It wasn't the warm Bristol welcome Echo & The Bunnymen expected. More than half an hour later than scheduled, the legendary indie band arrived on stage to fans booing rather than cheering.
But then fans of this iconic Liverpool band have always had a testy relationship with the swaggering, self-aggrandising frontman Ian McCulloch. The last time the Bunnymen played Bristol four years ago, it was headlining the Lloyd's Amphitheatre on the Harbourside.
It was a scrappy performance and the worst I had seen them in 40 years. I probably wasn’t the only longstanding fan to say I wouldn’t be rushing out to see them again but here we were again.
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Halfway through last night’s set, once McCulloch had got the fans back on his side, he apologised for the Harbourside gig and said they should stick to venues like 02 Academy ‘rather than mini-festivals by the harbour’. At least the audience agreed with that sentiment.
It seemed to do the trick and fans were soon joining in mass singalongs of classic Bunnymen songs spanning 40 years. Dressed in his ever-permanent sunglasses and trademark long overcoat, the 62-year-old frontman was swathed in dry ice for much of the 100-minute performance.
From the original line-up, it’s now just McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant backed by session musicians and its only the two main men who get the spotlight, with the rest of the band unlit at the back. McCulloch and Sergeant didn’t speak to each other once throughout the show - after more than 40 years, the chemistry may have gone - but like an old married couple, they know each other so well, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. They just get on with the job at hand.
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This was still a patchy performance at times. There was a plodding version of Bedbugs and Ballyhoo, and Bring on The Dancing Horses strayed dangerously close to karaoke as McCulloch encouraged the crowd to sing more than him.
Things were soon firmly back on track for early career gems like Over The Wall, Rescue and All My Colours (Zimbo).
New song Brussels is Haunted was well received, as were crowdpleasers Lips Like Sugar and Nothing Lasts Forever which morphed into a decent rendition of Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side.
But it was a blistering encore of The Cutter and The Killing Moon - still their best-loved songs - that reminded die-hard fans why they still bother to come out on a stormy night to see the Bunnymen.
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And that wasn’t all. The lights went up and many fans left the building by the time the band returned for an unexpected second encore of Ocean Rain, playing to a half-empty room.
Perhaps the band felt guilty for arriving late and for that dreadful Harbourside gig and this was their way of an apology? Whatever it was, it worked.
‘They are the Harry Kane of pop, mate,’ said one fan on the way out. ‘One minute they’re dire, the next they’re brilliant - the most frustrating band around’. I couldn’t agree more.
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