Richfield Coliseum Theatre, Richfield, Ohio

Opened for Metallica

I was so excited to see The Cult for the first time. They were my favorite band since Electric. I was about to turn 17 and I was going to see my first concert; The Cult opening up for Metallica. I was disappointed that the Cult were going to open for anyone in the U.S., let alone Metallica. When the lights dimmed and The Cult hit the stage, I couldn't believe it. I was actually about to see them LIVE! They opened with The Phoenix. And then Ian opened his mouth to sing. Now The Cult have written and recorded, what I believe, to be some of the best rock songs of the 80's. That didn't matter on on July 8th, 1989, because Ian Astbury totally FUCKED MY NIGHT UP! His singing was horrible! In fact, it wasn't even singing. It was slurred speech drenched in hard liquor. The Cult's set was totally ruined by him. They continued with Love Removal Machine, Wild Flower, Lil' Devil, Fire Woman, American Horse, and Sun King. All of the songs were ruined because Mr. Astbury couldn't stay away from the bottle till AFTER the show. Mind you, this is my favorite band to this day. But back then, I wondered if I should have just saved my money and never gone to another Cult show. They certainly didn't win over any Metallica fans with that horrible performance. (They weren't going to sway any Metallica fans into liking them because The Cult requires intelligence for there etheral subject matter. Metallica fans are the biggest bunch of white trash inbred dumbfucks I have ever seen assembled under one roof. Imagine the amount of food, oxygen, clothing, and human resources that have been wasted on this collection of human garbage over the years. How do you pay for a Metallica ticket with food stamps?) I am happy to say that after the Sonic Temple tour, Ian Astbury seemed to clean up A LOT, and the shows from the Ceremony tour there after seemed to be put on by a totally rejuvenated and refreshed band. The 1995 tour was excellent (but cut short), the 1999 show was superb, and I am looking forward to seeing them on the Beyond Good and Evil tour in the Summer of 2001. The Cult remains my favorite band to this day.

Joel Sitterly 05.12.2001 - billyduffyrocks@hotmail.com

Setlist:

The Phoenix
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