Showcase, San Antonio, Texas
Opening Band: Big Chief
San Antonio was the next stop. Smaller venue extremely personal. Ian talked to us the
most at this show. Crowd was super charged (a heaven for mosh lovers). Ian must have
felt the energy early. During Nirvana he jumped around spinned around head
banged, flury of madness I was getting chills just watching him. At one point he put
his hair in a pony tail and said, "You people need to do something with your hair,
anything, look my Gene Simmons hair doo." Some asshole shouted "Pearl Jam", Ian
replied "Pearl Jam, No we are from, Finland, yeah Finland". Dennis Rodman was backstage,
Ian said "Look Dennis Rodman is here, that's cool eh?" The spurs had a game that night,
it was over at 9:45, The Cult came on at around 9:55. I read in the paper the next day a
reporter said he tried to talk to Rodman after the game, but as the game ended he ran
straight to the locker room and left the building. He was unavailable for comments.
Little did they know he was on the way to a Cult concert. What's cool is he was
probably thinking about the Cult during the entire game. Needless to say I am now a
Rodman fan even though he is on the Bulls. Black Sun and The Witch
were the best.
Mike MacLelland - Z_maclellanm@titan.sfasu.edu
The last time I had seen The Cult was at the amusing "Stand on your Chairs" show in
Austin during the Ceremony tour. It had been three long years since then and I
desperately missed seeing Ian and the boys. This venue, The Showcase, was the
smallest place I had ever seen them and I was very excited about finally being
able to get close to the front. Big Chief opened it up and they got a very
lukewarm reception. Nobody was up by the stage ... YET. I ditched my friends and
went and stood front and center, the best spot in the house. I waited through the
intermission and it wasn't long before the place filled up. I caught a peak of the
setlist and the first song on it was called RV. When the band came out and started
with Nirvana I was shocked because I had heard rumors that The Cult were not
playing any songs prior to Electric. Ian was so close I could touch him, and I made
friends with one of the bouncers who helped keep crowd floaters from landing on my
head. This show was the most fun concert I have ever been to! I had to fight for my
life the entire time to keep my spot at the front, but I wouldn't trade all those
bruises for anything in the world. The band had so much energy, and Ian was joking
and playing around the whole time. When a girl from the crowd made it on stage during
Firewoman, Ian motioned her to the mike and then walked off briefly, letting
her sing. The band kept on playing like nothing had happened. Black Sun was
the most powerful song of the show. Ian infused a lot of his own additions to it,
and it was very obvious how much feeling the song elicited from him. I didn't see
Dennis Rodman there, but I do remember Ian saying something about him and then
looking over his shoulder backstage and smiling a lot. Curiously enough, a little
over a year later I was able to pick Ian out of a crowd and finally meet him because
of a Rodman jersey he was wearing. I had several surprises at this show. I had
never heard In The Clouds before and Ian didn't introduce it by name. They
cranked it out and I was awestruck, though I left the concert thinking the name of
the song was "come on motherfucker". They also played a fantastic version of
The Witch with an extended intro which got the whole place worked into a frenzy.
I cannot say enough about this show and how much fun it was. It was so up close and
personal, anything was game, and it made you feel like you were a part of the action.
Having been in the masses at arena concerts watching from afar, it meant so much to
me to finally be on the front row and a part of it all.
Chuck Welhausen - cwelhaus@ix.netcom.com
Setlist:
Nirvana
...