Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
Opening act: Bonham
This was the first time I got to see The Cult live. This concert,
although not sold out, was very popular. The Pacific Coliseum seats
around 18000 for concerts. There were about 16000 at The Cult tonight.
Bonham was the opening band. They really got the general
admission floor crowd worked up with many Led Zeppelin cover songs
and their own songs. Just before Bonham left the stage, three
mysterious fellows dressed in Santa suits came dancing on the stage.
Underneath one of the fellows white wigs, you could see black hair,
and under another wig, you could see blonde. It's good to see the
boys know how to have fun when they're not playing.
When The Cult finally took the stage to play, we were ready to rock.
They opened with New York City. The band seemed in prime form, and it
was a great show. Apart from the bruises and sore feet, I was fully
satisfied, and then to realize that this would be the last time I
would see Jamie Stewart perform with the band made it that much more
important.
Jon Taylor - jtaylor@coastnet.com
12,000 Cult-followers get down with Astbury
Ian Astbury likes to rock. Or maybe that should be, Ian Astbury likes
to rawk! Or, IAN ASTBURY LIKES TO RAAAAAAWWWWWKKKK!!!!!
Anyway, this entails a variety of actions: shaking your long hair like
a crazed lunatic, strutting around lik you're the Emperor of Love, and
thrusting your fist into the air at regular intervals.
Now, this kind of action is a bit cliche Astbury and his band, The Cult,
have been taken to task for being mere mimics of their favorite rock
stars - Astbury for his Jim Morrisonism's, the Cult for their reworked
Led Zeppelin riffs.
But when a band plays with the fury and passion Astbury and co. invested
in their performance at the Coliseum Friday night, the cliches become
exciting once again. Know that overworked line, "they rocked Vancouver
like it's never been rocked before?" For once, it might've been true.
Part of the explosiveness of the night was due to the crowd, 12,000
strong and ready to get down and give'r. Well lubricated (the collective
blood alcohol level was about .10) and given to wild fits of air-punching,
the masses were a-buzz with electricity from the minute they made it
through the security frisk at the front door. Christmas time, no school,
no work - awwwllllrighttt!!! Time to rock!
The Cult didn't let 'em down. Openning with a howitzer blast about life
in big bad New York City, the English quarted crunched their way through
one powerhouse rocker after another in a textbook display of sledgehammer
hard rock.
Astbury's partner in crime is guitarist Billy Duffy, a blond fella who
likes his riffs heavy. No self-indulgent tweedle-ee-deedle-ee-dees for
this cowboy - Duffy knows the value of a good, short, thunderous riff, the
kind that singes into your brain no matter how blitzed you are. He also
has every legs-spread-apart arm raised in the air, mane a-shakin'
move in the book down pat.
As for Astbury, well, he seems to fancy himself something of a shamen,
rock messiah, or general all-round super-dude. Addressing the crowd as
"people," at one point he urged one and all to join in a "celebration"
of the winter solstice: "pagan brothers and sisters, time to drop your
inhibitions!"
His other big message was that the "people" had "the power." But mainly,
he was content to howl the catchy choruses of Fire Woman, Here Comes the
Rain and Born To Be Wild, punctuating the lyrics with "baby," "ye-ahhh"
and "crazy mama."
The crowd loved it, hootin' and hollerin' so much Astbury told 'em they
were the best bunch on the tour. There seems to be some special bond
between the Cult and Vancouver - last time the band headlined here,
Astbury got hauled off to jail for aiding a fan who was battling with
security, and the crowd roared every time he mentioned it Friday night.
The audience energy drove Astbury to go berserk at the end, smashing the
mike stand in two in a good old display of rock and roll mayhem. Totally
decent, man.
John Mackie - Vancouver Sun, Dec 23/1989