There's only one word that can describe The Cult's only Florida appearance on their tour and that is flawless.
The entire evening featured a solid performance from a band who is definitely on top of their game in terms of performing live in concert. The band came on stage around 9:30pm in front of a near sold-out crowd and then proceeded to put on an incredible show in front of a very appreciative crowd.
In all my years of following The Cult, I never thought I'd hear songs like "Hollow Man" and "Black Angel" in concert, but they did and I'm eternally thankful. For me, the "Love" album is the record that started it all for me. The spirit of that record was and is immense, and the brilliant album came across well in front of the Hard Rock Live audience.
As far as surprises, there were two. First, Ian announced that the band will be entering the studio next week! And second, the band played "Sun King" instead of "Illuminated," which to me was a sound choice as I'm honestly not a fan of the latter.
It's been a long time since I've cried tears of joy, but they came flooding out during this brilliant performance by the five members of the band. Let's hope the band can coast in to the studio after the tour and rekindle the warmth, creativity and sounds that have made this one of the greatest rock'n roll bands of our generation. Long Live The Cult.
Best regards,
This show had the potential to be a real stinker for me. I convinced my wife (not a Cult fan and frankly doesn't understand my obsession with them) to go along for the ride from Naples to Orlando (about 2.5 hours) to see a band she could care less about. I'd been playing the Love album in the house for the past three weeks just so I could get her familiar with the songs. She still wasn't all that interested. My thinking was, nothing is worse than not knowing the songs at a show, I don't think it made a difference :-)
Anyway, we made the journey, stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel (met a fellow Cult fanatic in line at check-in), ate dinner and made the short walk over to the Hard Rock Live. What a great place to see a show! We had seats in the 3rd row of the center balcony, I'd say about 30 yards to the stage. Killer view...
At about 9:25 the lights went down and appeared the ominous indian eyes that have been all over youtube since the love tour began.
And then... The opening riff to Nirvana. Ian came on the stage looking like an unshaven homeless person the rest of the band pulled off the street to front them for the night. One word for Ian... SHAVE.
That said, when the music got loud... I was personally in 7th heaven, and managed to slip in my little digital camera and got about the first five minutes of the show before I got busted by security who threatened to take it away.
Usually at a Cult concert my attention is focused on the quality of Ian's vocals, because this was the 13th or 14th time I've seen them - and when Ian's been on the road for awhile his voice tends to get scratchy and he bails out of some of the heavy vocals in the songs that really demand it. In this show he was 50-50 - gave it his all at times, and at others gave a little "OH!" in place of a vocal.
This time around I decided to spend more time focused on Billy Duffy and John Tempesta. Even my wife the non-Cult fan commented about half way through about how great the drummer was. Me on the other hand for the first time really (I mean really, because I always knew he was good) realized just how great of a guitarist Billy Duffy truly is. Moreover, the whole Love album is a much more complicated affair on guitar than you would think, Billy was moving the slide all over his axe during the entire show. All in all, a truly impressive display of showmanship and guitar expertise that I've witnessed... umm, ever.
High points were Nirvana, Love, Rain, Hollow Man and Big Neon Glitter (several of those I never thought I hear live) - the encore was great and again I focused more on Billy's guitar which was spot on during Rise.
By the way, this was by far one of the most enthusiastic crowds I've seen at a Cult show in a loooooong time.
When the show ended I felt like a little kid in a candy store and even my wife conceded that even though she's not a fan of the band, she clearly understood why people like them. Little victories :-)