Last night at Chicago’s Metro, fans of Echo and the Bunnymen showed up for some nostalgia and found it laced with sugar kisses. Those of us over 30 were transported back in time, to when we’d lie on the floor and listen to the cracks and pops from the vinyl on the turntable, all while staring at the album cover and reading the dust jacket. The mellow, lilting songs sweep us back to that era of teen angst and despair or college days of drunken parties and hooking up. I have a vague memory of seeing one of the Echo and the Bunnymen videos in the upstairs video room at Medusa’s way back when… hearing the UK act in concert brought me right back there. Given that both floors of the venue were packed to near-capacity, I don’t think I was alone, either.

Taking the stage, frontman Ian McCulloch announced it was “nice to be back” (which is somewhat funny given last year’s run-in with the IRS) and took us on a journey through most of their 11 albums, highlighting the band’s latest effort, The Fountain. The mellow songs garnered little more than slow head bobs throughout most of the set, but the die-hard sprinkled amongst the crowd thrusted energized fist pumps into the air along with Stephen Brannan’s thick basslines. Bundled up in a thick black pea-coat and from behind a pair of shades, McCulloch stayed true to his character, belting out songs in between drags on cigarettes, which he then carelessly flicked on the stage. (Let’s just say the smokers in the crowd weren’t too happy.) He spoke to the audience between each song, but his thick accent left many perplexed at his incoherent mumbling. However, McCulloch maintained complete control of the pacing of the night and at times deviated from the setlist, ad-libbing with songs and lyrics, poems and jokes. Additionally, the band played covers of other songs, including a nod to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” which fit in with the trademark fan favorites: “The Killing Moon”, “The Cutter”, and “Lips Like Sugar”.

Echo and the Bunnymen first got their start in 1978 and though time has taken us many places since then, it’s nice to know that sometimes we still get the opportunity to relive our youth. Music has a way of transporting us through time in a way that little else can. McCullough’s voice exhibits the wear of time, and was a little raspy in his performance, but, as he says himself: “Nothing Lasts Forever”.

Photography by Brad Bretz.