Live Review: The Cult, Redcoats

Melbourne psychedelic rockers Redcoats warm up the crowd with their droning, fuzz-heavy grooves, powering through their atmospheric material. The mix is great and they save first single and triple j favourite Dreamshaker for their final number. They finish with an extended jam section featuring a ripping guitar solo.

The Cult have a bare bones stage production, giving tonight's show the vibe of a large club gig. The floor is packed by the time Wildflower starts and the band sound like they're in top form. Billy Duffy's massive, razor-sharp guitar sound is phenomenal. However, Ian Astbury has long been a temperamental performer and tonight is no exception. Astbury craves and feeds off the crowd's energy, and our perceived lack of excitement during Wildflower has an immediate effect. Through Peace Dog Astbury seems apathetic, skipping lines and singing well below his best. He tries to fire up the crowd between songs with comments like, “We're here, we're ready to go! WAKE UP!” and, “What's the matter? Is it past your bedtime?” He's also distracted by the presence of smart phones, asking, “Do you want to take pictures, or do you want to rock?”

On the upside, Billy Duffy is an old school guitar hero and his playing and guitar tone are fantastic. Duffy's immaculate performance saves the show, as he wrings out classic rock riffs from his Les Paul and chiming lines from his Gretsch, demonstrating his mastery of the guitar in an impressive display.

After Electric there's an intermission as Astbury introduces a short film by artist Kostas Seremetis, featuring a remix of Elemental Light from The Cult's most recent album Choice Of Weapon. The second set begins powerfully with a great rendition of Rain and Honey From A Knife goes over well, but Lucifer and Embers struggle to maintain the newly won momentum, although Astbury finally gives his all on Embers. Understandably Astbury is more enthusiastic about the band's recent work, but he needs to follow Duffy's lead and give each song the effort it deserves. His vocals improve marginally toward the end of the gig and Rise from underrated album Beyond Good And Evil and classics She Sells Sanctuary, Sweet Soul Sister, Spiritwalker and Sun King provide a stronger finish.

Tonight's gig has its moments, but it could have been so much more had Astbury focused on delivering a killer vocal performance instead of relying on the audience to inspire him.