Echo and the Bunnymen @ Royal Albert Hall 16.09.08

Maybe they’ll be a support or maybe they’ll pad it out with some orchestral interludes or audience jibing. But they don’t disappoint by playing an introductory set from their fantastic back catalogue, gliding through classics such as All That Jazz, The Cutter and Lips Like Sugar with the grace of a swan. A sea of bald heads bobbing up and down over excitedly fills the standing area whilst boxes see suits and (army) boots clinking glasses together.

During a short interval to allow time for Mac to put on a big coat, big screens show old cinefilm of the four Bunnymen on a loop featuring their trip to Iceland 25 years ago, fresh faced with sparking eyes, the film is mesmerizing.

After the break the band parade on all newly suited (and Mac in his big coat) and the orchestra take their place at the top of the stage causing the middle aged men to wolf whistle like they’ve never seen a lady with anything between her legs before.

From the first track of Silver you can hear how Ocean Rain is meant to sound, harmonizing perfectly with the Orchestra. Pictures of the band begin to rotate on the screens and when a still of drummer, the late Pete De Freitas appears the crowd raise their hands and cheer. Mac in his gruff scouse voice declares Killing Moon as the best song ever written and in that moment when he sings it, it is.

During Thorn of Crowns, Mac pauses his singing to tell the crew at the back, that it needs to be dark, “as in the opposite of light”, and as the song builds up to its shower of pounding drums, chaotic violins and Will Sergeants guitar, lights explode and the audience knows he’s right; tingles down the spine are felt en mass. The climax of the evening comes to a close with title track Ocean Rain, which has always sounded subdued but tonight sounds magnificent and as Mac sings like a lullaby, “Screaming from beneath the waves”, there is the desire to drown in this magical sea.