The Casbah, San Diego, California
Opening Band: Lies Inc.
Long live the cult! The Cult are not dead, but alive and kickin' ass! At
their first concert in four years, the Cult took the stage in front of a
couple hundred amazed fans under the first chords of American Horse and
the crowd went crazy! The place was alive with released anticipation and
realized passion.
Ian and Billy, with help from Matt Sorum, Martyn LeNoble (Bass) and Mike ?
(guitar) tore into a set of what was essentialy the best of the old Cult.
Besides The Witch and In the Clouds, played in the encore, there was
nothing from either Ceremony or The Cult. Among others they played Lil'
Devil, Love Removal Machine, Sun King, Sweet Soul Sister, and amazingly
powerful version of Edie, Fire Woman, She Sells Sanctuary, and Rain.
Ian has regrown his mane of raven hair, and looked and acted the part of the
rock demigod he is. His voice has never been so strong and clear as he
belted out hit after hit through an uncontrolable glow of obvious enjoyment.
Billy, with spiked platinum hair, posed and strutted like a true axman,
hitting every note with power and relaxed authority. A satisfied smile was
rarely missing from his face as well. It was truely a sight and sound to
behold!
Ian said that they were back on a mission. It was their "duty to save rock"
from mediocre music, and I think they are taking their mission seriously.
If this is any indication of what the rest of the tour is to be like, do not
miss this show! The Cult is back with a vengance, and a new lust for life!
John Laudenslager - chez_wiz@hotmail.com
First off, the show was awesome (and very loud - my ears wil be ringing for
days.) The club they played at, The Casbah, holds 200 people, and that
includes both the front room (with the stage) and the rear of the building
where there's a second bar, pool tables, etc. Before the band hit the stage
(around 11:50pm) everyone jammed into the front room so you can imagine how
packed and hot the area around the stage was.
They played as a five-piece - Astbury, Duffy, Sorum, the bass player from
Porno for Pyros, and a rhythm guitarist who I did not recognize. They all
looked pretty good - I guess when you hit your late '30's you either take
care of yourself or let it all go to hell - seems like they take care of
themselves. Didn't recognize Sorum - I seem to recall he was kinda pudgy -
but he looks like Mark McGwire with a buzz cut and black hair now. I was
right in front of the stage, and you could feel the electricity when the
band came onstage.
Opening song was American Horse. Everybody was going nuts throughout the
entire performance. Don't recall the order of the setlist, but songs
performed included Rain, Wildflower, The Witch, In the Clouds, Fire Woman,
Peace Dog, Sweet Soul Sister, Edie, Love Removal Machine, - pretty much a
greatest hits set. They played a couple of songs for the encore, finishing
up with She Sells Sanctuary.
All of the songs were played very hard - even Rain had the mosh pit going
in overdrive. Some parts of the performace were a bit rough - this was
their first performance together as a unit - but overall the show was
nothing short of excellent. Quite an experience, and one I won't forget.
One interesting note - to the best of my knowledge they didn't play any
songs from their last album.
Before the show I was engaged in a conversation with a woman from their
management company who was videotaping the performance - she said that they
will be recording later this year, so that's good news.
Again, an incredible show, and a once-in-a-lifetime concertgoing experience.
They will be back in San Diego near the end of the tour in August, and I'll
definitely be in attendance.
Christian Meyer - cmeyer@fansonly.com
The Cult was great. This was their first show in four years, so they were a little
rusty. They'd apparentally only had four rehearsals. The band sounded pretty tight,
and the show rocked. Besides Ian and Billy, and Matt Sorum on drums, there was a
new bass player (from Amsterdam) and a rhythm guitarist (from California). Both
were good. Ian and Billy looked healthy, have gotten tattooed (Billy Duffy has a
sleeve on one arm and Ian looks like he has some sleeve work as well). Ian seemed
pretty coherent, and they seemed to be having fun (Ian did fall down a couple times
twice off the stage and once on the stage right in front of Duffy). Ian's hair is
long again so he gets the cool Ian Astbury rock out hair thing goin'. The Casbah
was packed, and the band was still soundchecking when they let people in, even
though the main area of the club stayed closed for the check. I heard bits and
pieces of American Horse and In The Clouds during the check. There
was a large power generator outside, which I imagine was use to run the huge
soundboard inside the club, that was about three times the size of the Casbah's
normal board. The Cult didn't take the stage until after 11:30. They opened with
American Horse, a really good version. They then went into Lil' Devil,
and then Peace Dog. Other songs I remember include The Witch (a killer
version), In the Clouds (very good), Wildflower, Love Removal
Machine, Rain, Sun King, Sweet Soul Sister, Edie,
closing with Sanctuary. They played for a little over an hour. Ian apolgized
that they hadn't rehearsed more songs together. I took almost a whole roll of film,
but I'm not sure how the shots will turn out, as the place was packed, and I was
back a bit from the stage. I was looking at my camera to see how many shots I had
left when they finished, and got smacked in the chest with something, that dropped
to the floor. When several people dove in front of me I realized it was Ian's
tamborine. No biggie though. Overall a great show, they are back in great form. They
mentioned the Tibetan Freedom Concert and the tour, but no mention of the reason
for getting back together or a new album, so we'll see.
Doug Smith - dougs@hotmail.com
First show in 4 years. Kick-off to tour. Small venue (around 250 people or so).
Lots of cuts from Electric and Love. Duffy was on fire! Great show at an intimate venue!
Anonymous