the Cult – Hampton Beach Casino – Hampton Beach, NH - 11.09.07

Posted by Jesse Coy on 11.24.2007

Does Ian need a geography lesson? Find out...

Both the Cult and Megadeth are on the same label. Two months earlier, I got a press pass for a sold-out Megadeth show at this venue. As for the Cult, I was told, “sorry, but we don’t have more press passes,” despite the fact that the venue told me when I called, “there’s still plenty of tickets left.” Well, under Roadrunner Records, the two bands have different handlers. The truth is, though, I’ll record a concert review in my journal and pass it along regardless. Will my review be less nice if I don’t get covered under my press laurels? Not quite… the honest bones in my writing fingers would not allow me to say something that I think is bad is good and vice versa.

That said, though, I equate it all to the art of airbrushing… when I go to a show on my own dime, I have no compulsion to airbrush out the blemishes, and right off, Ian, the Cult’s front man, pulled a really idiotic blunder. After two songs, he called out, “thank you, Boston.” Now, if an American band pulled that flub in Europe, you wouldn’t hear the end of it. Ian… you’re in New Hampshire. Members of the audience were quick to point out this error. It was a Spinal Tap moment.

Second flub? Talking about the new CD “reasonably priced and available here at $18,” he provided a dig against those who “stole the album by downloading it.” I’m sorry, but the fact is, here’s yet another release, Born Into This, which was issued by itself, and then not even a month later, it was reissued with a bonus CD. And get this… both discs can easily fit onto one disc. Cry me a river somewhere else, dude, until you stand your ground with your label and tell them to stop this crap. Otherwise, you come off as a rock star idiot.

I will say that he gained a half point back, though, by referencing Hermann Hesse’s Sidhartha between songs (as, like a Boeing 747, this reference flew over the heads of 99% of those in attendance).



All of this, of course, was during in between song banter. I guess I should get to the actual show. My only other non-song list observation was that guitarist Billy seemed rock star finicky over his guitars. He seemed disgruntled with his helper.

Before I get to the song list, I will say that when singing and not talking between songs, Ian has a great stage presence. I can’t compare this show to another Cult show, though, because it’s the first time I saw them. I did see Ian subbing for Mr. Morrison, though. Speaking of that, I almost feel that as front man of the Cult, he’s half Jim and half 80’s rock star. He has the rock star movements down. And he also plays a variety of different handheld percussion instruments… shakers and tambourine, for example.



As for a set list, too bad my ex-wife didn’t catch this one, because as an encore, they did play her favorite song, “She Sells Sanctuary,” followed by the title track of their new one, and closing it all with “Love Removal Machine.” I never heard that one before, being only three albums deep into the Cult, and one of those three is their newest one. Off this they also played “I Assassin,” “Savages,” and “Dirty Little Rock Star” (which I do like quite a lot). Of course they did “Fire Woman.” I would’ve been disappointed if they hadn’t. A couple other tunes I don’t recognize that I know they did… “Lil’ Devil” and “Revolution.” Ah, and as I look on the net, off there debut, they also did “Nirvana.” They played “Electric Ocean” (their second song).

Yee-haw! I figured out one of the tracks that was driving me nuts… I knew I recognized it. It was “Edie (Ciao Baby)”… you know, with the line “and the dogs laid at your feet.” Of the last four songs, one had a chorus of “she’s got what you need,” one sounded like “Fire” (that was the chorus), one sounded like “Mind Power,” and the last, I just have “Rhythm” written down with a question mark. Well, there you have it. It was the Cult on a cold New Hampshire (not Boston) evening.

The 411: Mostly I like to hear between song banter. On this occasion, it detracted, knocking my review down by a half point. Musically, as far as I can tell, these guys are still pretty solid.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]