LIVE: THE CULT with MAYATRIX & THE PSYCHICS – Perth, 30 Nov 2024

LIVE: THE CULT with MAYATRIX & THE PSYCHICS – Perth, 30 Nov 2024
Metro City, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Linda Dunjey

Metro City is heaving tonight, a crowd of diverse ages eager to see The Cult in all their shamanesque glory… but something’s not right.

For starters, the venue – never a great place to see a band, due to a ridiculously non-functional design only a feral cokehead could have thought up – run out of beer before 9pm. Many of the bar staff have never worked in a bar before – and it shows, their lack of experience and training ensuring supervisors are run ragged correcting mistake after mistake. It’s a ridiculous state of affairs… and then we twig on a possible reason why. Multiple signs adorn the men’s toilets, telling people what to do in case of an adverse reaction to illegal drugs. “Medics will help. Dial 000 ASAP. They won’t call the cops.”

It’s an unsubtle reminder that we’re in a (allegedly) notorious drug club, not a venue conducive to a night of great rock n’ roll, and try as we might it threatens to overshadow the reason we’re actually here.

Which is, for starters, Mayatrix & The Psychics. Frontwoman Moana dances to the beat of her own, witchy, gothic drum, delivering a set of fantasy-laden heavy rockers that are unique and intoxicating. Mega riffs atop rumbling rhythms, and Moana’s magnetic charisma is the dark star atop the XXXmas tree – theirs is a heady mix and it’s easy to see why they scored the coveted national support slot for The Cult.

In the break a roadie smudges every corner of the stage with a white sage stick – both on brand for frontman Ian Astbury’s spiritual, shaman image, and a meaningful and symbolic way to get the famously caliginous frontman in the right emotional state for the show.

They’re immediately in the crowd’s face, Billy Duffy throwing guitar hero shapes while Astbury is a hard rock hippy figure, thrashing a tambourine and yelping through In The Clouds and Rise, but the packed crowd is more vocal when they’re playing something more recognisable from the earlier days such as Wild Flower, Star or The Witch.

Despite a lot of echo on his vocals tonight, he still sounds great, and the band – bassist Charlie Jones and drummer John Tempesta – are on fire.

He’s not a big talker, our Ian, and he’s certainly not joking light heartedly at any point. He’s more inclined to pause between songs for a brief snippet of “wisdom” – though he may have been conducting a conversation with those down the front. Further back, all we heard was him saying the likes of “Hi. Make it count”, “broken – broken – broken” while pointing at different parts of his body, and later, “passionate – not angry! You can’t be angry, doing this – you have to FEEL it!”

Their famous hit Edie (Ciao Baby) is delivered acoustically by Astbury and Duffy, then it’s a blast through to the end with favourites Sweet Soul Sister, Fire Woman and Spiritwalker, and Astbury’s advice that “Anyone thinking of starting a band and getting into the music business… DON’T!” before a magnificent Love Removal Machine – in all its AC/DC-adjacent glory, Duffy’s huge Gretsch ringing out loudly – slams the door shut on the main set.

Brother Wolf, Sister Moon opens the encore, before the beloved She Sells Sanctuary ends the show, with Duffy exhorting cheers for his frontman, Astbury on his knees in a kind of prayer. He’s a mercurial chap, no doubt about it – but we like our rock stars to be enigmatic, at the very least, and Astbury is nothing if not that.

Set List:
In the Clouds
Rise
Wild Flower
Star
The Witch
Mirror
War (The Process)
Resurrection Joe
Edie (Ciao Baby)
Sweet Soul Sister
Lucifer
Fire Woman
Rain
Spiritwalker
Love Removal Machine

Brother Wolf, Sister Moon
She Sells Sanctuary

 

 

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries