Echo & the Bunnymen played Radio City Music Hall last night and of course i had to go. all in all, i was satisfied. i was feeling full of doubts during the first half. they played a sampling of songs from different albums and some covers, like "people are strange" by the doors and "a walk on the wild side" by lou reed. i wasn't so thrilled about the covers as some of the crowd. but there were some classics that i was pleased to hear live, like "dancing horses" and "cutter".
it was a little odd sitting down while they played what i feel is one of their most rambunctious {and best} songs "all that jazz". my friend commented that it made her feel geriatric to sit while this upbeat danceable music was playing. which brings me to another point, the crowd was surprisingly older than i imagined, and button-down, literally. the dress code for men [way more men to women ratio than i imagined as well] was close cropped hair, light colored oxford shirts and khakis. very few people were under 30. there were pockets of the crowd that looked like happy hour in the financial district. no offense, its just surprising is all. but i thought there would be more savvy young ones. it could have been the price, 60 clams after ticketmaster's filthy fingers take their 10 dollar "got you by the short and curlies" fee from your wallet, eh-hem... sorry, money is a sensitive spot these days, no pun intended.
okay, what made the show worthwhile and then some was the second half. this is where they did the 11 piece orchestra Ocean Rain album thing. the orchestra began and the band rowed out in a little boat just like on the cover of the album! actually the boat part didn't happen. the set was impressive though, the songs "nocturnal me" and "ocean rain" sounded amazing with the lush arrangements they...arranged. and were particularly and comfortably stuck in my head on the way home. the sitting-down aspect started to make sense, it was more than a rock show. the second half made the first half seem like they were just messing around, warming up or waiting for the orchestra to arrive. even so, and even without an encore [yep, crazy right?], it was still worth it for me.
the moral of the story is; i don't know when they're playing around here again, but if they have the orchestra with them, you should go see them before they are completely absorbed into music history.
