Emerging from the post-punk shadows of late 70s Liverpool, Echo & the Bunnymen are among the city’s most celebrated cult-heroes. After fist forming in 1977, they made a dent in the UK Top 20 with their 1980 debut album, Crocodiles; and their 1983 follow-up, Porcupine made it to number two on the album charts with the hit single “The Cutter.” But it was the lead single from, 1984’s Ocean Rain, “The Killing Moon” that would confirm their place forever in the music history archives.
Anyone lucky enough (as I have been) to see the track performed live can attest to it being a transformative experience. The haunting tremolo guitars are pulsing and disorienting, matched with Ian McCulloch’s cryptic poetry, it lingers like an open question. Echo & the Bunnymen were at the peak of their career when they arrived for a hometown show at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall in 1984, and surely the highlight of the night was this velvety performance of their biggest single. Watch below.
Echo & The Bunnymen | “The Killing Moon” [Live in Liverpool, 1984]
Just a few years later, the band would face a difficult decade with singer, Ian McCulloch leaving to pursue a solo career in 1988 (returning to the fold in 1996); and in 1989, drummer Pete de Freitas was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. But at this moment, they were golden.
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