Summer Sonic Festival, WTC Open Air Stadium, Osaka, Japan
Other Festival Bands: Marilyn Manson, Slipnot, Zebrahead, Ocean Colour Scene,
Shea Seger, Reel Big Fish, Skrape
Just got back from the Summer Sonic Festival (Osaka, Japan). The Cult
played a great show, especially Ian who really made an effort to get the
fans going. I've seen him get annoyed with unresponsive crowds before, but
it was nice to see that he hung in there and kept trying. He was running
all over the stage (I guess the leg he hurt the other week isn't troubling
him that much). He even used a little bit of Japanese when talking to the
crowd. The crowd was a real disappointment though. I felt sorry for the
band. They probably knew that Japanese crowds are generally very quiet.
They normally don't show a lot of enthusiasm for bands they don't know
(even if the music is great). Most of the crowd was there to see Zebrahead,
Slipknot, and Marilyn Manson.
As for the set, I knew the Cult weren't going to have all that much time so
the question in my mind was which songs would they play from the current
tour set list. I didn't think they would do something outside that set
list, but I was still hoping. They opened with Rise and then went straight
into Take The Power. Next, they did a couple from Electric. First was Peace
Dog followed by Wild Flower. Ian was throwing out a lot of stuff. Lots of
bottled water and a couple of tambourines. A friend caught a tambourine. He
knew how much of a fan I was so he just handed it straight to me. I was so
happy to have the souvenir, that I lost track of the order of the next
songs. I believe it was Breathe, The Saint, and The Witch. They finished
things off with She Sells Sanctuary and Love Removal Machine. Of course
Billy had the Gretsch out for She Sells Sanctuary. Surprisingly that was when things
started to get going in the crowd. She Sells Sanctuary was a real crowd pleaser. For
the last song Ian got down off the stage and climbed onto the wall at the
front of the crowd and went up and down that singing. The crowd responded
well. Too bad he didn't do it as the opener (maybe he will at the festival
show in Tokyo tomorrow). Unfortunately, that was it for the set. No time
for encores. I hadn't seen them play since 1992, so I was just glad to see
them play again. The 2 Billies where great, as was Matt. There was another
guitarist, but I don't think it was Mike Dimkich who I had seen in photos
from previous shows. He did his job well too. I'd like to think that they
have captured some new Japanese fans.
Colin W
Finally I saw The Cult at the first time even though I've been a
big fan of them since they released the "Electric". It's pretty too late to
see their show I guess.
Anyway the show was great and actually they were the best of all in any
other bands who played yesterday.
They deserve to take the part of Marilyn Manson and They should've played
at the end of the day.
Ian, as a performer and also still a charisma of Rock'n'roll (at least to
myself) definitely knocked out the audience and even the kids who have no
idea who The Cult is.
They played about only 1 hour yesterday though, the songs they played
covered their history intensively I think. Of course it wasn't enough at
all!
I hope to they come back to Japan on their own tour as soon as possible!
Saori
Setlist:
Rise
Take The Power
Peace Dog
Wild Flower
Fire Woman
The Saint
The Witch
Breathe
She Sells Sanctuary
Love Removal Machine