Roy Jurgens on June 17th, 2019

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The Cult has always had a special relationship with Los Angeles, from their first show in 1985 at the Santa Monica Civic with T.S.O.L. and Tex & the Horseheads, to their appearance at the club Scream in 1987, to 1989-90, when at the height of their popularity they sold out the Long Beach Sports Arena, Irvine Meadows and two dates at the Universal Amphitheatre, all within the span of four months. L.A. is also where the two main engines of the Cult — vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy — made their home. So it made perfect sense that their adopted city hosted the culmination of their Sonic Temple Tour at a packed Greek Theatre on Saturday night.

Astbury and Duffy led their hired guns through a 16-song trip down memory lane, in front of a raucous crowd of longtime fans, friends and family, who stood for the entire set, singing along to every word. It is hard to imagine that 30 years have passed since the release of “Sonic Temple,” especially given the fighting shape of Astbury and Duffy, who, one could argue, were better than they were in 1989.

Despite their British lineage, the Cult were a perfect representative of L.A. in the late ’80s. Two very different scenes were relevant at the time: glam rock/metal on the Sunset Strip and the darker Goth-inflected post-punk happenings in Hollywood and downtown. The Cult were one of the few bridges between the two scenes, embraced by both warring factions. The early ’80s saw the young band from Bradford, West Yorkshire, morph from Southern Death Cult to Death Cult to, finally, The Cult, with their gothy debut “Dreamtime,” arriving in 1984. They hit their stride in 1985 with “Love,” a swirling psychedelic Goth-rock classic that would spawn their greatest hit, “She Sells Sanctuary,” and another, “Rain.” To the chagrin of many, they made a radical shift towards AC/DC-type meat-and-potatoes hard rock with 1987’s Rick Rubin produced “Electric,” a move that may have lost them some of their purist alt-rock base. But it gained them many more fans within the mainstream. “Sonic Temple” became their most successful album because it drew equally from the mysticism of “Love” and the swagger of “Electric,” combining the two seamlessly. “Sonic Temple” was in many ways the apex of their career, as shortly thereafter longtime bassist Jamie Stewart departed for good, drummer Matt Sorum left to join Guns N’ Roses, and the relationship between Astbury and Duffy had decayed to where they were rarely in the same room during the making of the rather disappointing follow-up “Ceremony.”

Something else of note occurred in 1990. Astbury found inspiration in a conversation he had with a Native American shaman and decided to create a music festival. The two-date “Gathering of the Tribes” was a throwback to the type of lineup that existed back in the 1960s — diverse in genre, race and generation. Featuring a lineup of Ice T, Queen Latifah, Iggy Pop, the Cramps, Soundgarden, the Mission UK, Joan Baez, the Charlatans, the Indigo Girls and more, Astbury shattered the idea that lineups had to be genre-specific. In many ways he deserves the credit for the type of festival that is commonplace today. In fact, Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell took the idea and ran with it, coming up with a little something called Lollapalooza a year later.

In keeping with the spirit of that festival, Saturday’s lineup (curated by Astbury) was eclectic and unconventional. Stylistically, Prayers, Zola Jesus and VOWWS are not remotely in the same galaxy as the Cult. Conventional wisdom would have had them book a few openers of the hard rock/post-punk variety instead. While Astbury deserves credit for his artistic direction, the crowd’s general indifference was quite evident, as all three openers played to a vast array of empty seats as much of the aged L.A. Goth-rock crew chose to remain outside the theater, drinking and smoking in reunion with old friends instead. VOWWS and Zola Jesus played accessible lush and emotive sets. However, Prayers’ cholo Goth performance flew over the heads of the flummoxed hard rock crowd. There were big cheers for Kat Von D, however, as she joined her husband and Prayers frontman Rafael Reyes for a song.

The sun set in time for the Cult to take the stage at 9 p.m., the opening strains of the “Sun King” bassline floating through the cool summer air as people rushed to their seats. By the time they roared into “New York City,” there was a good old-fashioned rock concert going on, not a soul in their seats. In all, the band played eight songs from “Sonic Temple,” including the hits “Fire Woman” and “Edie (Ciao Baby).” They reached all the way back to 1984 for “Spiritwalker” and nailed “Wildflower” and “Love Removal Machine” from “Electric.” “Phoenix” from “Love” was an absolute hallucinogenic trip, with Duffy riding his wah-wah pedal while the band chugged along.

It must be noted that past incarnations of the Cult could be a bit uneven live. This was definitely not the case on Saturday, as Astbury was in fine voice, his baritone hitting every “babayuh” and “yeayeayuh” with gusto. Duffy’s axe work was next to perfect, giving the impression that he could crunch these songs in his sleep. Not that he was lackadaisical in any way, just a bit too clean. A bit of haphazard “devil may care” attitude would have been appreciated. The rest of the band, John Tempesta on drums, Grant Fitzpatrick on bass and Damon Fox (of local prog greats Big Elf) on keys, delivered the kind of show one would expect from a band 35 years into their career.

Astbury seemed particularly grateful for the large turnout, as there seemed to be a question as to whether they could fill a 6,000-cap venue. Based on the turnout for Saturday’s show, they might have to go bigger next time. And yes, while there are no upcoming dates, Astbury and Duffy both expressed that the band was just taking a respite before hitting the road for stage two.

Photos by Roy Jurgens