The Cult @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall – 8th October 2009
The Cult have joined the ever increasing list of bands who go on tour to perform one of their albums in its entirety; the chosen work being their 1985 album Love, prior to the release of the limited edition. The Wolverhampton Civic Hall seems to be filling up during the support act, Aqua Nebula Oscillator, who appear to be an unusual choice as they appear to be creating soundscapes. After queueing for an age to get a beer, I return to the Hall to see the band leave the stage so, unfortunately, I am unable to comment any further on their performance.
By the time The Cult hit the stage, the Civic Hall must be nearly full as there are people spilling out of the various doorways downstairs. Starting with Nirvana, the audience warmly welcome the band’s low key arrival and the band get on with their mixture of “post punk goth rock”. Noticeably, Ian Astbury is looking larger than usual and wearing a lot of clothes for a performance, including leather gloves and a wolf’s tail, all of which seem to hinder his movement around the stage.
During Big Neon Glitter, I become aware of how flat the sound is which, may be due to my position under the balcony, however, as the band launch into the pounding title track, Love, the sound appears to swell. This in turn lifts my mood is lifted as does Billy Duffy. Duffy is truly a guitar god mistakenly looked over by many, yet, tonight he is bathed in his own spotlight throughout the show, and he is very much deserving of it. After a slow and steady rendition of Brother Wolf, Sister Moon, during which I find myself concentrating more on the images displayed on the screen than the music being played, The Cult unleash an old favourite, Rain. The crowd become more animated during this track and you get the feeling that a number of people are taking a trip down memory lane whilst listening to this album. The Phoenix and Hollow Man pass by with minimal incident bar Duffy’s occasional iconic windmills. It was strange to hear the band’s most famous track, She Sells Sanctuary, being played in the middle of the set, regardless of it being overplayed, the song raises the audience’s level of response through the roof. I am surrounded by people singing at the top of their voices and loving every minute of it, which demonstrates what great single it is. Unfortunately, the song also illustrates Astbury’s lack of effort as he seems unable to clearly pronounce the lyrics and seems to be being carried by the crowd rather than the other way round, in fact the only thing he does seem able to produce is a ridiculously large tambourine. Black Angel brings the Love album to a close and as the band leave the stage, I can’t help feeling cheated and hope that a gem sits within the encore.
The band return and, at least, Astbury has shed his leather gloves for the start of Electric Ocean which is followed swiftly by Wildflower. During Wildflower, Astbury seems to have raised his game and his vocals demonstrate the power he is capable of. Sun King and Rise remind me of why I love The Cult; they are great at writing rock’n’roll, and when they are on form, they are great at performing it too. Dirty Little Rockstar leads up to Fire Woman, which Astbury mumbles his way through, missing a fantastic opportunity to show the audience a glimmer of his brilliance. The set finishes with the rifftastic Love Removal Machine which I thoroughly relish in and frustrates me further. As the band leave, I can’t say that I have regretted watching the show but, having seen them a number of times previously, I feel that they did not give the audience a quarter of what they are capable of. Astbury has spent too long in The Doors being Jim Morrison, unfortunately, Morrison was at his greatest in his fat, bearded days, something that Astbury has failed to achieve.
Review – Toni Woodward
Sadly I did see the support who were simply shite. The noise was not in tune and it was hard to distinguish where one noise ended and another began. It’s truly 25 minutes of life we’ll never get back.
A ‘source’ said that Astbury was unwell, and the set may be cut short, it wasn’t, but he didn’t look great, more Jim Royle than Jim Morrison, but he got through it and did a full set. Granted his vocals weren’t great, but he was unwell, apparently, and is 25 years older than when Love came out, plus he’s never been the best vocalist, he still has the American accent despite coming out of Bradford!
Billy Duffy is s true guitar hero, massively under-rated. I thought they were great overall, and I’ve got everything crossed they tour Electric when that’s 25 years old, Let’s Rock!!
I didn’t know that Astbury was off colour, that does explain his lack lustre performance.