Thunder Bay, Ontario, Community Auditorium
Opening Band: The Cliks
I was AMAZED that the Cult came to Thunder Bay. They played in our Community Auditorium. The Auditorium is
normally a sedate type place, where the audience stays seated during performances...but the Cult brought
us to our feet!!
When the Cult came on stage about 9:30pm, the packed audience started hooting and hollering. Then Ian said,
"Yes Thunder Bay, it's really us".
They started with Fire Woman. They played almost non-stop for about 2 hours...their last song was an
updated rendition of "She Sells Sanctuary", complete with vibrating guitar solo which replaced the original
sitar. Before "She Sells Sanctuary" Ian appeared on stage alone and spoke to the audience about commercialism,
VH1 and encouraged us to "forget about it". He encouraged us to look to parts of the world where there is
oppression, such as Tibet, and he encouraged us to google "Darfur", and the plight of the women there.
Ian had some personal message for the audience too....as I looked around the Auditorium I noticed that there
was an higher-than-normal First-Nations audience....during the later part of the concert Ian spoke about
First Nation issues. And he revealed that his mother was Metis, she was part Cree. Ian stated "Native women
kick ass. Native women are going to kick your ass." I loved it!! The aboriginal family next to me went
wild!!
What can I say about the Cult...I've loved them since I was a teenager in high school. This was a unique
concert in that it was a really big name, and long-lasting name, and a lead-singer with a conscience. I no
longer regard the Cult as a rock band, I'm going to look deeper into the lyrics.
peace
Splummer
I just got back from my trip to Thunder Bay to see The Cult. I am originally
from there and it was cool to see the band in my home town. I had good seats
about 5th row centre, perfect for watching the band and the sound was great
all night. The venue has really good acoustics. As the first reviewer said,
The Cult got a great reception and the whole place was on its feet from the
start. Funny, the four people front row center stayed seated all night. At
first I thought the seats were empty but then I could see hands clapping
after every song. The venue doesn't lend itself to a rowdy crowd and
security is pretty tight but they do let you stand and dance! :)
The band was tight and sounded great the whole night. They opened with 'Fire
Woman' and followed right away into 'Rain'. Ian didn't do a lot of talking
to the crowd; just the bits mentioned in the previous review. There little
interaction between the band members, especially noticeable between Ian and
Billy. The only person Billy talked to was his guitar tech heh heh. But they
were not in a bad mood or anything and the show and band energy was huge.
Duffy was scorching all night and his guitar sound was great. He played many
different guitars, very frequently his big fat white one. He really enjoyed
coming out in front of his monitors and playing over the crowd. Those in
front of him got some real treats when he was soloing. 'The Phoenix' was
incendiary and "Horse Nation' was also a stand-out. Billy seemed really
eager to play and was almost jumping to get into the next song making quick
guitar changes and fidgeting if Ian was talking. They played solid rock
right through for two hours- it was amazing.
Ian was singing really well all night. He didn't talk for many long
stretches but he introduced most songs by name and a bit about VH1 or Tibet
or aboriginals. He acknowledged all the first nations in the house before
doing 'Horse Nation' and 'Spiritwalker'. He threw his tambourine into the
crowd at the end of 'Spiritwalker'. For the encore Ian came out and did
'Holy Mountain' solo on the guitar before the band came out and finished
with 'She Sells Sanctuary'. After the encore, Ian threw many tambourines to
the same spot in the crowd. Maybe he was trying to get one to someone
specific and kept missing.
Tempesta was solid and, like the rest of the band, his drum sound was great.
Chris on bass was having a great time all night. He interacted with Ian more
than anybody, especially songs where he got the bass intro. Mike was wearing
a white and black striped shirt with a fedora and spent most of the night
bouncing and dancing. The energy of the whole band was really high.
I can't remember the exact setlist or order but here is a list of songs
played. (I don't recall if they played Sweet Soul Sister or not so I did not
list it, but it has been in most other setlists so they may have played it
and I'm all blurred out :)
Mahlon
Setlist:
Fire Woman
Rain
Electric Ocean
I Assassin
The Witch
Sweet Soul Sister
Edie (Ciao Baby)
Illuminated
Horse Nation
Spiritwalker
Rise
Savages
The Phoenix
Dirty Little Rockstar
Wild Flower
Love Removal Machine
Encore:
Holy Mountain
She Sells Sanctuary