Fontana, California, California Speedway
Well. It was a great day. And weekend. A few friends
and myself got to the Speedway about 4pm. This is
after a late night Friday night too. We tail gated for
some time. That was fun. Playing our music, drinking,
conversation and watching the racing scene. The end of
the track we were on was pretty cool. You could hear
all the race cars coming around the bend. It was like
a wall of sound and roaring engines. I kept pointing
to the sky and saying "Days of Thunder" very
dramatically. ;)
At the end of the race and before we headed to the
stage they had a firework show that was a little short
but very cool and had a good climax. That was real
cool to see as we were very close while tail gating.
I actually called the office several times during the
week and they said there would be tickets left the day
of the race. So I went up to the window and bought
some tickets. The lady was nice and gave me a
discount. Pretty big one. I was happy until I realized
when it was time to see the band they did not even ask
to see the tickets! We could of just walked in and not
paid anything!
The place was very lively as you can imagine with
racing cars all around. We were about 50 yards from
the stage and Lil Devil starts. We start running and
jumping over trash cans and picnic tables with beer in
hand. The stage was about as big as the Kimmel show
and it was outside of course. But there was a large
screen on the right side of the stage that was pretty
cool. I would say there was 1,000 people or something
up by the stage and then of course people walking by
after the race. We got in snug in the crowd pretty
much in the middle. Great view. This show BLEW AWAY
the Kimmel show. By far.
The adrenilan was moving. The band really sounded
great. The sound system was great too. The band and
the set list was very familiar from when I saw them
several times last year. It was out in the desert and
it gets pretty cold at night but it was not bad at
all. Ian comes out with his bandana, hoodie and
jacket, jeans and white boots. Billy all in black.
Chris's hair looked longer. Mike exactly the same and
playing a Gibson SG most of the time.
The stage was not actually inside around the track. It
was outside in the parking lot area. I think Cal Jam 1
and 2 and more big acts in the 70's was in the area
too?
Guitars. Every few songs Billy and Mike would change
out guitars. Billy had his usual blond Les Paul's and
his big white Falcon. But then he had a new Gold Les
Paul and a black Custom that looked awesome. Great
sound. And Mike changed out for Les Paul's too when he
did not have his Gibson SG.
The video team I thought did well and I would look at
the stage and then over to the screen. Great shots of
them all including Tempesta behind Ian playing really
great and hard.
The set list follows. Take note that they played Edie
but it was not acoustic. It was electric. And Billy
introduced they have not played it that way in years.
We made our way to front and center with only a line
of people in front of us before the stage. At one
point between songs I yelled out Billy and he looked
over at me and smiled big time and waved. That was
cool. I have met him few times before and backstage at
the Henry Fonda.
It really seemed they were going to come out for an
encore but it never happened? The stage lights stayed
off so people waited and kept screaming out CULT,
CULT, CULT but they never came back. It was fine. I
think everyone got a real good fix.
Some points of note is that Ian did say some choice
words between songs. Like bashing American Idol which
I thought was great. He also said they are recording a
new album and this time there is no outside influence
and they are going to do it their way.
And as usual Ian gave a good vibe of real rock and
roll and people waking up with the scene on planet
earth today. I wish he would actually do more of that.
After the show we walked back toward the car and I
heard more cars driving around the track. So we RAN up
a ton the stairs to the top and went into the race
track to the fence and watched about 10 cars doing
laps and preparing for the race the next day
obviously. It was cool because we were the only ones
in the stand watching it. We watched the cars race
around right in front of us doing like 200 MPH a few
times.
Then we went back to the car and most of the cars were
gone so we did not have to do the cow cattle nightmare
and we drove back to LA and went to a party. Then we
went to Safari Sam's where the singer/songwriter from
L7 was playing and we saw a band called Nudist Priest
which was a totally naked cover band of Judas Priest.
I had no idea this kind of thing was legal but they
were doing it. Anyway, that's another story and place.
OMG. It was quiet the day. Then we closed that place
down and went back to the valley and went to an after
hour party and jammed! Got to bed about 5am.
There you go! The Cult was awesome. Can't wait for
more shows in LA and the new album. It will be very
interesting to feel the new material. I got a feeling
they are not going to do BG&E II.
Rob
Setlist
Lil' Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
Electric Ocean
The Witch
Spiritwalker
The Phoenix
Rain
Wonderland
Edie (Ciao Baby)
Fire Woman
In The Clouds
Rise
Wild Flower
Encore:
Love Removal Machine