Mark Jenkins reviewed a November 2005 Echo and the Bunnymen concert for The Washington Post:

Near the peak of their American popularity almost 20 years ago, Echo and the Bunnymen headlined DAR Constitution Hall. On Friday night, the band was reduced to playing a sold-out Black Cat -- but didn't seem reduced at all. Indeed, singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant, the only original members among the six musicians onstage, sounded more focused and assured than in the final years of the group's first incarnation, which effectively ended in 1988.

Although the set included a few tunes recorded since the Bunnymen's 1997 realliance, this was basically a greatest-hits show. The band performed most of its best-known material, from airborne rockers such as "Rescue" to the grandiose "The Killing Moon" and the pop-friendly "Lips Like Sugar." As he always has, McCulloch slipped bits of other people's hits into the cracks, saluting the Doors, Lou Reed, Wilson Pickett and fellow Liverpudlians the Beatles.

Traditionally, a free-associative medley closed Bunnymen concerts, but this one ended with a quiet version of "Ocean Rain" that recalled McCulloch's halting solo-album attempts at being an art-song crooner. For most of the show, however, the singer worked in thrilling tandem with Sergeant's guitar, which announced tunes such as "Show of Strength" with honed, stately riffs.

The structure of the Bunnymen's most dynamic songs -- from pealing intro to vocal climax to almost a cappella cool-down -- may be a formula, but it's one that still works splendidly.