Gig review: Echo and the Bunnymen,

“LET’S take this f***ing seriously.” If only Ian McCulloch had heeded his own counsel, then this performance of Echo & the Bunnymen’s classic 1984 album Ocean Rain, complete with six-piece string section, might actually have been the powerful celebration it was intended to be.

A mediocre first half of mostly anaemic “greatest hits”, punctuated with a handful of golden oldies which, in turn, were punctuated by the incontinent ramblings of the intoxicated frontman, did not bode well, with a capable band left hanging by McCulloch’s extempore interruptions.

At first, it seemed that Ocean Rain would be handled with more care. A raw version of opening track Silver passed without major incident, while the heady swoon of Nocturnal Me and the coiled intensity of Thorn Of Crowns – songs which shone in comparison with the poor excuses in the first half – were still distinguishable as the work of a band who were at their peak those 27 years ago.

But in the end, McCulloch could not even treat The Killing Moon, the self-styled “greatest song ever written”, with the respect it merited, his thrawn determination to torpedo the performance overshadowing the committed contributions of the musicians.

The simmering impatience of the audience finally boiled over into angry heckles and disappointed walkouts.

It was probably a mercy that McCulloch himself stalked off stage before he had the opportunity to sabotage the album’s poignant, climactic title track.

Instead, he returned after five minutes or so to apologise and have another ill-fated run at The Killing Moon. But with McCulloch now at the maudlin stage, sobbing that he had heard some bad news and berating his right-hand man Will Sergeant for some perceived offence, his behaviour degraded to the point of public meltdown.

“I’m just a comedian at heart,” was one of his more coherent utterances. But that was no excuse to turn this show into a bad joke.

FIONA SHEPHERD