.K. Top 40. With the more ambitious and atmospheric Heaven Up Here (1981), the group began to gain momentum, thanks to positive reviews; it became their first U.K. Top Ten album. Two years later, Porcupine appeared, becoming the band's biggest hit (peaking at number two on the U.K. charts) and launching the Top Ten single "The Cutter."

"The Killing Moon" became the group's second Top Ten hit at the beginning of 1984 and the album that followed in May, Ocean Rain, was released to great critical acclaim; peaking at number four in Britain, the record became the Bunnymen's first album to chart in the U.S. Top 100. The following year was a quiet one for the band as they released only one new song, "Bring on the Dancing Horses," which was included on the compilation Songs to Learn & Sing. De Freitas left the band at the start of 1986 and was replaced by former Haircut 100 drummer Mark Fox; by September, de Freitas rejoined the group.

Echo & the Bunnymen returned with new material in the summer of 1987, releasing the single "The Game" and a self-titled album. Echo & the Bunnymen became their biggest American hit, peaking at number 51; it was a success in England as well, reaching number four. However, the album indicated that the group was in a musical holding pattern. At the end of 1988, McCulloch left the band to pursue a solo career; the rest of the band decided to continue without the singer. Tragedy hit the band in the summer of 1989 when de Freitas was killed in an auto accident. McCulloch released his first solo album, Candleland, in the fall of 1989; it peaked at number 18 in the U.K. and number 159 in the U.S. Echo & the Bunnymen released Reverberation, their first album recorded without McCulloch, in 1990; it failed to make the charts. McCulloch released his second solo album, Mysterio, in 1992. Two years later, McCulloch and Sergeant formed Electrafixion, releasing their first album in 1995. In 1997, the duo re-teamed with Pattinson to re-form Echo & the Bunnymen, issuing the LP Evergreen. Two years later, they returned with What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?

The new millennium brought Echo & the Bunnymen back to the basics. The British press touted the band's storybook flair found on 1983's Ocean Rain and figured such spark would be found on their ninth album, Flowers. Issued in spring 2001, it reflected McCulloch's dark vocals and Sergeant's signature hooks. Live in Liverpool, a concert disc capturing the band's two gigs at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts while on tour in support of Flowers, followed a year later. For 2005's Siberia, McCulloch and Sergeant joined producer Hugh Jones for the band's most classic effort since their 1997 comeback. A second proper live album, 2006's Me, I'm All Smiles, captured the Bunnymen's gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire while on tour in support of Siberia. In early 2008, the band announced that they would be releasing their next album, The Fountain, as well as playing a show at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Late 2010 also brought a short run of equally interesting U.K. shows, when the band played both Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here live in their entirety.

For the next few years they continued to remain active on the live circuit, most notably playing as the touring support act for a re-formed James in 2013. They weren't strangers to the studio either, working with producer Youth on their 12th album, Meteorites. The record recaptured the majesty and mystery of much earlier Echo albums and was released in 2014 by 429 Records. It was the first album by the band in many years to crack the U.K. Top 40 album chart, peaking at number 37. The band continued to tour and their success caught the attention of BMG, which offered them a contract. The first fruit of that partnership was 2018's The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon, an album of old classics redone, some with orchestra, some in stripped-down fashion. It also featured two new songs written by McCulloch and Sergeant. The duo played sporadic live shows over the next few years, and in late 2022 embarked on a tour of North America, roughly around the time of a deluxe reissue of Evergreen was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

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