Live: The Cult

Thebarton Theatre - Mon May 10
Legendary rock stalwarts The Cult recently re-banded and thought they'd give the country a good going over for ol' times' sake. Rob Lyon jumped at the opportunity to tag along, so we stapled a notepad to one hand and taped a pen to other and told him to put the two together and various points in the night. Here's what he came up with:

It’s hard to believe that The Cult just rocked Adelaide and my ears are still feeling the after effects from one almightily loud show. For those who can’t remember the year was 1995 when they were last in our humble city. Their output has barely been a trickle in recent times, touring on the back of a solid back catalogue of hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s.

This night was all about commemorating the release of the Love album released some 25 years ago, played in its entirety. Fans of this iconic band are generally cashed up oldies who dusted off their old Cult t-shirts from in amongst the cabana cruise wear to rock out for what one would think would be their last tour here.

Fans were getting restless as it was nearly an hour before the main act had hit the stage but it was worth it once the opening chords of Nirvana were blasting through the speakers. Original members Ian Astbury (looking more like The Doors’ Jim Morrison) and Billy Duffy were joined by tag-alongs Chris Wyse, Mike Dimkich and John Tempesta. As they peeled through the highlights reel, the crowd went crazy for the big hits such as Rain, Revolution and She Sells Sanctuary. Wahoo! But like any album there are always a few duds and songs such as Brother Wolf, Sister Moon and Black Angel fell a bit flat.

At this point the Love album was played in its entirety with the band exiting stage left and returning for an encore of the hits. With the battle against the looming curfew there was time for the likes of crowd favourites Lil Devil, Sweet Soul Sister and Wildflower to get an airing. There’s no faulting the band, who were top notch and Astbury’s vocal were as good as they were all the way back when. It was pleasing to see a new generation of fans in attendance with a couple of twins decked out in t-shirts proclaiming their love for Billy Duffy getting the chance to join in on Fire Woman. Interesting to see that it took a bit of coaxing to get the twins to move away from Duffy to worship Astbury and indulge his ego.

It seemed like the night had come to an end with Love Removal Machine and as fans started leaving the band returned five minutes later for a second encore once the house lights were on. Wow! Spiritwalker, who would have picked that one? No doubt a great show and given how long it has been between Adelaide shows it would have been great to hear more hits.

Words: Rob Lyon
Pic: Benon Koebsch

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