Stiff Little Fingers House of Blues Anaheim September 8

The Cult delivered a nearly two-hour set at House of Blues Anaheim Friday night, attracting a passionate mix of dedicated fans, many of whom likely have followed the band from their dark, neo-psychedelic beginnings in the '80s to the masculine, Rick Rubin-spawned riff-rock phases that have followed.

The night should have been the nostalgic journey most appeared to want, as people were dressed and drinking like they were when "Love Removal Machine" first came out. They just needed the music to complete their transport backward.

But Ian Astbury, the Cult's larger-than-life frontman, made that journey impossible via whatever mental trip he was on, delivering one of the more disturbing evenings of music in recent memory.

The band started 35 minutes after an expected 10:15 set time. Of course, most concert-goers don't know set times and get there when the ticket says to. So after hearing people voice frustration through slurred speech because they had been at the Mouse House for hours, it was understandable when the Gen-X-heavy crowd started booing en masse ahead of the band taking the stage.

This purveying negative attitude was thrown right back at the crowd after two songs from 1987, Electric strutters "Wild Flower" and "Peace Dog." Astbury, looking more like a strung-out version of Dee Snider (present-day Dee at that, not Dee in his Twisted Sister heyday) than the robust guy who played the 2010 Musink fest in Costa Mesa, gave the middle finger to crowd members who were booing, telling them they were privileged to get a Cult show and that the band's music was going to "f*** them in the face."

Not surprisingly, a couple of parental sets with their children were the first seen hitting the exit early. They would not be the last.

The rift between audience and band might have been too big to repair anyway, given the annoyance of the concert starting at almost 11. But over the course of the show Astbury made it as hard as possible to like the band, so shockingly self-destructive that it was almost enjoyable for the mess it was. Many of his rants were delivered with such unintelligible language, it was hard to gather the content; when you could, you wish you hadn't. Agitation was the general sentiment.

"Rock 'n' roll isn't putting on a wig and parading on stage," he said at one point, quickly getting very dark. "It's putting a shotgun in your mouth and pulling the trigger. Real rock 'n' roll comes from nothing. I don't have any money. I spent it all on drugs and girls and cars and shoes. I'm nothing anymore. I'm a stain."

Things then turned surreal when a tambourine, tossed from side-stage whenever needed, struck Astbury in the face, opening a wound that bled an uncomfortably large amount. The wound might have called for an instant cancelation in most circumstances, but the singer just kept soaking up the blood with whatever he could find on stage.

According to security, an ambulance was backstage, but it was up to Astbury to go – which he never did. Instead, he continued to sing songs, blood covering his face, with the band (of which only guitarist Billy Duffy remains from their earliest days) giving the audience and each other apologetic and bewildered glances.

Since the first half of the set focused on most of Electric (the cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" was replaced by "Zap City"), other favorites occupied the remainder – and it was the bloody look and sheer intensity of "Honey from a Knife" that made the night unforgettable, with Astbury shouting "we got the drugs!" over and over. When he took off his sunglasses a little later, looking like a shell of his old self, pity overtook any disappointment or amusement that preceded it. (The photo, by the way, is from an Isle of Wight Festival appearance in 2011.)

The conclusion of the show featured the frontman repeatedly mentioning how they had once played Angel Stadium. A third of the crowd left by the encore, and those appearing to have the most fun were in states as oblivious as the singer's. He got one thing right: whether an unfortunate final chapter for Astbury and his band or just another unpredictably fouled-up appearance, this was indeed a real rock 'n' roll show – maybe too real for a Friday night at Downtown Disney.

Astonishingly, the Cult returns later this summer for two big L.A. shows, including a Wiltern gig on Sept. 7 that is nearly sold out, $25-$59.50, as well as a night at House of Blues Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on Sept. 8, $37.50.

Photo: Simone Joyner, Getty Images

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Source: https://www.ocregister.com/2013/07/27/late-night-cult-set-bloody-horrible-in-anaheim/

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