The Cult… Rock City… Nottingham…
25:01:11…
After a quiet period on the live scene it’s a midweek trek to Rock City for The Man of Metal to see veteran rockers The Cult, having caught up with them after many years in 2010 at the Sonisphere festival where on that occasion they managed a forty minute set, tonight promises much more. Originally Southern Death Cult then Death Cult in the early eighties, The Cult came to prominence around the mid eighties with their album Love they followed this with the successful albums Electric and Sonic Temple these three albums it’s safe to say feature their best material with songs like She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Wild Flower, Lil’ Devil, Love Removal Machine, Fire Woman and Sweet Soul Sister most of which I’m pleased to say are still included in the live shows today.
However before the main course there’s time to sample two starter dishes beginning with Romance who are already on stage when I arrive and after going to the bar for a drink, Romance attract my undivided attention if only to get away from the rancid stench which lingers around the bar area of Rock City the aroma is an amalgam of stale vomit and a dumpster in the middle of a heat wave, it’s about time the venue sorted this out, it was as bad last November when I was here for WASP but I digress. Romance are a glam/rock band from London who I know next to nothing about other than they have an enigmatic gender bender Bowie’esque front man and play some catchy tunes like River Runs Red unfortunately for them, due to the early start not many folk are present to witness their show.
Second on the bill is Masters of Reality, from New York State, founding member and front man Chris Gross has been delivering his brand of ‘stoner/desert’ rock since the early eighties. Undoubtedly Masters of Reality have a cult (no pun intended) following in The States; however with only a handful of people present tonight who are familiar with them it’s a hard slog of forty-five minutes for the rest of us, think Hawkwind crossed with haemorrhoids and you can imagine the agony.
At long last, The Cult take the stage at around nine fifteen and not a moment too soon in my view the venue is now packed to the rafters as the show has ‘sold out’. Opening up their set with the new song Everyman and Woman is a Star it’s a slow and steady prelude to a one hour and forty-five minute show which is dazzling in its magnitude. I’m right at the front and when they kick into their second song of the evening, Rain all hell breaks loose, I manage to keep pace (just) with the madness that ensues. The pacing of The Cults set is very much up and down the third song is the more demure Horse Nation from their first album Dreamtime while things get heavy again with Sweet Soul Sister immediately after that. There’s a distracting projector screen directly behind the drummer highlighting imagery which fits in with the songs, the members of the band seem mostly to be playing in twilight, this is a trend that seems to be creeping into rock shows more and more of late. In the twilight zone is lead singer Ian Astbury who is feeling the heat, I’m not surprised, he never takes off his thick bomber jacket and leather gloves the whole time he’s on stage. Billy Duffy (lead guitar) looks way cooler as does Chris Wyse (bass) and John Tempestra (drums); Mike Dimkich (rhythm guitar) however just looks weird. With a small interlude mid set to screen a short film shot by Mr Astbury in South Dakota or somewhere leaving the crowd bamboozled (BAFTA winning? Not!) The Cult re-emerge to play another new song, the ballad Embers and as the show nears its conclusion some heavy weight songs such as Wild Flower, She Sells Sanctuary and Love Removal Machine are unleashed which sends Rock City wild! Seemingly finishing off their set with Spiritwalker from their first album, The Cult then surprise us with the final song of the night, a bonus indeed as they wind things up with The Doors cover Break on Through (to the Other Side) not altogether surprising, Astbury having sung for The Doors in the past. At one point during the show a guy in the audience shouted for Dirty Little Rock Star to which the enigmatic front man replied ‘don’t talk to me about rock and roll, it’s my job’ Ian Astbury and The Cult were definitely ‘born to this’… GD.
