Peering at the set list and the five unplayed songs after the set-ender of "Lips" made me wonder if the band was coming back, or if I even wanted them to. For a band so magical on recording, the show had been incredibly flat and lifeless. The promise of the show died in the middle of the opener "Rescue" and was only recaptured in spurts: the biting "The Back Of Love," a rejuvenated, energetic version of "The Cutter" and a sensitive rendition of latest album's title track.

It was unfortunate that the first encore concluded with an amazing segue just as I was about to depart. An obviously chastened McCulloch delivered a rollicking version of "Do It Clean" that displayed more energy than the rest of the set combined. It then halted suddenly and changed into a chilling a cappella rendition of the Velvet Underground's "Heroin." The dark dirge about a death drug breathed life back into the show. But it was too late; the aging Goths in the front row could feel it; the drunken hooligans by the pool of beer near the bar could feel it; even this 20-year-old neo-Bunnymen fan could feel it. It's a sad realization when you see something once vibrant wither away, and the resulting empty feeling is what I took away from this show.

Thanks to the opening band, Other Star People, it was not an entirely futile night. Sadly, the tight, focused and loud rock of this group, made up of former L7 member Jennifer Finch, Todd Phillips (formerly of the Juliana Hatfield Three), Xander Smith and Junko Ito, was lost on the mostly older crowd. The poppy Bis-like vocals and catchy rock stylings of compositions from their debut Diamonds in the Belly of the Dog, as well as their cover of the Police classic "Next To You" were frenzied, energetic and inspiring: in short, everything Echo and the Bunnymen were not.