[kj] The Cult @ The Hollywood Palladium

[fatpotanga]

I have never been able to take the IA seriously after this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOtRjguqfY4



On 25 Jun 2012, at 19:17, sade1 wrote:


> >

> From: TB <planetary at socal.rr.com>

> To: 'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)' <gathering at misera.net> 

> Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 9:56 PM

> Subject: [kj] The Cult @ The Hollywood Palladium

> 

> So on a last minute whim after waffling about going or not for weeks, I went to the Hollywood Palladium Saturday night and saw The Cult for like the 12th time dating back to the Love tour also at the Palladium in '86.  Went more just to go out and see some live music than anything else as I'm not a big fan of The Cult's newest album and I've kind of burned out on them recently.

> 

> Although I got in too late to catch the opening band which I guess was The Icarus File, I was very surprised how good 2nd support band "Against Me" was.  Pretty much off my radar but a really high energy band, kinda pop punk.  The entire hour plus set, they genuinely seemed happy to be playing to the crowd and the audience was very enthusiastic.  Drummer who came off as a wild Keith Moon type turned out to be Jay Weinberg, Springsteen's drummer's son.  Also put the dots together after the show that this is the singer who's announced a few months ago that he's a transgender turning himself into a chick.  Whatever.  The band rocks.

> 

> I will say The Cult still draws a pretty interesting mix of people to their shows.  Lots of old school punks, Goths, baby boomers, drunk, white trash knuckleheads, etc along with lots of younger high school and college kids who weren't even born when "She Sells Sanctuary" was released.  They bring in a *lot* of decent looking women of all ages too - way more than the Van Halen shows I saw earlier this month.

> 

> Cult came on around 10:30 and I have to say, put on a pretty routine, by-the-numbers set running only about 15 songs.  The fairly packed Palladium crowd was into the set to their credit, but it never came close to the kind of crazy, rowdy level the '86 or even the '95 shows I saw there did.  Basically played the 3 - 4 big singles from the Love and Electric albums along with one cut each from Sonic Temple and Beyond Good and Evil lps and maybe 4 cuts from the new album.  The real high point of the show was impressive performances of Spirit Walker and Horse Nation from their first album, "Dreamtime" in the encore.

> 

> Wasn't too impressed with the near overdriven, muddy sound way up front, which is typical for the Palladium.  The best place to hear was back off to either side on the floor.  Nor did Ian Astbury's vox do much for me.  Like many veteran singers these days, he's lost much of his former power in his singing and now gets easily winded and resorts to short, clipped bursts instead of singing as in the past.  Still, he's nowhere near the level Roth is now.  Billy Duffy is still the most poseriffic guitarist of any rock band I can think of, mimicking the Sonic Temple album cover when striking the signature notes for "Fire Woman."  Kind of sad to hear Ian say they're only going to play just a few new songs so (impatient) people could get to hear the hits like he realizes the past is all that sells tickets anymore.

> 

> All in all, not the best show I've seen these guys put on.

> 

> T.B.

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