Echo & The Bunnymen - Houston 2018

Echo & the Bunnymen brought their atmospheric post-punk sound to Houston's Revention Music Center on July 14, 2018. The concert came during the band's North American tour supporting The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon, an album that revisited some of their classic material while adding a handful of newer songs.

For longtime fans, the Houston show was a chance to hear one of the defining British alternative bands of the 1980s in a relatively intimate setting. Ian McCulloch remained the unmistakable focal point, while Will Sergeant's guitar work supplied the dramatic textures that have always separated Echo & the Bunnymen from more conventional rock bands.

The set opened with “Lips Like Sugar,” immediately giving the Houston audience one of the band's biggest songs. “Bring On the Dancing Horses,” “Rescue,” and “All That Jazz” followed, creating an impressive early run through the group's catalog.

Things became even more interesting with “Villiers Terrace,” which included snippets of The Doors' “Roadhouse Blues” and David Bowie's “The Jean Genie.” The band continued with “The Somnambulist,” “All My Colours (Zimbo),” and “Rust,” keeping the set focused heavily on the darker and more atmospheric side of their music.

“Nothing Lasts Forever” provided one of the night's most recognizable moments, with McCulloch incorporating a snippet of Lou Reed's “Walk on the Wild Side.” “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo,” “Seven Seas,” and “Never Stop” kept the momentum going before the band reached two of its signature songs, “The Killing Moon” and “The Cutter.”

The encore was brief but perfectly chosen. Echo & the Bunnymen returned for “Ocean Rain,” giving the Houston audience a dramatic closing moment and ending the night with the title track from one of their most acclaimed albums.

What made the Revention show work was the balance between nostalgia and genuine performance. Echo & the Bunnymen had plenty of classic material to draw from, but the concert never felt like a simple greatest-hits exercise. Sergeant's guitar and McCulloch's distinctive voice gave the songs the atmospheric quality that made them so influential in the first place.

The Houston performance was also part of a busy stretch of the band's 2018 tour, coming just one night after an Austin appearance and two days after San Antonio. For fans at Revention Music Center, it was a chance to experience Echo & the Bunnymen doing what they have always done best: turning moody, melodic post-punk into something grand, dramatic, and completely distinctive.