Star Plaza Theatre, Merriville, Indiana
Opening Band: Lenny Kravitz
The last show I saw was in Merriville, Indiana for the 'Ceremonial
Stomp' tour. They opened with New York City, which kind of
surprised me seeing that they did that on the last tour, but maybe
they played mostly Sonic Temple cos nobody bought
Ceremony. Anyways, this show was much more rocking than the
89-90 tour. Wild Flower, Peace Dog - which sent the
place into orbit and the front three rows of chairs got destroyed -
this is a beautiful theatre too - I got my tickets the day of the
show and got 6 row dead center - how I'll never know - Lil'
Devil, Sweet Soul Sister (rockin' version - they grooved
on it for five minutes, the "Hustle and strut" break), Sun
King, Fire Woman, Love Removal Machine, Rain,
and from Ceremony, Full Tilt, an INSANE version of
White and the Earth Mofo. Encore was She Sells
Sanctuary and Ian asked us if we wanted The Phoenix or
Nirvana. Nirvana it was, and that was the last song I
heard The Cult perform. Nice tour t-shirts this time around.
Tommy MacLuckie - SENSYRSELF@aol.com
I saw The Cult for the first time in concert last February in Indiana,
Star Plaza. I have never been so pissed off in my life! People were
getting on stage when Ian was singing, they even knocked him down! On
top of it all, Ian got his necklace and a bracelet ripped off which he
wasn't too happy about. He yelled into the audience and told us that
we sucked. I felt like killing whoever did that to him and I wasn't the
only one.
When The Cult came on stage, I got the chills. Standing a little ways
from me stood the group that I have adored for more than four years
(that may be nothing compared to a lot of other Cult fans) but to me
it is like I've known no other music before them - does that make
sense?
When Ian came on stage I felt like he should know me because I knew
him (well just the musical part of his life), it was the most
breathtaking experience of my life!
Jodie Shenburg
I almost ended up not going to this show, considering the band did
little to promote this album and tour. I was sleeping when the concert
was announced (11:30PM or so), but somehow my boyfriend heard it and
slept out for tickets. We ended up with 4th row tickets, a dream come
true.
So on February 24th, my boyfriend and I tramped off in the pouring
rain, braving Chicago rush hour traffic to go see the band I love. We got
there about three hours before the show. I was so excited that I thought I
was going to puke. I had my Cult get up on and I was ready to go (my iron
cross, black ruffle shirt, velvet pants, cowboy boots, and my hair
'au naturale'.) I met a lot of Cult fans before the show. Needless to say,
they were some of the nicest people I had ever met. I felt that we were
all brothers and sisters, bound by our love of The Cult.
Lenny Kravitz was great. He put on a great show. It was especially
cool when he started to sing Let Love Rule at the end. He asked
everyone to hold hands and to sing with him, in hopes of ending racism
and war and things of that sort. At the end, a bunch of people ran up on
stage and began to hug Lenny. He didn't seem all that happy about it,
but his set ended without incident.
Before The Cult came on, my boyfriend and I ran up towards the stage.
A lot of other people joined us and the front was completely packed. The
bouncer made us sit down because he said he had orders to do so. But he
told us that we would be able to come up when the band came on. It all
basically depended on what the band wanted to do, and The Cult was happy
to have their fans with them.
When the music started, we rushed through the masses and somehow my
boyfriend pushed me through, and I was up against the stage. I was right
in front of Kinley and Ian was to my right. The smoke was rolling over
me and I thought I was going to start choking. I was also being squashed
to death, but I had an emotional high and absolutely nothing was going to
bring me down. When I saw Ian break though the smoke and belt out
Ceremony, I knew that I had arrived. The band blasted through
Wild Flower, Sweet Soul Sister, and White, along
with many others. Though I really couldn't see him, Billy played guitar
like the true legend that he is. Kinley Wolfe also did a fantastic bass
solo which everone loved. It was the start of an absolutely great show.
The Cult sounded phenominal and they had an equally amazing light show.
Despite my choking and bruising, I was having one of the best times of
my life. I had never been that close to a band in my whole life, but
to actually be right up there with my favorite was an extraordinary
experience. I screamed out every single word to all their songs, along
with most of the other fans. That was another cool aspect of the show.
There were more fans than the kinds of people who won tickets on the
radio and knew nothing of the band.
One big turnign point of the evening came when a girl ran up onstage
and kissed Ian. Everyone thought that she would get thrown out but Ian
hugged her back and had the bouncer show her off the stage. She didn't
get thrown out or anything, just led back to the floor. This started
a rampage of fans running up onstage and the coolest part was that Ian
actually didn't mind us coming up. After seeing some people going up
on stage, I knew that I had to go. I told my boyfriend that I was going
and before I knew it, he picked me up and just about threw me up onstage.
I got up and ran to Ian. When I got to Ian, it was during a guitar
solo and he was trying to catch his breath. I ran up to him and grabbed
him by his arms and then I just froze. I was in shock that I had actually
got up there and that I was actually touching him. I think I scared
the hell out of him, though. I was grabbing him pretty hard and he
wouldn't look up at me. He just peered at me through his hair with his
weird expression on his face. Finally the bouncer pulled me off of him
and I jumped off the stage. Everyone around me was cheering for me, and
they all started to go up onstage!
After a while, I knew I had to go up again. This time it was during
She Sells Sanctuary. I ran up while he was singing this time. I
got to where he was and I stared at him for a few seconds. Then I put my
arms around him and I proceeded to kiss him on the cheek before running
off.
During the encore, I knew that I had to move up on stage again. This
time it was really special. I ran up to Ian and gave him a huge hug. The
next thing I knew, he was hugging me back. It was one of the nicest hugs
I ever got. I let go of him and was going to leave, when I realized this
was my chance to talk to him. I told him that I had started my musical
career because of his influence on me and that I had to thank him for
everything that thier music had given me. In other words, I gushed all
over him and just about declared my undying love for him. Needless to
say that Ian was very nice to me and seemed to think that it was pretty
cool that I took such an influence from him. After that, I knew it was
about time to leave. As I walked away, I said something about thanking
him again and something about him being one of my heroes. I remember him
laughing, and when I went back to my seat, I looked up and saw him
smiling at me.
I didn't go back on stage again. I had a million more chances to do so, but
I felt that I had accomplished what I needed to do. The only other thing
I did was sit on the side of the stage after security relaxed a little
more. At one point I was looking pu at Ian and I just started crying.
There I was crying over my favorite band. I never figured that I would be
looking like a little groupie, crying over them but I was so overcome
with emotion that night. I guess that it finally hit me.
I guess that I never thought that I could ever get that close to The
Cult. My only regret was not getting over to talk to Billy. But after a
night like that, I really have no right to complain, do I? After all, The
Cult gave me one of the best nights of my life!
S. Cavallo
Setlist:
New York City
...
Encore:
She Sells Sanctuary
Nirvana