The Cult at Skogsröjet
British rockers The Cult showed us they are still relevant with a headline gig at Skogsröjet.
The Cult at the Skogsröjet festival in Rejmyre, Sweden on 2nd August 2024
In the second half of the 1980s, The Cult cemented their place in the rock world with the albums “Love”, “Electric” and “Sonic Temple”. But it is no longer 1989. It is 2024. Thus, I didn’t know what to expect from the band’s headline gig at Skogsröjet. The band’s core creative duo, lead vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy is still there. They are joined in the current version of the band by John Tempesta on drums, Charlie Jones on bass and Mike Mangan on keyboards.
As the band walked on stage and Billy Duffy started playing the beginning of the song “In the Clouds”, the air felt electric. By the time The Cult appeared on stage, the beautiful and warm summer day at this terrific outdoor festival deep in the Swedish countryside had turned into a dark and cold late evening. It was a fitting setting for a band that started as a goth-rock band in Bradford in northern England in 1983.
I expected that Billy was still a great guitarist (he was!) but I was unsure if Ian Astbury’s characteristic voice would still be intact. It was. He sounded like he was singing in 1989. What a splendid voice he has. The show continued with “Rise” from 2001’s “Beyond Good and Evil” album. A terrific musical performance of The Cult’s fantastic catalogue followed. The band didn’t play any songs from its two most recent albums, 2016’s “Hidden City” and 2022’s “Under the Midnight Sun”. But we got to hear plenty of earlier favourites, including “Wild Flower”, “Star”, “Resurrection Joe”, “Sweet Soul Sister”, “Fire Woman”, “Rain” and “Spiritwalker”. The flawless set was finished off with “She Sells Sanctuary”. What a gig! This was a perfect headline gig by a terrific band that has still got it.
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