06 March 2005

Little did we know



11 January 1988, back to Liverpool for another Bunnymen gig. This time, they're touring on the back of the pretty weak Echo and the Bunnymen album. Songs like Bomber's Bay, while easy on the ear, don't quite cut it with the classics of their catalogue, though Lips Like Sugar kept some of the venom. This time, it was at the Liverpool Empire, my first gig there.

I remember it was me & John B, with Naomi & Lisa. Not sure if there was anyone else sitting with us in the balcony. Certainly Tim H was down in the standing area, and no doubt Fran Eyre and a few others too.

Support was the Primitives, just before they hit it big with Crash. They were getting radio play with songs like Really Stupid, Stop Killing Me and the re-release of the fantastic Thru the Flowers. Cute blonde singer, rocked up jingly pop. They shone for a brief while, then crashed and burned. More about them later in this gig blog.

Then, the Bunnymen. By now, I was more of a fan and knew most of their stuff. Despite the new album, there was still a lot of the older stuff. The set-list was:

Rescue
Heaven Up Here
With A Hip
Bombers Bay
All I Want
Back Of Love
Crocodiles
Zimbo
Seven Seas
Bedbugs & Ballyhoo
The Cutter
Show Of Strength
New Direction
Lips Like Sugar
Over Your Shoulder
Thorn Of Crowns
Do It Clean
All That Jazz
Twist & Shout

Over Your Shoulder was only played rarely and sounded heavily influenced by the Jesus & Mary Chain. I always loved the song, which was a B-side to Bring on the Dancing Horses (along with Bedbugs & Ballyhoo). And Twist & Shout was highly appropriate back home. 60 minutes of the show was broadcast on Radio 1 a few weeks later. We reckoned John's whistles were on the tape :)

After this show, the band played in Glasgow, then headed off to the US for a few shows. Then Mac left. The rest of the band had a meeting, but on the way, Pete de Freitas was tragically killed in a road accident. So, this was the last ever show in Liverpool of the classic Bunnymen line up. They'd return many years later, after pursuing different paths, but it would never quite be the same again.

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2 Comments:

Blogger roverinexile said...

Look out for a FLAC of the Primitives set on Dime once I sort out the technicals.

29/03/2008, 00:04  
Blogger roverinexile said...

Primitives set now up at:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=190236&hit=1

29/03/2008, 19:55  

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