The Cult Connection

The Cult, Victoria, BC

Royal Theatre / Sept. 19, 2024

The Cult returned to Victoria for a sold out show, finishing up their Canadian dates on their 8424 Tour, celebrating 40 years of epic rock.

Rock the Royal

Victoria was shaken out of a usual chill Thursday evening by the return of the powerhouse rock band, The Cult. An audience of 1,400 dusted off their rock t’s and tassels and were ready to rock out - well, once the energy in the room was cleansed. The entire set and gear went through an extensive sage ritual before the band hit the Royal Theatre stage which was right on brand for The Cult.

Connected and locked in

When the sage cleared, there was no doubt that the audience was locked in with Astbury, and he was feeding off that connection. It made for a great show, the crowd were on their feet and dancing in the aisles in a rare move in the venue.

Singer, Ian Astbury was on fire, his voice was crisp, powerful and he lived up to expectations - which isn't always the case after 40 years. The sound was clean but I thought I may have heard the old bricks rattling in the theatre as Astbury hit the mark on pretty much every track, with perhaps the exception of Fire Woman. While I usually love to belt out lyrics like most concert goers, it was no use trying to sing along since Astbury's voice leaves mere mortals in the dust.

The Cult delivered tracks spanning their career including the monster songs that made them rock radio staples like Wildflower, Edie, Firewoman, Love Removal Machine and the final encore She Sells Sanctuary. At the end of the show, Astbury introduced the rest of the band, longtime guitarist Billy Duffy, Charlie Jones on bass, and drummer John Tempesta (former White Zombie drummer) and sat down and gave us a little Namaste.

Photos by Mel Z - The Cult Victoria, BC, September 19, 2024

*A shout out to the Times Colonist for sharing a Mel Z photo in Mike Devlin's concert review,The Cult peels wallpaper, delivers hits at Victoria show.