Ian McCulloch (Photo courtesy Echo & The Bunnymen)
Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant are bringing Echo & The Bunnymen back to DC in a sold-out show at the 9:30 Club on Friday, Sept. 9! To celebrate, Parklife DC is throwing a little new wave party that we are calling Careless Memories: A Salute to Psych, where we will play a lot of the neo-psychedelic jams that gave classic new wave a hazy electronic edge.
I invite you to join our party, which will be held at Dodge City on Thursday, Sept. 8 (right around the corner from the 9:30 Club on the night before The Bunnymen perform)! You can RSVP on Facebook or show up — admission is free.
But wait! To take the celebration to the next level, we are giving away a pair of tickets to the sold-out Bunnymen concert! Now, that’s smart thinking! Ian would be proud.
Echo & The Bunnymen have a relatively new album, Meteorites, but we will revisit a lot of their classic catalog, including perhaps “the greatest song of all time” — “The Killing Moon!”
And how can we disagree? As Ian told Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s: “I’ve said a lot of times that it’s the greatest song ever written, and the reason it is, is that it’s more than a song. It’s way beyond being a song. It’s about everything. It’s not about football or fucking celery, but it’s about most other things.”
Watch the official music video for “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWz0JC7afNQ]
Okay, I digress. Parklife DC is giving away a pair of tickets to Echo & The Bunnymen’s sold-out 9:30 Club show! To win, simply leave a comment on this blog. When you leave a comment, tell us your favorite Echo & The Bunnymen song and share the brilliance of Ian McCulloch!
For the rules of this giveaway–
Comments will be closed at 5pm on Thursday and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner. We will email you instructions on claiming your ticket. Good luck!
Tickets are otherwise currently sold out!
Echo & The Bunnymen
9:30 Club
Friday, Sept. 9
Doors @8pm
Sold out
All ages
And come see us the night before The Bunnymen at Dodge City!
Careless Memories: A Salute to Psych
Dodge City
Thursday, Sept. 8
Show @8pm
Free admission
21+
Favorite Echo and the Bunnymen track is “Read It in Books” — the original single version which was recorded with a drum machine called Echo (it’s far superior to the version on their debut album).
I LOVE so many Echo and the Bunnymen songs that it’s nearly impossible to state just one. I love the creepiness of “People Are Strange”. I love “Lips Like Sugar” because it reminds me of an old flame. I love “Bring On the Dancing Horses” because it takes me back to my younger days. I love “The Killing Moon” because it’s such a GREAT song. I could go on and on… And what should I say about Ian? He’s the asshole everyone loves because he’s just so damn brilliant!
While “Paint It Black” is an awesome cover I still have to go with “Bring On The Dancing Horses”.
I think it has to be “The Killing Moon.” It always reminds me of sneaking into my older brother’s bedroom when I was a kid so I could listen to his music. He played this song on repeat!
The Killing Moon has always been my favorite song by Echo and the Bunnymen!! I always loved the melody of “The Cutter” too! The Killing Moon always takes me back to the days when my sister was in college at Virginia Commonwealth University always bringing home amazing records for me to listen to. Her best friend was a DJ there. I was only 12 at the time!
The Back of Love!
Lips like Sugar is my favorite Echo & the Bunnymen song because it sounds so cool….
“Rescue” hands down.
Mine is “Bring on the Dancing Horses” with it’s poetic words and hypnotic sounds. Sometimes you just have come up with your own interpretation of this song although for me it was something more spiritual when I first heard it at the age of 15.
While ‘ocean rain’… (the entire album) was on continuous play for months, i cannot pick a single favorite from that album bcs i love so many… therefore, i will say ‘Villiers terrace’, the john peel version. Raw biting and driven. Mind blowing, bcs i so wanted to be able to see and experience the happening.
I’m a fan of early percussive tracks like “In Bluer Skies.” I love the seamless weaving of the ocean sample, chimes, clapping, warm synth and varied guitar tones. Something to dance to despite the dark subject matter…
Side two of Heaven Up Here is awesome. “No Dark Things” and “Turqouise Days” back-to-back was handy on a cassette tape in high school (always rewinding)! It is hard to pick a fave but “No Dark Things” always puts me in that early 80s, rainy day in Liverpool mood.
It’s going to be ‘The Cutter’, closely followed by ‘Villiers Terrace’.
The Cutter. I get chills every time I hear it.
I don’t wanna choose! But ok, fine…”Crocodiles”
Lips Like Sugar. Completely infectious.
As Echo & The Bunnymen are my all-time favorite band, trying to pick a favorite song of theirs is like trying to determine which of your children (or in my case, pets…) is your favorite… But for the sake of this contest, I’ll go with:
“NEVER STOP”
(I’m partial to the Live At Royal Albert Hall (1984) version featuring the unbelievable bongos and strings…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAP7B8ltO5M )
Clearly it’s gotta be “The Killing Moon.” I mean…clearly. Not only is it brilliant piece of music, but with those equally brilliant lyrics, it becomes a sheer masterpiece of a song. A song that evokes so many emotional twists and turns, stirs the senses and could inspire even the lifeless with its eerie melody and that ever-haunting refrain. Yes, it’s just that powerful.
I mean, the man who wrote it even attests to the fact. McCulloch once told Uncut magazine, “You don’t need to read The Bible, you can listen to ‘The Killing Moon’ and get as much out of it. It’s the greatest song ever written.”
‘Nuff said.
I feel cliche for saying The Killing Moon, but isn’t it such a nostalgic, emotive song? Ian McCulloch is a tender, bard-like lyricist, and he’s charmed every person that I’ve introduced to Echo & The Bunnymen. P.S. I hope it’s not too late to enter the giveaway! I completely missed out and I regret it