Echo and the Bunnymen have announced the dates of their 2021 UK tour. Tickets are available to purchase from the 26th June 2020 for the 16-show expedition, which starts on the 7th May 2021 at Sheffield City Hall. The tour celebrates their album Crocodiles, which was released over 40 years ago.
Front-man Ian McCulloch has expressed his excitement at the announcement. The singer enthused, in an interview with the NME, that he could not wait to play their ‘magical songs‘ to their ‘brilliant fans‘. The tour includes dates at many iconic venues such as the The Roundhouse in London (12th May) and The Albert Hall in Manchester (31st May), as well as a homecoming show at the Liverpool Philharmonic (10th May). McCulloch emphasised that he wanted to ‘be out there with the band‘, on ‘all those stages in all those cities and towns‘, in order to make ‘lives happier‘.
Crocodiles, released in 1980, was Echo and the Bunnymen’s first album. It earned the band critical acclaim and commercial success, peaking at 17th in the UK album charts. The record contorts around themes of loneliness and despair, which mirrored a British society mired in a post-war unemployment high. McCulloch reflected this sentiment in the album’s headline track, Rescue, in which he admitted to being ‘jumbled up‘ and to feeling that things were ‘wrong‘. The British Phonographic Industry awarded a gold disc to the band in 1984 after the album sold 100,000 units.
McCulloch’s haunting vocals, coupled with the skull-shattering drums of Pete de Freitas, converted the band into central figures of the post punk renaissance, following the success of their debut. The post punk movement aimed to maintain the independence of punk rock, whilst moving beyond it’s raw sound by experimenting with different genres. It was Echo and the Bunnymen’s alternative tracks and subsequent position within this movement that framed their future achievements.
Their third and fourth albums, Porcupine (1983) and Ocean Rain (1984), increased their fame further and included the top-10 singles The Cutter and The Killing Moon. The band, having split-up in 1993 but reforming in 1996, continue to create and perform. They released their most recent album, named The Stars The Oceans and The Moon in 2018, and in 2019 they opened for The Doves at the Gunnersville festival. Their work stalks modern popular culture and has recently been heard in TV shows such as 13 Reasons Why, Stranger Things and MisFits.
Echo and the Bunnymen boast a devout cult following and a sound coated in formative experimental rebellion. McCulloch’s eagerness to pay tribute to the record that kick-started a snarling 40 year musical journey ensures a string of shows that will drip in nostalgia, and serve as a reminder of the band’s existential talent.
Tour Dates:
07/05/2021 – Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield.
08/05 – Birmingham O2 Academy, Birmingham.
10/05 – Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool.
12/05 -London Roundhouse, London.
14/05 – Cambridge Corn Exchange, Cambridge.
15/05 – Norwich UEA, Norwich.
16/05 – Northampton Derngate, Northampton.
18/05 – Leeds O2 Academy, Leeds.
19/05 – Bristol O2 Academy, Bristol.
21/05 – Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill On Sea.
22/05 – Bournemouth O2 Academy, Bournemouth.
23/05 – Cardiff St David’s Hall, Cardiff.
25/05 – Glasgow Barrowland, Glasgow.
26/05– Gateshead Sage, Gateshead.
28/05 – Nottingham Rock City, Nottingham.
31/05 – Manchester Albert Hall, Manchester.
