It is some time since I saw The Cult live. In fact it is almost 40 years! How time flies and it does not seem that long ago. The NE1 site said of the concert: “Commemorating their 40th anniversary, The Cult arrive at Newcastle’s O2 City Hall with the ‘8424 Tour’! Expect to hear tunes from their 11-album discography with this celebration of their groundbreaking music and undeniable influence in the industry.” 11 albums. Wow!
The announcement was made thus: “The Cult have announced details of a UK tour, which will celebrate their 40th year as a band. Announced today, the shows are set for later this year and will see the iconic ‘80s rock group perform in 10 cities across the country. The dates come in celebration of a huge milestone for Ian Astbury and co., as this year marks four decades since the band formed as we recognise them today – swapping their name from the original title ‘Death Cult’ into ‘The Cult’.” But first, let me reminisce.
I have seen The Cult twice before. The first was at Redcar Coatham Bowl when the band were morphing from Southern Death Cult to the cult, the band at the time were known as Death Cult. The second time was when they had fully morphed into The Cult as a full electric band. I also saw Ian Astbury “playing” the part of Jim Morrison in a later incarnation of The Doors. Sadly, at the time I was not writing a lot on each concert and running one into another. This was because I was trying to catch up and record all of my past concerts . It took me five years, getting up one hour early before work every day and doing one entry each morning.
My blog entry of the time says: Death Cult Redcar 1983 and The Cult Newcastle 1985.
Ian Astbury is an interesting and impressive guy. He was born in Liverpool, lived for some time in Canada, and discovered music through The Doors, punk and Crass. I first became aware of him in Southern Death Cult, first saw him live in Death Cult, and then in the later incarnation of the band, The Cult. My first encounter with Ian Astbury was in the Death Cult, at Redcar Coatham Bowl in 1983. Ian was sporting a painted face and bandanna, strutting his stuff to the goth / new wave music of this post-punk supergroup, which he had formed with Billy Duffy from Theatre of Hate. Pretty impressive stuff, but just a taste of the rock splendour that was to follow a couple of years later.
The next time I saw The Cult in concert, they had transformed into a fully-fledged rock band and were touring to support the Love album. “She Sells Sanctuary” had been high in the charts for a number of weeks, and their new single “Rain” had just been released. Ian was now very much the heavy rock god. I remember being particularly impressed by Ian’s performance and by Billy Duffy’s guitar playing that night. I had a seat pretty close to the front and recall that the gig was very LOUD; my ears were ringing for some time after. “Love” and the follow-up “Electric” are both great albums, the former more psychedelic rock, and the latter much more hard-rock oriented. The City Hall concert was pretty electric, and the band went on to tour the USA to new phenomenal success.
The next time I saw Ian he was fronting The Doors (of the 21st Century) at Manchester Arena in 2004. The line-up of this incarnation of The Doors was Ray Manzarek – keyboards, vocals; Robby Krieger – guitar, vocals; Ian Astbury – lead vocals; Ty Dennis – drums, percussion; Angelo Barbera – bass guitar. Drummer John Densmore declined to take part in the project and sued the other band members over their use of the name. I had mixed views about going to the gig. The last time I saw the band (1972) Ray and Robby took vocal duties and the set was largely new material. The picture, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, shows the line-up of The Doors that I witnessed in 1972.
This time it was clear that the set would be classic Doors and Ian was almost mimicking Jim Morrison. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about that, and how appropriate it was. However we (I and my son David) did attend, out of interest as much as anything. The 20,000-capacity venue was nowhere near full, I would say it was a quarter full if that. We had great seats a few rows from the front. There was no support act, and the band were onstage for a couple of hours, the set consisting of a selection of Doors classics. One disappointment for me was that they didn’t play “Riders on the Storm”. Picture of Jim courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
But putting that aside, this was a great gig, which Ian carried off well. He looked like Jim, was dressed like him, and must have studied videos of his movements. As a massive Jim Morrison fan, Ian must have been in his element. We had many of the old songs, a psychedelic light show, and a band with two original members. It was just great and made me realise how amazing The Doors must have been in the day.
And so we move to the current day and The Cult 8424 Tour at Newcastle City Hall 2024
The support act was very weird. He was a guy called Jonathan Hultén, who was the original guitarist of the Swedish death metal band Tribulation. He was dressed with some very strange sort of cone above his head. At times he disappeared into a bizarre looking tent. This is the best I can describe it (have a look at the images). His website read: “Building on the haunting beauty of his 2020 debut album Chants From Another Place, Swedish songwriter Jonathan Hultén returns today with news of his highly-anticipated follow up Eyes Of The Living Night, set for release on 31st January 2025.”
