Live Review – The Cult -Brixton Academy 27th Feb- Wicked Spins Radio
The Cult Brixton Academy Sat 27th Feb
By Richard Dogstate
Bringing it home in what seems like an age, The Cult are back on our shore reinvigorated and re-energised, news has been reaching us from the States that The Cult are really on fire at the moment. Always looking for new innovative ways to reach their audience (first band to release cassette singles / first band to release CD eps with live tracks and non album tracks / first band to release internet capsules of songs and video) The Cult have been building up some internet steam with a run of video-singles, shared online and spread worldwide through fan pages.
It’s certainly worked a treat the new album Hidden City has struck a chord with fans old and new reviving some of The Cults classic sounds and motives and reinterpreting them within the riff machine that is Billy Duffy. Added to this some of the live footage put up by stateside fans have left us salivating. Tonight Brixton Academy is rammed, from stage to bar, the joint is heaving with Cult fans. Some who have followed the band the whole of their career other who jumped off part of the journey but now wanting to jump back on. The area around the Academy may have been socially cleansed since The Cult first played this venue in the mid 80s but it is great to see that The Cult maintain their rawness and passion. Tonight they are at the top of their game, and when The Cult are up for it quite simply they are one of the best live bands ever.
Colossal riffs are hammered down with tribal rhythms and beats. Ian Astbury one of the best frontmen of his generation looking lean and mean, infinitely more mobile than in recent tours thanks to knee surgery, (all those years of stage diving!). The Cult deliver an incredible set tonight. Opening with the guitar driven Dark Energy then effortlessly diving straight into Rain, they have the Academy literally shaking, the building is shaking, the floor, the walls, the foundations are all moving. Astbury shakes off some monitoring issues by simply ripping out his in-ears and just going into overdrive. Just when things could calm down Duffy rips into Wildflower and the place goes tits up again, people attempting to get to the stage, people being carried on shoulders. The shear joy of the audience is something to behold. Duffy like a Rock’n’Roll general marshals the band and pushes them riffs out effortlessly. New bass player Grant Fitzpatrick and guitarist keyboard player Damon Fox really add to the band sound and seem to get more roll out of drummer John Tempesta. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen The Cult this good since The Cult Revolution is on The Street Tour in support of the goat head album. Over the recent few years Astbury has seemed a little bit hesitant to shoot his gob, always one to be at the forefront of a worthy cause (Tibet, Dafour, Human Rights, Native American rights) he has admitted to being a bit hesitant, to having been burnt one time to often. Lets not forget all he had to do was grow a beard to make front page of the NME where he was championed as the voice of his generation to then be shot down in flames.
Tonight Astbury is at his best, still fighting the system. “Let’s see some action up there! And you guys on the small balcony…. wait… you’re all fucking record label people…. yeah … look at them on their phones looking up who the fuck The Cult are on google, well google this”(gives the finger!). When the band pause very briefly between songs to swap guitars “Use this time to talk to each other, talk to the people around you! The system doesn’t want you talking to each other, when this is over tonight you’ll all go to wherever you’ve been forced to live”.
Highlights tonight are too many to recall but here are a few personal highlights for me; 1 hearing a packed out Academy not only belt out the classics but also the new songs, showing everyone is on board with this band. 2 an amazing rendition of angry blues track Gone (a rare outing) 3 Astbury explaining that Honey From A Knife was based around an incident where he was carrying a heavy knife wound and found himself outside David Bowie’s apartment on Lafayette (NYC) 4 The Cult’s encore blasting out a fabulous cover of Bowie’s Moonage Daydream and then one of the best live versions of Spiritwalker I’ve heard in years with Astbury going tambourine crazy. A massive thank you to my fairy godmother for the ticket, Paul Goodwin and his rock’n’roll guide dog Molly who saw every show of this tour (respect to you boss!) and all the members of the Sacred Soul / Universal Cult fbook page for their enthusiasm and shared mayhem.
Set List
