I saw Echo and The Bunnymen at the Joy Theater.

May 11, 2024. Day .

I went with Melanie and her friend Anthony to see Echo and The Bunnymen at the Joy Theater on Canal Street. We got there so early that we saw the opening act (a jazzy adult contemporary trio called Tork) and we had great "seats", or stands or whatever you call it at a General Admission show. Except the band went on at least thirty minutes late, leaving us to just stand there while a stagehand tuned the guitars about thirty times. The rumor went around that Ian McCulloch would not play until somebody brought him a milkshake.

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This fan kept moving and not pointing in the right direction so they had to send a stagehand out to adjust it. Mr McCulloch had a lot to say about it but we couldn't understand it.

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Before the show, my friend Melanie (who just moved to town!) told me she's seen Echo and The Bunnymen at least 20 times. She clued me in that: 1, we wouldn't understand a word Ian McCulloch said, and 2. the whole show would be backlit, so we would also never see his face.

Will Sergeant, the original guitarist, sounded great. He plays with a lot of effects and his sound is comparable to The Edge from U2, which makes me wonder what's the difference that has U2 playing the Sphere in Vegas and these lads playing a big movie theater in inconvenient New Orleans. I guess Bono doesn't show up drunk demanding a milkshake.