When the announcement came out last year that The Cult are scheduled to play Gröna Lund I immediately marked the date in my calendar. I had seen them live once before in Bucharest in 2012 at a festival on a day where Guns & Roses were headliners. All I remember from that day, way before I had a phone to take photos, is that I was revolted that they were an opening act, when, in fact, they were better from every aspect. Unfortunately, I somehow didn’t write a note about that gig, so all I have are my memories.

The Cult was brought to me by VH1 and their late night Friday Rocks programmes. I can’t even remember which song I saw first, but I remember that from them all Edie (Ciao Baby) stuck the closest. I could spend 3 hours glued to the tv on Friday nights, if one of their songs was played, the night would be considered a success. I think I even have an old VCR tape back at home on which I recorded the end credentials of Gone in 60 Seconds that run on their single Painted on My Heart. Across the years I’ve blended my musical taste and mixed genres and bands, but some of their songs were constants in my playlists. But for this concert I didn’t know what to expect when it came to my reaction to their music. I spent the recent train journey back from Oslo listening to some of their recent live gigs just to get familiar with their sound. And one day after arriving home, on a beautiful Summer evening, I went to Stockholm’s amusement park Gröna Lund to see them play live.

I didn’t get there too early, yet there weren’t so many people in front of the stage. This allowed me to find a good spot. I was slowly surrounded by people of all ages and I was surprised to see in the crowd goths, punks, a guy wearing a The Cult t-shirt from 1987 and a lot of very happy people. I felt a bit young in the audience, but I definitely wasn’t the youngest. Once the band stepped on stage I think they had us in the palm of their hands from the first note. The concert opening was In the Clouds. From my spot I had a very clear view of Ian Astbury, The Cult’s charismatic lead singer, and I was right in front of Billy Duffy. The two are the band’s founding and constant members, having been in the line-up across more than 40 years. Ian’s presence on stage is absolutely hypnotising, he engages the audience, makes eye contact and throws them tambourines. In Gröna Lund he spotted a kid on the terrace of the restaurant next to the stage and executed a perfect throw of such a tambourine. The kid, maybe around 12-13 years old and wearing a metal band t-shirt, couldn’t be more than excited to catch it. He also spotted a little child in the audience and gave the parents a pair of earplugs. It is really hard to take your eyes off him, it’s like he was meant to be the lead of a rock band. The aura and charisma he brings on stage are mind-blowing and complete his role as a singer. He still wears a bandana and sunglasses. It left me wondering what it would have been like to see him play live in the prime of The Cult’s years in the 80s and early 90s. When he allows his voice to take off, there is a real satisfaction in hearing them live.

The second song that they played was Rise which was released and aired a lot on tv when I was in high school. I had forgotten this song even existed and I was surprised to see that I still know the lyrics by heart. They took us on a journey through their music, and each song had us dancing. Wild Flower was well received by the audience, but then of course everybody was waiting for the classics. I wish I didn’t have to see Edie through the phone screen of the guy who snuck in front of me. Though I am all pro filming snaps of a concert and taking photos (as I mentioned above, I have no pics of their first gig that I saw), sometimes filming a whole song is a bit too much, especially when it is a crowd favorite. They played the song mostly on guitar and voice. This took away parts of its 80s hard rock spirit, but it allowed one to hear the raw music in its composition. The lyrics are beautiful and the guitar part is very catchy. Rain got us all dancing and we kept on dancing into Spiritwalker. She Sells Sanctuary was a bliss, and probably the best-sounding song of the gig. The band came back for an encore of Fire Woman and Love Removal Machine. Billy Duffy showed-off his guitar skills during the first song, while the upbeat ending of the last song placed the finale of the concert on a high podium. Ian thanked us and encouraged us all to be kind. While he took a few moments to express his gratitude, at the end he also wanted to share something more with us, but the tech crew already cut off the microphone, which was unfortunate. I don’t think any of us would have liked to go home, as, even though they went through 16 songs, the concert itself lasted only about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Irrelevant to say that ever since then I am stuck on listening to The Cult. It’s like I’ve rediscovered the band. I had forgotten how much I like them. But I also discovered many songs that I wasn’t aware of, some older, some newer, and, while watching their videos, I’ve identified a few that I know now for sure that I’ve seen as a kid on MTV or VH1. I’ve also had time to dig into their musical history and re-watch their VH1 Behind the Music documentary, interviews and whatever else YouTube threw at me, because I’ve been stranded inside the house with a cold for 3 days now… And what better way to get myself to feel better than to immerse in the music of a band I like. And though their promo clips are fun to watch, I somehow went for full recordings of old and new live gigs. I’ve added them now quite high on the list of artists that I want to see live again. Soon. Please.