“While going through this trial, you also discover hidden treasures along the way—important emotions and insights—that help guide you on your path through the seemingly endless night. When you finally reach the burning candle at the heart of the labyrinth, you realize that all along you were on a quest to find all those hidden treasures, and that they actually were things you had once lost—namely, parts of yourself.” It was clear that the guy was trying to take us on some sort of spiritual journey, but more of that later. I found him strange, intriguing, entertaining in terms of his performance art and his music. A great introduction to another spiritual journey.
Guitarist Billy Duffy said of the new tour: “Following up from the great energy of Death Cult 8323 shows, I’m looking forward to bringing that sense of celebration of the band’s music, and the communion with our fans, to Cult 8424. CFFC. Let the ceremony commence!”
And ceremony was the right term to describe the event. This was a coming together of the electric and Goth tribes, to a ceremony which celebrated the life of an iconic band. I did not realise just how much The Cult fans idolised this band until this concert. The City Hall was absolutely crammed, and Jackie and I were perched high above the crowd looking over the proceedings. It seemed that everyone was dressed in black, and the majority appeared to be what, one would term, Goths.
And, it seemed like Ian Astbury had morphed back into their Death Cult days. Ian was wearing a bandanna and black tunic which was almost like a Gothic dress with a short skirt. See the pictures and you will see what I mean. Billy Duffy remains the consummate electric guitarist. These two original members swirled through their back catalogue. The lighting was dark, sometimes red, sometimes blue. This had become a spiritual gathering of the clans and a celebration of the music of The Cult from 1984 to 2024, hence 8424, spanning 40 years and matching the period since I last saw the band. The crowd went crazy.
To be honest, many of the songs were unfamiliar to me. “Sweet Soul Sister” was familiar and reminded me of the 1984 tour when I saw glimpses of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin coming through the performance. If you look at the titles of some of the other tracks that they played you can see the sort of vibe that this band carries with them: “The Witch”, “Lucifer”. Say no more. By the time The Cult reached the encore we were back on familiar territory. The closing song just had to be “She Sells Sanctuary”. The crowd went absolutely crazy. Nuts. This band is magical and crosses the territory between pure Goth and electric heavy rock.
By the way does anyone who reads this blog know what Billie Duffy means by “CFFC” which he uses in the quote above? This keeps bugging me! Many thanks to Jackie for the photos, and Chris for manipulating the site. Oh, and I treated myself to a signed poster (see image) which was rather expensive as I recall, perhaps £75? What the hell. Well worth every penny.
Setlist: In the Clouds; Rise; Wild Flower; Star; Mirror; The Witch; The Phoenix; Resurrection Joe; Edie (Ciao Baby); Sweet Soul Sister; Lucifer; Fire Woman; Rain; Spiritwalker; Love Removal Machine.
Encore: Brother Wolf, Sister Moon; She Sells Sanctuary.
This was a return to experiencing 
The second return to experiencing Gary Numan was for my sister-in-law Elaine. My late wife and I took Elaine as a youngster, to see Numan on that wonderful first tour where a robotic Gary mesmerised us with his new blend of electronica, rock and pop music. Flanked by robot figures and a wonderful light show with music unlike anything we had heard before it was a great introduction to the world of Gary Numan. Elaine, then a teenage girl, just loved it. So this was her first outing to see Gary Numan since that experience of his initial tour.
Now I had seen that Gary had been touring again for some years now and kept meaning to go along and see him. His return to the City Hall, where we saw those early shows, was just too much to resist. And Elaine was looking forward to see what the new Gary would be like. I also was intrigued to experience Gary Numan again. So, lots of memories of great shows from a long time ago. Time, the lives of myself and Elaine, and Gary, have moved on. What would the show be like?
First up was support act French band Divine Shade. They were an electronic/heavy bass band clearly influenced by Gary Numan. Think a heavy Gary Numan/dark Depeche Mode/LOUD. They were really loud and we were down the front next to the speakers. We could feel the vibration running through us; just like old times and the first time I saw Black Sabbath when Geezer Butler’s bass hit me in my stomach. Excellent! A great start to the show. They clearly enjoyed it also. From their Facebook page: “Thank you Newcastle ! It was great ! Cool fact from the nice security gard, our little dressing room was the Beatles favorite one.” Now there is a fact I didn’t know!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Gary Numan this time around. To say he didn’t disappoint would be an understatement. He was fantastic from the very start, keeping the pace up right until the end. The set was a mixture of old and new. I was delighted that the second song was my old favourite “Me! I Disconnect from You” the lyrics of which now take on a new meaning in light of the fact that Gary has publicly mentioned his shyness. It brought back memories of that Wembley show over 40 years ago when I remember it as a standout song. Gary is very much the front man now, revealing more of himself to us, much darker, dressed all in black with red stripes running down his face. His music is louder, rockier and darker. He is flanked by a bass player and a guitarist each with shaven heads, wearing black skirts and large black boots. Quite menacing, dark and Gothic.
