The Zone, Albuquerque, New Mexico
I'd been very excited about The Cult donig a US tour since I first heard it announced.
I kept my eyes peeled and my ears open, hoping a date would be announced for
Albuquerque. One morning 94ROCK told listeners there would be a major concert
announcement in the afternoon. For some strange reason (maybe it's a psychic ability
us Cancers are supposed to possess), I had a gut-level feeling that the announcement
would be for The Cult. After class I rushed home and turned the radio on. She
Sells Sanctuary was playing. Then another Cult song came on. It wasn't "Two
For Tuesday" nor "Three For Thursday"-it couldn't be, this was Friday. I waited for
the song to end, but another song by a different band came on. So, I called the radio
station...yes, The Cult was coming to town!
Saturday, Feb 25 rolled around. My cousin, Gwen, took off the weekend from work and
we proclaimed it "Mr. Astbury Weekend." Of course, the rest of the band was important
to us-"Mr. Astbury Weekend" just sounded funky.
Gwen and I arrived at the Zone in the early afternoon. Some guy looked at us funny and
said, "You know, The Cult won't be here until 7:30." We returned his funny look,
thinking-he doesn't know. We sat down on a concrete parking block and watched the
road crew set up. Then we heard the beginning of Wild Flower. Gwen and I
looked at each other with wide eyes but as the song went on we knew it couldn't be
Billy playing. Whoever was playing totally butchered the song! We continued until
we had nothing more to say. Then, we just sat.
Finally around 7:30, the bus pulled up. I guess the guy who talked to us earlier did
know when the Cult was arriving?! Oh well. Scott and Craig slipped by us somehow,
but we stopped Billy to give him his gifts and ask for photos and autographs. He
offered to do the photos and autographs right away, until it began to sprinkle. he
suggested we wait till later. Ian was still on the bus, so we waited. The light
sprinkle became a heavy rain with lightning crawling all over the sky. The weather
didn't deter us. Still we waited. People were parking and dashing to the door...and
there we were standing in the rain-laughing it off. When Ian did come off the bus, we
missed him. He was so bundled up that we weren't sure it was him. Around showtime,
I went inside. Gwen had to stay outside-she's under 21 (she did eventually get
in with some help). There were so many people! Turns out the show was oversold-as
I heard. I found a place to stand. It wasn't as close as I wanted to be. however,
as people moved around, I got close to the stage. Live Forever by Oasis
blasted from the sund system. Then a tribal-like drum introduction stirred up the
crowd. Just when it seemed the intro couldn't get any louder or intense, Ian, Billy,
Craig and Scott along with an unknown face took the stage and opened with Nirvana.
They also performed Rain, She Sells Sanctuary, Fire Woman,
Edie (Ciao Baby), Wild Flower, Lil' Devil, Love Removal Machine,
The Witch, Black Sun, Coming Down, Star and two new songs
(I may have forgotten a couple of others they did). Aside from getting my foot
crushed-probably fractured, never had it checked-by a crazed guy, I had a great time.
The show was incredible! Ian even praised Albuquerque for being the best behaved
audience up to that date.
After the show, I met up with Gwen outside. We planned to try to get to the band
again-Billy still had to give us photos and autographs and we wanted the same from Ian,
Craig and Scott. Plus we had gifts for them also. A crowd of people started hoarding
around us. So, we moved away. Scott came out. We yelled his name and he motioned for
us to wait a minute. All the other people looked at us like, "Scott who?" Once he
came over to us, everyone flocked over realizing Scott was "in the band." We saw Billy
and Craig get on the bus. Thinking they'd be back off, we waited. Then the bus
left-with Billy and Craig! Scott wouldn't tell us if Ian was inside or if he left.
However, he did give us backstage passes to go back inside the club. There was a slight
problem-to use them we were told to go to the front door. Again, Gwen is under 21. I
didn't want to leave her. So, we went up to a couple of security guards whom we
befriended while waiting in the rain. We asked if they would allow us to go through
the back door...they said "yes"! So, we got into the club and searched for Scott. We
found Scott and...low and behold-we also found Ian. After the Zone closed, Ian, Scott,
Gwen, myself and a few others went dancing at an afterhours place across the street. That
was lots of fun! Sunday afternoon, Gwen and I went to the hotel to say our
goodbyes, deliver Craig's gifts and get photos/autographs from Craig and Billy. Billy
remembered us from the night before and said, "I see you've come to claim your photos."
We thought that was really cool.
It was a wonderful weekend! I'll never forget it!
Janel Riley
Setlist:
Nirvana
...