The Cult - "A Sonic Temple" Tour, Montclair NJ, 12/6/19

I saw the Cult's "A Sonic Temple" greatest-hits tour last night in Montclair, NJ and had a blast.

Some of you may remember my story about the last time I saw the Cult, which was in 1989 when they were opening for Metallica...and they sucked. Thankfully this gig more than made up for that shit show from 30 *gulp* years ago.

It was my first time at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ, a VERY cool place, esp. if you're a old-buildings geek like I am. The Wellmont looks like it must have been an old timey movie theatre and or vaudeville venue back in the day (there was a pic hanging on the wall of the lobby of the building in its heyday, with a traffic jam of '30s/40s era vehicles out front), and it's the kind of place where there really are no "bad" seats. My brother, my buddy Glenn, and I were in the balcony (we were advised to buy reserved-seating because the general-admission section in front of the stage has a tendency to turn into a clusterfuck) so we were basically looking down at the stage, with all clear sight lines. No complaints there.

The opening band was "Spirit Animal" from Brooklyn, NY. With a name like that, they certainly *sound* like they should be opening for the Cult but they were pretty crappy hipster rock. Thankfully their set was short. The kids down in front seemed to really like'em but they were too "beards & skinny jeans" for me.

After a half hour intermission, The Cult came out and opened with "Sun King" off of Sonic Temple, and we were off and a runnin'. I thought the show would be Sonic Temple in its entirety, but they mixed it up -- the S.T. tracks were played out of order (they saved the big hit, "Fire Woman" for the end, of course), mixed with an assortment of killer tracks off of Love ("Rain," "She Sells Sanctuary), Electric ("Love Removal Machine," "Lil' Devil") and even two from Beyond Good & Evil ("Rise" and "American Gothic"), which I wasn't expecting because it was not a particularly "big" album for them. Ian Astbury must buy his trademark tambourines in bulk, because it seemed like he tossed one out into the crowd during every other song. By the end, the only Sonic Temple tracks that weren't played were "Wake Up (Time For Freedom)" and "Medicine Train."

Ian's voice was in good form, it took two or three songs for him to get properly lubricated but once he was "on," bro was ON. Billy Duffy struck all the proper guitar-hero poses and shredded every solo.  I'm not sure who the guys on bass/drums or the onstage keyboard player were, but they did their jobs admirably, and let's be honest, Billy & Ian are and always have been the core of the Cult. (*EDIT: according to Google, the current drummer is John Tempesta of Testament/White Zombie fame.*) When they closed with "She Sells Sanctuary" Billy went up to the mic and demanded that everyone in the place stand up; after the song was over and they were saying their thank-yous and good-nights, he said that seeing everyone on their feet during "Sanctuary" "made my fuckin' night!"

All in all it was a killer gig and a much needed night out for yours truly, as it was my first concert in more than five years (!)... if the Cult is coming to a town near you on this tour, it is well worth the ride.

Some video evidence from YouTube:
"Sun King"


"Rain"


"American Horse"


"She Sells Sanctuary"

Nice! Sounds like it was a cool show. Doesn't look like they are coming anywhere near me though.

Sounds like a great show. Too bad they're not coming anywhere near me; I've really been into The Cult lately.

According to the Cult's FB page, the last gig of this Sonic Temple run was a few days ago in Boston. Apparently there will be new music from them in 2020.

I plan to get caught up on the last few Cult albums I'm missing (Choice of Weapon and Hidden City) in the New Year.

Oddly enough, since this show I have been listening to all of my Cult CDs on a semi-constant loop, and I ended up "re-discovering" 2007's Born Into This, which never did much for me previously. I never bought it when it was current, but when I picked up a used copy a few years ago. I played it once or twice, thought it was "meh," and since then it had been collecting dust on the shelf.

However, now that I've pulled it off the shelf it's been a surprisingly strong player. Don't know why 2013 Me didn't care for it. I must have bought some other stuff at the same time that over-shadowed it because now I'm digging it. Better late than never I guess. (shrugs)

I cannot say the same for their 1994 self titled album, however, which also got a few spins this week -- it's still a dull, directionless dud. Pfft.