‘I’m going to write to my MP!’
‘But you haven’t got an MP, Rick, you’re an anarchist!’
‘Ah, right… Then I shall write to the lead singer of Echo & the Bunnymen…! DEAR MR ECHO!’
(The Young Ones, 1984)
Echo & the Bunnymen are one of Britain’s most influential and celebrated bands, achieving massive success in the 1980s with their brand of neo-psychedelic, gothic, new wave alternative rock. Hailing, as many of the greats do, from Liverpool, they’ve been cited by bands such as Coldplay, The Killers and The Flaming Lips as one of the founders of modern indie rock.
In March of the new year, they will tour the UK, including a Sheffield date on Tuesday 19th March, playing Sheffield City Hall. Billed the ‘Songs to Sing & Learn Tour’, the band will be playing all of their big hits, described as a ‘celebration of the songs that have brought the band twenty Top 20 tracks and nine Top 20 albums so far during their incredible 40+ year career’ – an exciting prospect to say the least, considering the vast amount of material the band has to work with, from their early post-punk albums Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here, to their mid-‘80s masterpieces Porcupine and Ocean Rain, to their latest record, 2018’s The Stars, the Ocean and the Moon.
No doubt, we can look forward to a rendition of their signature song – and one of the best songs ever written – the 1984 gothic rock magnum opus ‘The Killing Moon’. If you haven’t heard this song before, I implore you to Spotify or YouTube it immediately and have your mind blown – it is simply incredible. You may know it as the opening song from the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko.
Recently, Echo & the Bunnymen had a tour of sold-out shows featuring the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, recreating their album Ocean Rain. This is a truly legendary band with a great portfolio of work, so this is a tour you definitely shouldn’t miss.
Tickets for Echo & the Bunnymen’s upcoming tour are available at https://gigst.rs/EATB2024 and at Ticketmaster.
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