1987.08.30 - Paramount Theatre, Seattle, USA

THESE GUYS HAVEN'T BEEN A CULT OF PERSONALITY

Sunday's rock show at the Paramount is the hottest double bill to play here in months. The hip and hot Cult, the hard-rocking, neo-psychedelic band from England, will headline, and the latest L.A.heavy-metal bad boys, Guns N' Roses, with ex-Seattleite Duff McKagan, will open.

The Cult puts out tight, exciting, powerful records _ its latest, "Electric,'' is among the best LPs of the year _ but doesn't always come through live, mostly because of lead singer Ian Astbury's arrogance. He likes to bait and insult audiences, which, if done right, can add an edge to a concert (and is certainly preferable to the insufferable ``You're a great audience''). But Astbury takes it seriously, tediously egging on the crowd between every song, ruining the set's momentum.

The two times the Cult has played here _ with the Divinyls at the Paramount a year ago and with Billy Idol last May at the Coliseum _ the band did explosive sets, but Astbury's unpleasant personality soured them. Maybe this time he'll give us a break _ but don't hold your breath.

What makes the Cult vital is its inspired mixture of two rock styles: feral, powerful 1970s metal (Led Zeppelin, AC/DC) and spacey, cerebral 1960s psychedelia (the Doors, Jimi Hendrix.) Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy filter those influences through their post-punk, 1980s consciousness, fashioning a raw, intense, driving sound that challenges audiences all by itself, with no need for any goading from Astbury.

Guns N' Roses, whose first album, "Appetite for Destruction,'' is just out, is in the Ratt-Motley Crue-Poison vein of raunchy metal, although its sound is rawer and meatier. Dirty words and violent images fill its songs, but its naughty pose is offset by some gritty garage rock that's full of passion and youthful intensity.

Blond-haired McKagan, 22, who plays bass, was around the L.A. scene before joining Guns N' Roses when it formed two years ago.

Because of him, the group played one of its first gigs here in 1985, a reportedly ragged performance. We'll see how much the band has improved since then.

SWEET HEART: THEY DON'T NEED FRILLS TO BE BEAUTIFUL

Heart and Tom Kimmel Saturday night at the Seattle Center Coliseum; and the Cult and Guns N' Roses last night at the Paramount Theater.

[...]

While Heart seems to have a good sense of itself, the Cult, the British group that played last night at the Paramount, is annoyingly unfocused.

The band is full of potential because of charismatic lead singer Ian Astbury, who's like a contemporary Jim Morrison of the Doors, and blond lead guitarist Billy Duffy, a proficient hard-rock bluesman in the tradition of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. But the band doesn't translate that talent into solid music enough of the time.

Occasionally last night everything coalesced into a groove, in songs such as the psychedelic-influenced "She Sells Sanctuary,'' which Astbury sang on the floor and in the orchestra pit; the monumentally sarcastic and funny "Love Removal Machine''; and the rocking "Wild Flower.'' And you can't go wrong with Steppenwolf's heavy-metal anthem, "Born to be Wild,'' which was the second and final encore.

But other songs never jelled, with Astbury tossing his long black hair, screaming, "baby, baby, baby, baby,'' and Duffy all over the guitar, while the other three band members jumped around wildly.

Astbury, looking menacing in an all-black outfit, including a big silver belt with the word "WOLFCHILD'' across the buckle, was as unpleasant as usual, threatening not to do "all his stuff'' unless the crowded shouted for it. As always, he had his little game of, "If you want us to play more you really have to let us know.''

Not surprisingly, his exhortations did result in more crowd response. But someone should tell Astbury that it's better to earn an audience's respect than force it.

"We're just British boys, we have no pretensions,'' Astbury lied, just after a tedious blues improvisation in which he said, "There ain't no Jesus, there ain't no Hitler,'' and complained that he couldn't understand how Sylvester Stallone "could take money for killing people.''

The show was opened by Guns N' Roses, a new band of tattooed heavy-metal bad boys from Los Angeles that has a wild reputation. But, while it rocked hard, the group wasn't as crazy as advertised, playing screeching hard rock with garage-band intensity and professional skill.

The music owed a lot to AC/DC but wasn't totally imitative. Guns N' Roses may have a rosy future.

GOOD HEAVY-METAL MAYHEM FROM TWO ROCK GROUPS

Great weather usually sends concert attendance into the cellar.

Not so with The Cult and Guns and Roses, two noisy rock 'n' roll bands that attracted a pretty good crowd to the Paramount Theater last night despite weather that was better suited to cruising than sitting around in a dark auditorium.Both bands did a good job of convincing their fans they hadn't made the wrong decision.

It was tougher for Guns and Roses, as it often is for any opening act. The Los Angeles-based heavy-metal band, which features bassist Duff McKagan of Seattle, has been labeled the band to watch by several fanzines.

Band members have been eager to play along with this advance publicity, promising music that is louder and raunchier than that of their predecessors - bands like Ratt and Poison.

But behind all the bravado is a pretty likable bunch of musicians. In particular, lead vocalist W. Axl Rose often tempers his fast and loose stage patter with a big-hearted openness toward his fans that suggests the group isn't taking this rock star stuff too seriously.

The group played a decent set that included a grinding version of ''Knockin' On Heaven's Door.'' Most of the band's music, however, was standard-issue heavy-metal.

The night really belonged to The Cult, a group founded several years ago in England and originally named Death Cult.

What's fascinating about this group is its clever fusion of everyday heavy-metal with late-'60s psychedelia, a la Jimi Hendrix.

There were moments when the show sounded like a musical flashback to the summer of '67, with lead singer Ian Astbury looking like a cross between Hendrix and the Doors' Jim Morrison in his black leather and feathered, wide-brimmed hat.

But The Cult's occasional moments of brilliance were followed by typical '80s metal mayhem - roaring guitars, machine-shop volume levels and spitfire vocals (Astbury sounds like he gargles with snake venom).

Adding interest to the show was a futuristic stage equipped with four sets of stairs and a lighting system that showered the stage with tiny, star- shaped patterns of light.

Astbury, who occasionally allows his ego to get the better of him, kept his between-song chatter at a minimum, allowing the band to spend most of its time on music. The best songs of the evening included ''She Sells Sanctuary,'' the group's 1985 single.