I hadn’t realised just how much Gary Numan’s music had changed over the years. I was clearly out of touch. He has stripped things down to the basics and produced a much darker, heavier sound. In front of us was a new, louder, more intense front man than the young boy Elaine and I experienced all those years ago. The old songs were given a much heavier treatment and included some of my favourites such as “Down in the Park”, “Cars” and closer “I Die, You Die”. Throughout the show Gary stood on stage sometimes pulling back on the mic stand, going down on his knees and then throwing his arms up in the air. Very much the show man. The crowd loved it and gave him one of the warmest receptions I have seen for a long time. Fabulous.
I got quite into goth music in the late 80s, and read a lot about Fields of the Nephilim. I was intrigued by their “dust and death” image; these guys looked pretty cool in their dusty leathers and large brim cowboy hats, straight out of a spaghetti western. Their music was a strange mix of doomy heavy rock, with soft growled vocals. Live they were a strange experience; very moody and challenging, but ultimately this was a gig I still remember to this day. This was the “Precious to the Lost” tour. 
The stage was filled with some sort of combination of dry ice, smoke or dust and the band were dressed in long ragged, cowboy clothes, covered in flour to give their trademark dusty look. The lighting was dark and doomy and the songs slow, rhythmic with strong bass lines and powerful vocals. I picked up a copy of their fan mag “Helter Skelter” at the gig. The picture on the cover will give you an idea of the band’s image. Their website also explains where they are coming from: “Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy, a seeker of the greater truth”. Their lyrics draw from the occult and related mythologies. This band still continues to this day, playing gigs every now and then and commands quite a legendary status. A setlist from a gig around that time shows the band playing the following songs: Preacher Man; Love Under Will; Endemoniada; Psychonaut; Trees Come Down; Celebrate; The Watchman; For Her Light; At the Gates of Silent Memory; Chord of Souls. Encore: Last Exit for the Lost; Moonchild; Phobia. I would guess that they will have played some of these songs at the gig I attended.
By 1985 The Cure had graduated to playing at Whitley Bay Ice Rink, which was a cavernous (and cold!) venue which was frequented by bigger bands during the 80s, before Newcastle Arena was built. By 1985 The Cure had hit the single chart on several occasions, including the superb “Love Cats”. I went along to this gig with my mate Dave, and we were both quite into the band at the time. I seem to remember that we both liked “Love Cats”. Support came from Hard Corps, who were a French band. 
By the time of this gig, The Cure were centred very much around Robert Smith, as band leader and the focus of the live performance. The Cure in concert had become much more of a rock / pop show, and Smith was coming into his own as a front man. Setlist: The Baby Screams, Play For Today, A Night Like This, Primary, Kyoto Song, The Blood, The Hanging Garden, Charlotte Sometimes, Inbetween Days, Let’s Go To Bed, The Walk, Push, Screw, One Hundred Years, A Forest, Sinking. First Encore: Give Me It, Boys Don’t Cry. Second Encore: You Really Got Me, I Dig You. It was over 20 years till I saw The Cure again, when Laura, David and I went to see them at Wembley Arena.
A year after seeing The Cure at the City Hall, they were back again at the same venue. The band were in their heavy goth phase, and this before they started to have serious chart success. Support came from Zerra1 who were an Irish band from the U2 mould. (Update note: I found another old Cure programme upstairs in my collection. It is probably from this tour, or another early tour, so I have added it here) 
Setlist: The Figurehead, M, In Your House, Cold, The Drowning Man, A Short Term Effect, The Hanging Garden, Siamese Twins, Other Voices, Three Imaginary Boys, Primary, One Hundred Years, Play For Today, A Forest, Pornography. Encore: 10.15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab, All Mine.
I saw The Cure quite a few times in the early days of their career. The first time that I saw them was at the Reading Festival in 1979, when they appeared low down on the bill on the Friday night. I remember that I had read a lot about them, and I’d also had heard the single “Killing an Arab” on the radio. So I made of point of being in the arena and watching them that night. They went down prety well, and showed some promise, even at that early stage. I also saw them at a gig in Newcastle University Ballrom on a Saturday night sometime in 1980. I also saw them as support act for Siouxsie and the Banshees at Newcastle Poly. Robert Smith played two sets that night, first with The Cure and then as guitarist for The Banshees. My favourite Cure song at the time was “A Forest”, and it probably still is today. By 1981 they had graduated to playing the City Hall. 
The great Cure gig list site 
Vintagerock's Weblog. 