Echo and the Bunnymen and Smooth Jazz at Fillmore

Howdy y’all!

This was a fun show, albeit kind of a crazy flip-floppy kind of show for me.

My drive to these shows is about an hour and a half each way (the things we do for our passions, right?), and along the way, I was able to do some catching up with friends on phone calls, which was nice.

Showing up at the Fillmore, it was already starting to get pretty packed, which was to be expected for a show like this.

I was, however, trying to figure out who the opener actually was for tonight! Echo and the tour have been doing a super fun thing, gathering local jazz musicians for each show, and having them be the openers for the shows!

Our opener was local Minneapolis Jazz musician Nick Bhalla Baker, performing a wonderful set on the piano.

Set center stage, he came on calm and collected, and immediately went into playing some crunchy chords. I have to admit, I was a little peeved at the audience! They did NOT get quiet for Nick, which was unfortunate since these softer piano solo sets usually demand some more attention and readiness. However, despite this, Baker played a wonderful long set, going through a wide range of different jazz pieces, and seemingly just free-forming a lot of it as well. I have a deep fondness for jazz, and especially those who can just bust it out at any time, as it really shows you know your stuff, at least to me.

Baker performed well in front of everyone, and if you get the chance to see him around locally, definitely go! (he also offers lessons!)

Once Baker was done, we all had quite a long wait ahead of us, and I think the original stage time had been pushed back pretty far, it was close to 9:30~ when the band finally took the stage!

However, the crowd was ready and raring when Echo and the Bunnymen finally came on! But, for my part, here’s where it got all flip-floppy! As it turns out, folks, I need to remember to read my email more closely, and not get distracted because turns out, there was no pit access for this show, and I was supposed to only shoot from the crowd! Lo and behold, halfway through the first three songs, production staff comes and pulls me over and reminds me, I apologize profusely and embarrassingly, and make my way towards the crowd, but at this point, the first three songs were wrapping up, so I unfortunately missed a lot of what I could shoot from the crowd!

The actual set itself, though, was very fun. Taking on different live variations on his songs, the energy coming from the Liverpool singer was a lot of fun, and it wasn’t just coming to a show to listen to a prerecorded track with backing vocals or anything like that; they were all solidly performed songs! The only caveat was with that thick Liverpool accent, some things definitely were hard to understand.

“The Cutter” was really fun to finally hear live, especially with the live instruments, but I think the one that got the most draw from the crowd was for sure “Lips Like Sugar”.

Overall, this was a pretty fun show, nothing too crazy and kind of relaxed, but i think the demographic for the show helped out a lot with that too, frankly. I’d personally love next time some sort of acoustic set, honestly!