The Cult @ UEA

The Cult come on to the theme from Ghost In The Shell which is a nice touch and sets a mystical feel to the proceedings. Ian Astbury, dressed in black with a Michael Hutchence mop of curls and Classic Rock Star Shades is quite clearly a natural born frontman; he’s brought his tambourine and is clearly up for A Show. They run through tracks from their new album as well as plenty of older material; new track Hinterland is an absolute beauty, and the others we hear are very well put together and sound totally up to date. The perhaps more familiar singles like Rain, Fire Woman, and Wild Flower all sounds really strong as well, and musically they’re great, with guitarist and Key Cult Member Billy Duffy the most outstanding by far. With an almost identical structure for each song, he bags a guitar solo every time, which although beautiful, majestic and full of passion, does get a bit repetitive. I also really enjoy the keys action, with some pleasing low key solos throughout the evening. The bass player and John Tempestra on drums are incredibly professional and tight, but don’t draw my attention strongly.  The lights tonight are amazing..nice job LCR.

As is pretty normal for Norwich the audience stands still, and in silence, with their hands in their pockets. This doesn’t mean we’re not enjoying it..we’re just a bit of a internal bunch; we’ll clap and hum along in our heads but we’re not massively demonstrative. Astbury picks up on the lack of movement  and clamour from the crowd after about three tracks and makes some rather barbed comments on our perceived lack of response. He likes us more by the middle of the set when the clapping starts to include some whoops, and by the end he seems much happier. Leaving the stage after the main set he encourages us to “let us know if you want to hear more music’. Well, yes. We know how to get ourselves an encore Ian..don’t be so needy while also so arrogant, dude. Strange to see someone of his heritage thrown slightly by a lack of reaction when, after all, people have paid over £30 to see the show tonight, proving that they bloody well do really love them. The track most of us are waiting on, She Sells Sanctuary, is belted out with slightly garbled lyrics, and it’s a wonder to me why the whole room isn’t bouncing and going mental; it really is a particularly sedate one tonight from most of the audience except for a tiny portion. So, a good show overall by one of rock’s greatest bands, but I think I can tick The Cult off as one of those bands it’s worth seeing, but perhaps only once. Also, as an aside, his trousers weren’t nearly tight enough. Ahem.