Floyd's, Tallahassee, Florida
Opening Band: Love In Reverse
Looking forward to a two and half to three drive I had to get some sleep
before going to see The Holy Barbarians again. I'm glad I took off from
work because I really needed to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep because
all I thought about was seeing The Holy Barbarians again.
Driving was no big deal because I was listening to my Holy Barbarians and
Love in Reverse CDs. I got to the club around 4:30 and noticed band
members from Love in Reverse getting set up. I spoke with Sergio, he is
Love in Reverse's production manager, I've talked to him before when I
helped load their equipment in Gainesville. I pretty much convinced the
bar employees at Floyd's that I was with the band, it was probably because
I was there about the same time they were.
I helped Serg set up some of the drums for Love in Reverse. I talked to
him about how he meet the group and how he got the job. He told me he
had been with the band pretty much since they formed and they were going
to release a new album on 7/30/96 because they just got signed with
Reprise.
It was now about 6:00 and the big Holy Barbarians fan had just shown up.
I talked with the fan and we more or less just hung out inside Floyd's.
Before we knew it Scott, Matt, and Pat showed up and were more or less
waiting on George. Apparently George had gotten sick after the show in
Orlando and was running really late. To kill time the members of the
band pretty much just hung out. I mean they really couldn't do anything
until George showed up with the bands equipment. Scott played some pool
with his girlfriend and her sister. Myself and the fan watched and had a
conversation with him. He's a pretty mello guy. I asked him what other
bands or projects he was in before The Cult and The Holy Barbarians. He
told me that before The Cult he was in a band with both Pat and Matt
(Scott's brother) called Lucy for Wong. I thought UNBELIEVABLE!!! He
also told me that there was another band called Neverland that he was in.
It could have been the other way around as far as the line up in both
of these bands. He also stated that everybody that he knows in the L.A.
area want copies of either one or the other or both bands. I was so
excited to hear this news that I pretty much got the information he told
me jumbled, but I know for a fact both of the band names are correct and
Scott his brother Matt and Pat were in one of these or both bands. He
was wearing an ADIDAS look a like shirt that said ADDICT on it with a big
leaf shaped like an ADIDAS ad.
George finally gets to Floyd's complaining that he needs help and he is
not feeling so hot. Of course I helped, and so did everyone that worked
at Floyd's unload the equipment that was on the rented Ryder truck. I
also helped set up the drums and set up some of the equipment on the
stage. The Holy Barbarians were ready to do their warm up.
After The Holy Barbarians warmed up Love and Reverse set there equipment
back up on the stage. At this time the place was almost completely empty
because of the fact that they hadn't opened yet.
Myself and the fan watched as the people flocked into the bar. We had a
choice view in front of the stage. I brought my camera again, but I
didn't take any pictures. I was directly in front of the stage, I could
reach out and touch the microphone!
After Love in Reverse played everyone was getting anxious, people were
screaming, HEY IS THAT IAN! Man they better play some CULT! I just
waited until the jazz intro because then I knew what was in store.
As usually Ian was wearing the same skirt as the night before, his hair
in pony tails with bobby pins and another basketball jersey. The crowd
was sort of blah. Ian made some comments about the crowd because of
people giving him the finger. By the way, this was Love in Reverse's
last show with them until like three weeks later.
Ian assured everyone that if they were good they might play some old Cult
songs. I noticed the set list under Ian's microphone, he was standing
directly in front of me. They started off the show with Blind and
immediately were having problems. Ian was pretty pissed off because
there was a lot of feedback in the mic when he would try to sing. He
looked over at George and George just shrugged his shoulders. Ian
signaled to George, while singing to fix the problem. Now remember
George got there late, he was sick, but this was his job. Ian was really
pissed. After the song Ian apologized for the music sounding bad, he
said they would have the problem fixed and George attempted to fix the
problem. After about 10 minutes of George checking stuff and rearranging
things Ian and the band gave it a test. It still wasn't to Ian's
satisfaction but he made it work. There were two speakers in front of
Ian, both facing him at an angle. When they went into Dolly Bird he
kicked the speakers to move them further apart, this seemed to have fixed
the problem, I was right in front of these speakers. I was so close to
Ian that I could she almost every tattoo that was visible.
I was hoping they wouldn't have any more problems. While they were
playing The Witch, right when they started Matt's guitar strap
broke! He just stood there, Ian was watching him while smoking a cigarette
and shaking his morocco's. George quickly rushed out to try to fix the
strap. I was feeling pretty sorry for George at this time. The song was
about 65% done when George finally got some duck tape to fix Matt's
guitar.
