Death Cult in Dublin, Bournemouth and London (x2) in November 2023.
This post covers the 4 Death Cult gigs that I went to in November 2023, namely:
– 3Olympia in Dublin, Ireland on 7 November 2023
– 02 Academy in Bournemouth, U.K. on 16 November 2023
– Brixton Academy in London, U.K. on 20 November 2023
– Brixton Academy in London, U.K. on 21 November 2023
The photos below were taken in Dublin, Bournemouth and the second of the London shows.
I first heard the Southern Death Cult on the John Peel radio show, possibly their only Peel session in May 1982, or maybe the ‘Moya’/’Fatman’ single also released in 1982. I immediately fell in love with the band’s sound and my cassette recording of the Peel session was a constant feature on my cassette player. I managed to see them just the once, at Futurama 4 festival at Deeside Leisure Centre in Wales in September 1982. I was blown away by the band and although there were many other of my favourites playing that weekend, SDC were definitely one of the highlights of the festival. My mate taped the entire set, so I got to listen to most of their recorded and unrecorded songs pretty early on.
I continued to follow Ian Astbury once Southern Death Cult mutated into Death Cult and then into the Cult, and loved the guitar sound that Billy Duffy brought to the band. Admittedly, I did miss SDC but I was still a huge fan of the first 2 Cult albums, ‘Dreamtime’ and ‘Love’, and the first handful of singles. Their subsequent output from ‘Electric’ onwards were not at all to my taste, and I soon drifted away from the band.
So, when it was announced that the current members of the Cult would be playing a selection of songs from SDC, DC and early Cult days under the name of Death Cult, I approached it with just a bit of trepidation. However, I decided to bite the bullet and I picked up tickets for Dublin and the first 2 announced London dates at Brixton Academy. My fear was that they would play the old songs in the current “U.S. cock-rock” style of their later albums, all bloated riffs and American sounding vocals.
From the start of the first gig, it soon became clear that my fears were unfounded. The Dublin show was absolute magic, with the venue, the band, the sound, the crowd, and the setlist all pretty much perfect. I would have liked at least one more song from the SDC era, but if you are only going to play one, then it has to be ‘Moya’. I was really pleasantly surprised how faithful the band remained to the original sound and feel to the songs, with none of the overblown theatrics that I now associate with the Cult today. Ian came over as very humble, perhaps surprised at how well the songs were going down with the sell out crowd. Both he and Billy appeared to be enjoying themselves and appreciative of the audience reaction. A cracking gig to start off my planned 3 DC shows.
I enjoyed the Dublin gig so much, that I managed to change some of my travel plans to some other gigs and picked up a ticket for the show the O2 Academy in Bournemouth. No regrets for this decision either, as it was another brilliant gig and an opportunity to catch up with some friends from the Bournemouth area. Definitely worth the detour on my gigging travels.
Now back to my original itinerary with the first of the 2 nights in London at Brixton Academy, a venue that I had not been to for a while. The place was absolutely rammed for the gig and it was barely possible to move, let alone dance to the songs. I was stuck behind some very tall blokes, a bit of a way from the stage, so I decided that it wasn’t worth taking any photos. Although the band played as well as the previous 2 nights, tonight’s gig didn’t quite meet the expectations set by the previous 2.
The last of my 4 Death Cult shows, at Brixton Academy in London was definitely my favourite of the four. I managed to find a much better spot than the previous evening thanks to the recommendation of a mate, with room to move around and get some dancing in as well as photos. Great company before, during, and after the gig helped make it a fantastic evening. The band were on cracking form, with the added bonus of original DC bassist Jamie coming out to play on a couple of songs.
Any doubts that I had when they announced these shows were definitely laid to rest on the fourth evening. Ian and Billy seemed genuinely blown away by the reception they received. They have obviously moved onto other things since these songs were originally released, but they kept them pretty much faithful to the originals, much to my relief. Who knows, maybe they’ll decide to do some more DC shows again some time in the future. If so, I’ll definitely be there if I can, although I most likely will not be seeing the Cult again unless they do so. A firm 10 out of 10 for these shows and a most enjoyable step back in time.
