AFTER 35 years, Echo and the Bunnymen have still got it. And you can't say that about their one-time Crombie-coated rivals, iTunes hijackers U2.
And 2015 has proved something of a turning point for the perennial Liverpool favourites with all the big festival bases covered. V, Willowman, London Calling etc. Then there was a 12th studio album, Meteorites, produced by Youth, which was released this year to worldwide critical acclaim.
Speaking of youth, there was also that unforgettable set at Liverpool’s International Music Festival in the summer, in Sefton Park. Ian McCulloch was in full glorious voice, Will Sergeant was in full glorious twang and a new generation of people, all with full glorious heads of hair, turned on and tuned in, for the first time, to the band's majestic sound
A sell out Liverpool show next Saturday (December 12) was inevitable. But with unprecedented demand for tickets, the Bunnymen have announced a last minute extra date at the same venue, Liverpool's O2 Academy.
The original line up of Mac, Will, Les and PeteVery sadly, original drummer Pete de Freitas and keyboardist Jake Brockman made untimely accidental exits from Planet World are no longer around to see this interstellar power surge in popularity.
As for bassist Les Pattinson, he emigrated to Australia, and one can only hope he doesn't have to roll his eyes to often when having to explain his non-relationship to Barry Humphries.
Hear Rescue, The Killing Moon, Back of Love, The Cutter, Villiers Terrace, to name just a few of their biggies, and all their new stuff.
For as Will Sergearnt once told Liverpool Confidential: "These are some of the best songs ever. Why wouldn't I want to get on a stage and play them?"
*Echo and the Bunnymen, Friday December 11, 2015, O2 Academy, 11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool. Tickets £25.00 available from 9am, Friday December 4 here