At the end of the set Ian said they were taking a break but they would be
coming back. People were screaming, PLAY SOME CULT!!! Myself and the
fan were kinda laughing because we knew what was in store. But to our
surprise we really didn't.
After Magic Christian Ian announced that this was Love in Reverse's
last show with them in Florida so they wanted the whole band to come on
stage and jam to Helter Skelter. The drummer for Love in Reverse
played drum's while Scott had the tambourine, Ian picked up his guitar,
George even got in there with the morocco's. Ian tried to get Tim Green
the tour manager, but he would have any of it. They were really JAMMING!!
The crowd loved it. There were eight people on stage playing Helter
Skelter HARD! At the very end of the song they totally trashed the
drum set. I mean took it apart. Ian through the big base drum onto the
front of the stage were it rolled up one of the speakers in front of me
and hit me in the arm. I was O.K. just shocked. Myself and the fan
couldn't believe it. Was it over already? Everybody in the crowd was
pissed. They were yelling, YOU SUCK! and all kinds of other things.
Ian came back out and said if you all wouldn't mind we are going to get
the set cleaned up and play a Cult song for you. Thank you for being
patient. The crowd started screaming and yelling again in JOY!
As George and Sergio were cleaning up the set Ian walks back out to the
stage and grabs his guitar. He said he felt like playing something. He
was going to sing SOLO!!! I was pretty excited and so was the fan. He
stated that he wrote the song he was going to perform when he was
nineteen and he hadn't played the song since 1983! The song was
Moya. The crowd was very quite. I could see Tim Green in the back
of the stage lip sinking every word to the song as Ian sang. It was
great! When Ian was done, he thanked the crowd again for being so patient.
The rest of the band came on stage and they played Wildflower. The
crowd got pretty hyped up, but that was it the show was over and the
crowd was pissed again.
I thought overall the show was excellent, so far the best one yet, except
for the crowd. When Ian played Moya for the first time since 1983
I knew I had to be in the right place at the right time and he was singing
it right in front of me!
I was in a groove now, something inside me said I got to see this band at
least one more time. The next day they were playing at a free festival
show in Tampa. I was tired, I needed sleep but I fought it the whole
time. I stayed after the show to help George load the equipment on the
Van. I even got a chance to chat with Tim Green. It was about 2:00am
and myself and the fan were outside. The fan is very shy, so I made an
attempt to speak with Tim Green. I asked him a couple of questions. He
was not very pleased, he enjoyed the show though. He was tired of
touring he wanted out. He stated that as soon as they get back to
England he was out. He told me he has toured with Big Country, Big Audio
Dynamite and some others that I can't remember. He had know Ian For
fifteen or so years. I knew they wouldn't get any sleep because Tampa
was a good three and a half to four hour drive from Tallahassee. I had
to drive back to Jacksonville. I didn't leave Tallahassee till after
3:30, I got to Jacksonville about 6:30ish. Check out the review for
Tampa!
Steve Holland
Thought I'd share a funny story from a Holy Barbarian's concert back in
Tallahassee '97: Went to the show after not seeing any member The Cult
perform since the Ceremony tour. My friend and I got right up to the
front of the stage and awatied our hero. To our surprise, Ian appeared
sporting a rug instead of leathers and also sporting about 30lbs since
the last time I saw him. I mean really, he was wearing a rug like a girl
would wear a skirt--with a sleevless Grant Hill (Orlando Magic player)
jersey for a shirt with Nike or Puma tennis shoes with no socks! When the
Barbarian's commenced playing, I noticed that Ian had about 7 opened
Budwiesers lined up on the drum riser that he periodically slammed during
the course of the show. I mean he was slamming each beer in about 2 gulps.
Anyway, during the course of the show, I shot him a peace sign and he
looked at me and said "what the hell does that mean, I think you need to
be doing this instead." And then he shot me a bird. I kinda thought the
whole thing was funny. I mean here is my hero since the age of 13, and
now he is a fat blithering drunken fool flicking me off. Anyway, the show
was actually really good, and to my pleasent surprise Ian performed Moya
solo. I considered this a special treat. After the show was over, I talked
to a friend of mine that got back stage, and he told me that Ian was wearing
nothing but a speedo and walking around like it was normal. Too much! Ha!
Ha! I'm glad to see things have changed since then, even though this show
will probably be the most memorable of my life.
4winds
Setlist:
Jazz/Howl
Blind
Dolly Bird
Cream
The Witch
You Are There
Space Junkie
Brother Fights
Bodhisattva
Encore:
Midnite Exspress
Magick Christian
Helter Skelter (with Love in Reverse)
Moya
Wildflower