No one ever joined a rock band because they didn’t want to be recognised. Being adored matters to stars, sometimes too much, but that only makes those who love them care even more. That could be heard in the cries of ‘We love you, Mac!’ at a glorious night in Regent’s Park. Echo & The Bunnymen’s singer Ian McCulloch – who was once famous for pronouncing on how much better his band was than any other – has not had an easy time of it in recent years. Unlike his peers in the Cure and U2, he’s not playing to 50,000 people at a time, though his band were regarded as every bit their equals – perhaps their betters – in the early 1980s.
Over 17 songs, McCulloch got what he needed: proof that he was still a rock star
Fans had in fact noted that McCulloch had recently been physically incapable of performing onstage. He’d appear slumped in a chair and let the crowd do all the singing – to say he likes a drink would be very much an understatement (almost all of a recent round of press interviews were conducted over several pints in favoured Liverpool pubs). But from apparent disaster he has pulled a victory.
The new Bunnymen album, Apples for Isaac – the first in more than a decade – was not only surprisingly good, but actually good. And the show last week was wonderful. We call them Bunnymen but it’s really just McCulloch, four hired hands who stood in the shadows and guitarist Will Sergeant, who played on only four songs and didn’t write any of them. So it was McCulloch’s show to throw away.
It must be said that his between-songs chatter was far too long and often incomprehensible. But his singing was good enough – though a lifetime of smoking and drinking have worn away his croon – and he has a catalogue worth wielding. Obviously the oldies were what roused the audience – ‘The Cutter’, ‘Seven Seas’, ‘The Killing Moon’ – but the three new songs, ‘Brussels Is Haunted’, ‘An Unstoppable Force’, and especially the unexpected motorik glam of ‘Lab Rats Ran’ stood proudly alongside them. Over 17 songs, McCulloch got what he needed: proof that he was still a rock star.
The Gen Zers at the Roundhouse couldn’t have been more excited for Good Kid. It was febrile. But I couldn’t help wondering whether either band or audience would care about each other in 40 years. They’re a Toronto quintet, playing jittery punky pop – like the Strokes if they were wholesome – and the crowd sang everything back at them at full volume.
Playing in a band appears to be just content creation for them. The gig was streamed live on Twitch, with the chat thread scrolling on a screen onstage, and before they went on, two members interviewed fans in the front row with a camera crew. Those fans had been won from Reddit and the gaming communities, rather than through radio and touring; this is the first truly digitally native rock band: all of them work in tech.
Good Kid is the first truly digitally native rock band: all of them work in tech
They even look like video-game characters – all in different primary colours, leaping around. They also resemble the Australian children’s entertainers the Wiggles (their manner onstage is very kindergarten teacher). It looked like an impersonation of a rock band but then I grew up in a different age.
My irritation with them turned to rage on getting home and doing some Googling. Good Kid’s singer Nick Frosst doesn’t just work in tech, he’s a bona-fide tech bro. He co-founded an AI company called Cohere, which is apparently valued at $7 billion. Setting aside my chippiness about very-high-net-worth individuals, all I could think of was: why is he doing this? What visceral need is there in him to prove himself? I couldn’t find an answer. I don’t think rock music needs be the sole preserve of the outsider, but I’m just not sure I want it in the hands of people who want to control the way we think.
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