Echobelly's Dark Therapy

Gig Reports

London Astoria 4/12/97 - By Richard Swift After a two year wait since there last gig in London we finally got to
see our favourite band back on the stage, and it was well worth the
wait. They were fantastic, and can definitely still be called one of
the best live bands around. It was great to hear some of the new songs
being performed as well as the old classics. The new boy, Julian,
played his heart out, and is proving to be very capable of filling the
space vacated be Debbie. Sonya's singing was amazing and especially on
the accoustic version of Bleed, and it's great to see that she's over
last year's illness. All in all, top stuff, well worth the bruised ribs
I suffered being crushed against the barrier at the front.

London Astoria 4/12/97 - By Eris Postel Less than 24 hours after leaving Madison Wisconsin, tonight I found myself
planted in the first row, directly in front of Glenn's stack of Fender amps
at Echobelly's sold out London Astoria concert. (The world may not be flat
but it sure is shrinking).

The concert was of course excellent. Set list was:

Bulldog Baby
I'm Not a Saint
Insomnia
Natural Animal
Here Comes the Big
Lustra
Today Tomorrow
World Is Flat
Iris Art
Bleed (acoustic)
Angel B
Great Things
King of the Kerb
Dark Therapy

Encore:
Give Her a Gun
Bellyache

The band hit the stage at 9:40 and was done at 10:55, five minutes before
the curfew. The band played well. Sonya slightly bobbled the lyrics in
Dark Therapy for a moment but that was about it. There were a couple of
dozen of people who "surfed" over the barrier and one genial guard in
particular was busy lifting them over. At one point Sonya asked "What is
this .. aerobics?" and then told the guy he had "nice buns" (he must have
weighed at least 200 pounds and was very strong). Sonya said it "has been
too damned long" since they played London. Near the end, she said that
while London crowds are usually hard to please the crowd had been great and
made the band feel very welcome.

The new bass player was fine but stayed in the background much more than
Debbie. The rhythm guitarist, Julian, seemed to superfulous to me except
that it enables Glenn to add a few more fills and leads. Notwithstanding
that, Glenn only added small bits of lead and in fact his lead in Dark
Therapy was shorter than when I saw the band about 18 months ago.

I still remain unimpessed with Echobelly's management. After such a long
absence, the set tonight seemed way too short. Given the curfew, the band
had little choice but management could have gone with one opener instead of
two and that would have given more time for Echobelly to play.

The crew and Julian are leaving after the show for Cardiff. Glenn and
Sonya are leaving London at noon tomorrow for Cardiff. There are some sort
of promo "meet & greets" scheduled in Cardiff at 3-3:30 and 5-6:15 but I
do not know where.

Echobelly is giving out cards which enable one to sign up on their mailing
list but half the card is also a picture of the band and record. I took a
whole bunch for all of you. Anybody who wants one, please send me an Email
with your mailing address on it. Please put "Echobelly card" in the
subject line as I get more than 100 Emails a day. I will mail them out in
about one week.

All in all, another wonderful Echobelly gig. Go see 'em!

Portsmouth Pyramids 2/12/97 - By Darren Cook Echobelly played Portsmouth Pyramids last night, and were absolutely
excellent. They did an accoustic B-side with just Glenn and Sonya
together, her voice was absolutely perfect.... WOW! They played all
of the favourites; Can't Imagine The World Without Me, King Of The
Kirb, Give Her A Gun, Dark Therapy, Great Things, Insomniac, Today
Tomorow Sometimes Never, etc... aswell as the new songs; Bulldog Baby,
The World Is Flat, Here Comes the Big Rush, and loads.

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