Music / Skyline Series
Review: Echo & The Bunnymen + The Jesus And Mary Chain + Peter Hook, Skyline Series
Expectations are high ahead of the first instalment of Bristol’s new Skyline Series at the Lloyds Amphitheatre.
It’s one of those beautiful buzzing Friday harbourside evenings. Soon three legendary names are set to perform a stones throw away. What could possibly go wrong?
Approaching the big festival stage – moved here because the originally advertised venue of St Philip’s Gate is not yet ready – things are strangely quiet as Peter Hook & The Light rumble through a set of classics early on.
is needed now More than ever
That’s the case in terms of both the sound and the turnout. Each of the artists performing tonight undeniably hold a special place in the history books of alternative music. All can also lay claim to penning a fair few legendary tracks. But on Friday evening it quickly becomes clear they’re just cashing in on a half-hearted nostalgia trip.
The Jesus And Mary Chain’s magical and definitive sound is completely washed out and lost during their set. It’s the second time they’ve been in Bristol in recent years and it’s the second time that they’ve been let down by sound.
It’s hard not to wonder if they’ve completely lost the spark that they once had. While their genre peers like Slowdive have returned with something poignant and relevant, it feels like they’re just doing it to bodge some Academy tickets.
Even the heartfelt and iconic Just Like Honey can’t save them from this mire. People around me talk loudly through it, check their phones and I don’t blame them, it’s dull.
One bored fan seeks entertainment elsewhere
So surely things can only get better for Echo & The Bunnymen, a band who played a brilliant set at the same venue a few years back as part of the Harbour Festival.
The atmosphere does pick-up a little as night turns to day and they call on classics like Bring On The Dancing Horses. Obviously the crowd got treated again to the euphoric moment of The Killing Moon but it comes too late and the damage has been done.
Ultimately the lack-lustre stage presence of both bands seemed to define the night. It feels lazy, it feels obvious and it feels like something of a money maker.
The moral of the story tonight is that some things are better left in the past.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
