I attended The Cult show at the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival on Friday, May 1st. The Cult played the time slot between Rise Against and the Steve Miller Band. They played on the outdoor Sam's Town stage right on the banks of the Mississippi River. I met up with Chuck Seven Eagles and Nancy ("Blondie"), who had flown in for this show. Nancy was already on the front rail at the right of the stage and Chuck & I joined her shortly before Rise Against hit the stage. Rise Against put on a decent show and the crowd that was there to see them was very enthusiastic with quite a bit of crowd surfing going on. After they finished some of the crowd up front left and so we moved down the rail a little bit closer to the front of the stage.

It looked a lot like rain just before the band came out but the rain held off and went around us to the north. It turned out to be a very beautiful night with temperatures in the mid-60s. When The Cult came out I noticed that Ian was limping and using a cane to help him walk. He said a little later in the show that he had been in the hospital 7 weeks ago and that he still wasn't 100%. Ian was wearing a black leather jacket, black pants, black headband, and sunglasses. They opened the show with "Electric Ocean"! This was the first time I had gotten to hear this song live. They then went right inti "Lil' Devil". The crowd was great and was rocking from the very start. The next song was "Sweet Soul Sister" followed by "The Witch, and "Dirty Little Rock Star".

Billy then strapped on his white Gretsch guitar and the band played "Edie (Caio Baby)". "Rain" was the next song followed by "Fire Woman". Before playing it Billy said that he guaranteed that the crowd would love their next song. Ian then said that their next song was for the young people in the crowd and the band played "Rise". The crowd was really going by this point. They then played "Illuminated" from Born Into This. Ian asked how many people had the Born Into This album and thanked the members of the Cult fan posse for their support. He also asked how many in the crowd were "Cult virgins" and several raised their hands. "Wild Flower" was the next song followed by "She Sells Sanctuary". The crowd went crazy on these songs. The band then left the stage and the crowd went nuts and they came back out and played "Love Removal Machine" much to the delight of the crowd. Ian then introduced the band to the crowd, thanked the fans for coming, picked up his cane and left the stage with the rest of the band.

Chuck, Nancy, and I left the festival before the Steve Miller Band played and walked down past Beale Street to Huey's and had a late dinner. They were flying out on Saturday morning to Las Vegas for The Cult's show there on Saturday night and I had a couple of hours drive home so we bid farewell and brought an end to a great evening. It was great to have met Chuck after so many years and to see Nancy again (I had first met her at the Cult's show at Beale Street Music Fest in Memphis in 2001). All in all it was a great evening!

Electric Ocean
Lil' Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
The Witch
Dirty Little Rockstar
Edie (Ciao Baby)
Rain
Fire Woman
Rise
Illuminated
Wild Flower
She Sells Sanctuary
Love Removal Machine