Rolling back the years in a captivating style, Liverpool’s ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN embarked on a UK tour to offer fans a variety of their greatest hits and beloved anthems to packed venues throughout the nation as their compilation album ‘Songs to Learn & Sing‘ approaches its 40th anniversary, with a stop in the steel city of Sheffield kicking off the second half of the tour.

Once the lights began to fade, the audience cheered wildly, echoing throughout the room. As the band made an eerie entrance, they were greeted with a thunderous ovation, especially when leader Ian McCulloch took centre stage. The Mersey icons opened with ‘Going Up‘ to maintain the eerie mood whilst ‘All That Jazz‘ takes the complete opposite approach with its lively speed to get the venue warmed up.

The audience began to sway from side to side as the more subdued ‘Flowers‘ gained momentum, and as the famous intro for ‘Rescue‘ started, it soon attracted folk to get out of their seats and dancing just as if it were 1980 again. As they kept adding treasures to the set, it gave the audience something to chew over during the break, as they ended the first part of the evening with the delightful and euphoric ‘Bring on the Dancing Horses‘.

The venue began for business just before the Bunnymen made their triumphant return. Frontman Ian McCulloch urged the Sheffield audience to stand throughout this portion of the performance; his directions were promptly obeyed and created the right kind of mood for the band. ‘Seven Seas‘ had everyone in the room dancing, including those on the balcony but unfortunately, the evening was halted short by a moment of audience unrest involving Ian, but things quickly returned to normal when the gentleman and his group were swiftly removed from the venue.

‘The Killing Moon‘ received huge cheers from everyone and perfectly set up the band’s famous hymn ‘The Cutter‘ for the show’s climax. The band returned once more for an encore, which came in the form of ‘Lips Like Sugar‘, captivating a gem of a performance showcasing that ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN are still going strong over forty years later.