Liverpool’s fabulous Sefton Park - one of Liverpool’s many grand Victorian parks - has seen some brilliant music events over the years (and still does). During the 1980s we had an annual festival of local music called Larks in the Park but there were also some higher profile events organised for TV cameras, like this appearance by the Bunnymen under the “Pop Carnival” banner.
Non-Scousers might remember Sefton Park from the TV series Boys From The Black Stuff. In one scene, Yosser Hughes ends up in the lake. The park also has a bandstand, which made it ideal for music. Between the bandstand and the grassy bank where the audience gathered is more water. This explains the last line of the review.
Bunnies have a lark in the park
Melody Maker, September 4, 1982
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Sefton Park, Liverpool
ECHO & The Bunnymen played free to thousands of fans in a delightfully low-key concert in a delightful setting, and in their hometown.
The performance was for the benefit of the BBC's in Concert cameras, but the event itself was a benefit to the community and, with the BBC presentation of Bow Wow Wow the following night, a welcome and exciting prelude to the annual "Larks In The Park" festival over the weekend: three afternoons of local music for the Bank Holiday.
Fresh air seemed to give the band an added freshness. I'd often found them turgid and heavy in the past, but on this occasion they played with authority and power. Angst requires a more claustrophobic setting, passion more intimacy.
Instead, the band gave clean-cut edges for a cloudless sky, which changed its tone as we watched, and the band changed theirs accordingly.
The first songs were thoughtful, uncluttered, twilight songs. "All That Jazz" followed by "A Promise" had a purity of texture that matched the clarity of the air.
Intensity increased with the darkness, from pensive to aggressive to the epic, gaining in fierceness what it lost in subtlety, but changing continually.
The occasion had all the advantages of an outdoor concert with none of the disadvantages of a festival, and the early evening timespan was just enough for enjoyment without any of the excesses or inconvenience.
It was a special occasion but it felt informal. The musicians seemed comfortable though the music itself was never casual.
New songs (enhanced by electric violin) took their place next to the old and only at the end under cover of darkness did any kind of ritual take over, with the concessionary encore of "Over The Wall".
It was a splendid celebration for the end of summer. It didn't even rain. But, of course, the most enthusiastic of the audience still managed to get very wet.
Watch the video
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Have always love the Bunnymen - saw them at Wembley years ago when their 5th album came out and I loved it - but I’d always wish I’d seen them in the early days - a ‘Heaven up here’ gig would have been incredible ... When I first went to college - just escaped from home - the first thing I did was go to the hairdresser and ask them to cut my hair like Ian McCulloch ... which it of course it looked nothing like - damn how sad 😂