Cloaca Melodia

Bailey Hall, Ithaca, NY I'm pretty sure someone invited me to go to this show, but I have no clue now who. I wasn't particularly a fan, so I don't know why I would have gone except at the suggestion or invitation of someone else. But I recall it being a good performance.

The Haunt, Ithaca, NY sorry, I haven't yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

The Haunt, Ithaca, NY My college radio colleague Mike Stuto and I were trying to start a live, on-location concert series at our station, WICB. For several shows, we lugged an Otari 2-track reel-to-reel recorder down to The Haunt in downtown Ithaca and recorded the band's performance with a pair of microphones. The project didn't really last very long, however; the only bands I recall recording were Canada's The Grapes of Wrath, the Texas band Wild Seeds, and this one. As pretty much fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants college radio types, we didn't contact anyone from the band or their label in advance to clear making these recordings. We would just show up early at the venue and ask the band and their tour manager if it was OK. I remember having to wait a while for the band to complete their soundcheck before I could ask them if it was OK to, essentially, bootleg their show for the local college radio station. It was a hot Ithaca summer afternoon, and I was sitting on the...

The Haunt, Ithaca, NY Finally found the correct date for this show: March 22, 1988. Unfortunately, I don't recall too much about the actual show.

The Haunt, Ithaca, NY Somewhere I have a tape of this show. I'll add more about it after I locate that tape! ...add your own comments if you were also there!

Bailey Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY I first heard Echo & The Bunnymen on record when I got to college and stated working at WICB in the fall of 1984. I fell in love with the 1983 Porcupine LP, especially the two lead-off tracks, "The Cutter" and "The Back of Love." Oh, and the live version of "Do It Clean," on which frontman Ian McCulloch starts singing The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" during an instrumental break that DJ John Webber would often play on his "Radio Wave" show. This was my first opportunity to seeing Echo live. My strongest memory of the show is a brief but powerful moment halfway through the concert. McCulloch was smoking cigarettes on and off throughout the show. While he was in the middle of singing one song, he stuck his arm out behind him and to his left, fingers dangling down. A stagehand crept swiftly out from the wing and tucked a lit cigarette into his fingers. And without even a glance behi...