How many ex-Goths can the Bandstand stand if the ex-Goths stand waiting for a band? Echo & The Bunnymen’s two Kelvingrove dates sharply sold out within the hour, and while there are a lot of dark raincoats pulled back out of the wardrobe thanks to Glasgow’s sometimes infamous outdoor gig weather curse, it does seem weirdly appropriate for a band that would finish the night with the song Ocean Rain.

As well as that accidental G-word crossover, plus their truly own brand of Liverpool Art-Rock and swirling Velvet Underground-fused psychedelia, the Bunnymen have more peers and rivals than they’d likely care to remember or count.

For a band possibly responsible for making early-U2 try harder, and with the main core now being a two-hander of vocalist Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant on guitar, Glasgow loudly sits smiling on the stone seating, pints diluted with drizzle, waiting for two blokes, probably looking to be not very lit well onstage.

Newer fans will have no idea about their history with Julian Cope, Bill Drummond, or the England United football song with the Spice Girls and Ocean Colour Scene (yeah, that happened)…all of that and much more, just Pop trivia footnotes compared with a highly regarded back catalogue going back to 1980.

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Launching loudly into Going Up and then All That Jazz from Crocodiles drops a large hint that tonight’s setlist might strictly be an 80’s set with the big hitters sprinkled in as there’s no new album to promote and hasn’t been since a decade back.

“Glasgow, I’ve no idea why but we always sell tickets here faster than anywhere else but thank you.” Maybe they can hear Mac’s onstage banter down the front better within the shadows, but that’s the only bit we could decipher at the back. His obscure bag of words within a Scouse murmur murkier than the Mersey floats off into the mist. Types of yoga milk? No idea.

Will Sergeant, a self-effacing guitar legend and purveyor (along with John Cale) of Fringegaze, plays at the left side of the stage, thrashing his guitar during Never Stop. Like other Post-Punk guitar heroes such as Keith Levene, John McGeoch, and Geordie Walker, it’s all about getting an unassuming head down and scratching out sounds never heard before.

Over The Wall breaks through the shower, followed by the aching frailty of All My Colours with the repeating “Zimbo…” refrain, the Bunnymen take us into a deep mournful mood, and then we’re suddenly back into blissful summer energy via Seven Seas.

For a band that doesn’t do anthems, when they do, they perfect it. Nothing Last Forever sneakily detours in the middle into Roadhouse Blues by The Doors and Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side.

Somebody is wearing an Electrafixion t-shirt, from McCulloch & Sergeant’s lost mid-90s Bunnymen-in-all-but-name period. Why they don’t throw in something from their underrated album Burned is a mystery, but we’re grateful that they take a pass on 1990’s Mac-free Reverberation.

Glasgow Bandstand

By his own, and possibly correct modesty, McCulloch’s assertion that The Killing Moon is the greatest song ever is quite hard to argue with. Hearts swoon, hands are held, time stands romantically still, and people stop mid-step while going for a refill. Everyone’s wet and yet nobody cares.

We’re playing the ‘Will they/won't they’ game, waiting patiently for the opening sounds of The Cutter from Porcupine. Arriving like a bright burst of moonlight, while this wasn’t their biggest hit, it still stands that it’s one of their tunes to which you can actually dance to.

We leave the Bandstand, t-shirts in hand, envious of anyone with tickets for the 2nd night. Deeply. Envious.