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One of the most
influential bands of my lifetime has to be The Cult, who single handily
made the word Goth a household term, and who since their first live
performance in three years earlier this year, have been the buzz word
amongst the rock crowd with rumours abound about a new album and full
tour.
Well the tour part is true as the band
set about a full 11 date UK tour, something that has been a long time
coming for many fans.
So on to tonight’s show, well having read
some reviews of previous UK shows it was hard to make sense of what the
whole tour vibe was creating, so I was going to review this show on its
own merits and ignore any others.
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Well things didn’t get off to a good
start as well, as there being no support act for the UK show, this left a
lot of punters standing around for over 2 hours waiting for the band.
Plus the added headache of there being a problem with the on-stage power
just prior to the band being due on stage, meant that a further 20 minute
delay was added by this time.
The capacity Academy was a melting pot
of anticipation and frustration but at 9.25 pm all was about to be
forgotten as Astbury and Duffy walked on stage, accompanied by Mike
Dimkitch on rhythm guitar, Chris Wyse on bass and John Tempesta on drums.
The band quickly got down to business
with the set opener the classic ‘Lil Devil’ and it was clear to see that
all the waiting had been worth while. The crowd simply erupted into
a seething mass of bodies all united in idolization of their heroes. |
It was plain from Billy Duffy’s demeanour
that he wasn’t completely happy with the on-stage guitar sound he was
getting, but he continued never the less as the band continued to impress
with ‘Sweet Soul Sister’, a song that really got the crowd jumpin’.
Astbury asked if Newcastle was still the
wild rock n' roll town he remembered, to which the crowd gave an emphatic
reply and showed that Newcastle still know how to rock.
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The set continued with something a little
different as the band went into ‘Electric Ocean’ and excellent ‘The
Witch’, before really cooking up a storm with ‘Spirit Walker’ and
‘Revolution’. By this time Duffy seemed a lot happier with his sound
and went on to rip up a storm as the band went into the obvious crowd
favourite ‘Rain’.
But it was the acoustic cut back to the
minimum version of Edie (Ciao Baby) with just Astbury and Duffy on stage
that was one of the highlights for me, especially with the sing-a-long
section of the crowd.
Things got back to the rockier stuff with
a stirring rendition of ‘Wonderland’, then it was really time to rock as
Duffy let out the first few chords of ‘Fire Woman’, to this the place
simply erupted. The rock kept on coming as ‘Peace Dog’ and ‘Rise’
were not just played but unleashed onto the enthusiastic audience.
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As the set came to a close it was time
for the band to pull out all the stops and they did so in spectacular
fashion by finishing off with ‘Wild Flower’, another crowd favourite and
‘Love Removal Machine’, before leaving the stage.
With the crowd baying for more it would
be more than their lives were worth for them not to finish off the night
with ‘She Sells Sanctuary’. Which they indeed did and this rounded
off what had been a great set from a great band despite the long wait, but
what is two hours when some of the crowd had been waiting years to see
their idols live once more. |
