CONCERT REVIEW: Echo & The Bunnymen

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meAVATAR2_1.jpgBY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Ever since Jake Gyllenhaal pedaled his bicycle through the doomed, pre-apocalyptic wastes of suburbia to the portentous strains of “The Killing Moon” in 2001’s Donnie Darko, Echo & the Bunnymen have been on the slow train back to relevance. Judging by the one-third empty house that greeted the band’s performance at the Keswick Theatre Sunday night, the train has yet to arrive at the station, but you could hear it coming around the bend. Running down numbers from their largely excellent back catalog with moody elan and precision, Echo & the Bunnymen – these days reduced to singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant, backed by hired guns – tickled the early ’80s post-punk nostalgia bone of the mostly fortysomething faithful on hand. Ostensibly promoting their latest album, The Fountain, released late last year, the band largely ignored it, opting to spend the bulk of Sunday night’s two-hour set riffling through their back pages, handsomely rendering deep-cut curios like “Villiers Terrace” and “Going Up” with the same verve and aplomb they afforded classics like “The Cutter” and “Do It Clean.” Befitting a band that has always gladly forsaken clarity for atmosphere, the Bunnymen performed their set cloaked in murky near-darkness, with the chain-smoking McCulloch wearing sunglasses for good measure. MORE

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