Palladium, Worchester, Massachussets
Opening Bands: Lennon, Monster Magnet
Saw the Cult last night for the first time, and they are so much better live.
Lennon opened, and they weren't bad. The lead singer has a great voice, but the
band seems to lack any musical direction. Monster Magnet was like a train wreck;
painful to watch, but for some reason you keep watching.
The Cult came on about 10:00 and did their hour and a half of old and new songs.
Same set list as previous dates on the tour. Ian's mike is still problematic when
he goes for the high notes or screams. Billy was fussing all night about the sound
of his guitar, and finally during War he ripped his earpiece out and began to
really rock for the rest of the encore. The band was very tight, and the crowd was
into the show, moshing and cheering the whole night.
Had backstage passes, so I got to meet the band before the show. Ian is a really shy
person, Billy was pretty vocal, but Matt is definitely the most personable of the
whole bunch. Good time, can't wait for them to come around again.
Mark - purple@net1plus.com
The Cult recruits fans of newest songs
Though its hits and memorable songs come from the '80s, The Cult was anything but
nostalgic during a rousing show last night at the Palladium.
In many cases, the band was most on fire when tearing into material off its comeback album,
"Beyond Good And Evil", released earlier this year. But by the end of the 80-minute show,
The Cult made good use of old anthems such as Sweet Soul Sister, She Sells
Sanctuary and Fire Woman, all wildly received by a crowd that numbered roughly
1,800.
Monster Magnet and newcomers Lennon were also on this bill, which extolled the virtues of
back-to-basics rocking out. All three bands come from the school of thought that rock 'n'
roll is meant to be played loudly, provide some sort of cathartic release and be anything
but polite, though not necessarily tortured (the mood of too many young rock acts these
days).
In the seven years since singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy reunited under The
Cult banner, the rock 'n' roll landscape has changed dramatically. But rather than try to
fit into the new-metal or rap-rock worlds, The Cult has re-emerged with its soul intact,
offering a spaced-out brand of tribal groove. Lyrics can be as ethereal as anything off a
Stevie Nicks album, and the tone is kept both gritty and searing. In terms of group
personality, Astbury remains the spiritual seeker to Duffy's street brawler, and the
combination works.
Drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Billy Morrison, Duffy and a second guitarist picked up for
this tour drafted a monstrous sound behind Astbury, sometimes drowning out the singer's
somewhat thinned wail. And there were times when The Cult seemed off kilter. Lil'
Devil, for example, sounded sluggish rather than sexually charged as it was when first
heard in 1987.
But half the fun of watching The Cult was seeing how it could get itself out of a hole.
That brought an often-missing human element to the typical spectacle being created at a
rock show.
The Cult saved itself by soaring on the wings of strong new material, Take The Power
and the explosive pairing of Breathe and The Saint. All the pieces fell into
place in those numbers, suggesting that going forward is more rewarding than going back to
the familiar.
Still, the final leg of the show was a trip down memory lane that was hard to resist. Duffy
played his version of "Pick Your Favorite Riff" as he raved and raged through the familiar
Fire Woman, Sweet Soul Sister, Wild Flower and She Sells Sanctuary,
all laid out back to back to end the regular set.
For encores, The Cult again went to the well of the new with the raucous War (The Process)
before hitting the house with a couple more good memories, Nirvana and Love Removal
Machine.
Monster Magnet's 45-minute set flew by as the quintet came out in overdrive and stayed that
way through all its sleaze-tinged, amped-cranked doses of audio dementia. The boys in black
led by singer Dave Wyndorff brought an evangelical fervor to their rumbling calls to be bad,
bad, bad.
Lennon, a young quintet fronted by 19-year-old Lennon Murphy, acquitted itself nicely with a
30-minute set of contemplative yet hard-rocking tunes. Murphy's sound and look have her
positioned to be the anti-Britney for a generation looking to get beyond prepackaged pop.
Scott McLennan (TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER)
The Cult at the Palladium, near Boston
On its current summer tour, the Cult may play venues that are more run-down and dilapidated than
the Worcester Palladium, but it is hard to imagine that such a place exists. Sadly, the
oppressively hot, stuffy and smoke-filled theater seemed to take its toll on the group's
Tuesday night (7/10) performance there.
Headlining a triple bill that also included opening acts Monster Magnet and Lennon--the latter
of which recently replaced the sidelined Stabbing Westward--the Cult took the stage amidst an
impressive light show and a wall of pre-recorded sounds that included chanting monks and digital
beats.
The band opened its set with its current hit, Rise, from its latest release, "Beyond Good
and Evil" (Atlantic). Produced by longtime Cult producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi), the new
album is the group's first in seven years, and is an impressive return to form that finds the
Cult--frontman Ian Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy and drummer Matt Sorum--sounding its bombastic
best. Unfortunately, the energy, thunder and creative spark displayed on the new disc was not
to be found during the group's Boston-area performance.
Musically, the show was solid, with the band--which also includes touring bassist Billy Morrison
and an additional rhythm guitarist--delivering an approximately 90-minute set that featured a
slew of crowd-pleasing, '80s- and '90s-era hits peppered with a handful of songs from its new
album.
Sound-wise, things were a bit too loud and unintentionally distorted at times, with the decrepit
Palladium--complete with gaping holes and crumbling plaster along its walls and ceiling--surely
causing much acoustic chaos for the soundboard operator. Despite those flaws, though, the
instruments delivered a solid punch, and Astbury's vocals generally made their way through the
mix with a respectable amount of power and clarity.
Missing from the show, however, was the kind of electricity that separates an impressive rock
concert from a musical recital. Simply put, the group--which, elsewhere on the tour, has been
receiving rave reviews for its energetic performances--was a bit off on Tuesday night.
Astbury--dressed in dark, loose-fitting pants, a black T-shirt and white sneakers--turned in a
reserved performance that rarely found him straying from his microphone stand. When he did stray,
it was often to the drum riser, where, on more than one occasion, he stood with his back turned
to the audience, shaking his head in seeming dissatisfaction with some element of the production.
Duffy logged a decent performance, tearing off a series of big-sounding rock-and-roll riffs and
solos, and even mustering a Pete Townshend-esque windmill delivery several times. Sorum,
meanwhile--whose pedigree also includes a lengthy stint with Guns N' Roses--kept the beat with
his characteristic level of intensity, precision and showmanship. If there was a stand-out
performer on this otherwise lackluster night, it was Sorum.
The evening's only truly spontaneous rock-and-roll moment came during the encore when Duffy--after
seeing a security guard order a woman seated on her friend's shoulders to get down--scolded the
guard and had the woman brought on stage, where she sat near him for the remainder of the song.
The maneuver took on a parody-like degree of excess when Duffy later signaled that the girl could
join him backstage after the show.
The crowd responded enthusiastically to the group's lengthy roster of classics--particularly a
pre-encore barrage that included Fire Woman, Sweet Soul Sister, Wild Flower
and She Sells Sanctuary--and the group's fresh-sounding new material proved that this
tour is not a nostalgia act. Aside from a pleasing set-list, though, the show was a rather
unremarkable one for these veteran rockers who, based on the impressiveness of their latest
album and the buzz that the tour has generated, clearly have the ability do better.
Jon Zahlaway (LiveDaily Staff Writer)
Setlist:
Rise
In The Clouds
Lil' Devil
Peace Dog
Take The Power
Rain
Edie (Ciao Baby)
The Witch
Breathe
The Saint
Fire Woman
Sweet Soul Sister
Wild Flower
She Sells Sanctuary
Encore:
War
Nirvana
Love Removal Machine