Echo & The Bunnymen at the Engine Rooms

If you have spent any time around a record shop or a decent playlist over the last few decades, the name Echo & The Bunnymen is hard to ignore. The Liverpool band, formed in 1978, built a sound that sat somewhere between post-punk, gothic and psychedelic rock, and they are bringing it to Southampton on Thursday 12 November, playing at the Engine Rooms. It is the kind of gig that pulls from a deep catalogue, so it is worth knowing what you are walking into before you commit.

The setlist is where the real draw lies. The band is best known for tracks like 'The Killing Moon', 'The Cutter', 'Here Comes the Night' and 'Bring On the Dancing Horses', and those are the songs that have kept their name going long after the post-punk era faded. 'The Cutter' and the album Porcupine, released in February 1983, both reached number two in the UK, and Ocean Rain, which came out in August 1984, peaked at number four and is still widely regarded as their finest work. Beyond those, there is a long line of albums to pull from, from the early Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here through to the later records like Siberia, The Fountain and The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon. Their most recent studio album, Apples for Isaac, arrived only a month ago, on 18 September, so there is new material in the mix alongside the old.

It is also worth a nod to the people behind the music. The original line-up was vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant, bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Pete de Freitas, who joined in 1980, and McCulloch left the band in 1988. Since then, McCulloch and Sergeant have kept busy elsewhere, collaborating on soundtracks for Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why: Season 2 and Donnie Darko, and this year McCulloch has worked as a producer on Hit That Perfect Beat: The London Records Story and appeared on Dark Rock Classics and Brussels Is Haunted.

As for the venue, the Engine Rooms sits on the West Quay Road Industrial Estate and bills itself as the largest independent grassroots music and entertainment venue on the South Coast. It holds 1,000 at capacity, though it can be scaled down to anywhere from 400 to 800 depending on the night, so it is a room that reads the room well. A few practical things are worth knowing before you head down: the venue is accessible for people with reduced mobility, with disabled toilets and ground-level parking. For 18+ or post-21:00 concerts, you will need 100% physical ID, so a passport or driving licence is the safe bet. Live concerts have a minimum age of 14+, with under-16s needing to be accompanied by an adult over 18, and there is an early curfew for under-16s, while late-curfew club nights are strictly 18+ with ID. It is a straightforward set of rules, so as long as you have your ID and your plans sorted, the focus stays on the music. With a new album fresh out and the classics still doing the heavy lifting, it is a solid night for anyone who has ever had The Killing Moon on repeat.