Concert Review: Cults Are Flower Children In NYC

Nowadays, to survive as an artist, you have to be able to perform. Still, there are degrees to how and where a performance warms a crowd. Some artists can tear the roof off an arena, but would rather one cave on them if they had to play for twenty people. Other artists are the polar opposite. Playing at Baby’s All Right, Cults were infectiously fun for an early show.

I had the pleasure of seeing Cults at MHOW and they were great, but, at Baby’s, they were amazing. They were playful and incredibly warm and chatty with the crowd. The room felt like a meeting between friends. It was as if they were in the beginning of their career, and we were their family coming to see their show. Yet, of course, they have a season career, and they were scoping through their catalogue. That level of accessibility is not easy to emote, especially when you have such a following like Cults.

There are bands that do not need radio to become an fan obsession. “Always Forever,” “Offering,” “High Road,” and “Go Outside” were literally joyous when heard live in the cozy concert lounge. Lead singer Madeline Follin has a voice that would make Baby Driver pull over to find those sweet vocals. She completely summons the exact image Cults wishes to frame; the lovelorn, 1960’s flower child, in the era of peace and love that, somehow, cannot find it. With Brian Oblivion on keys and guitar, the duo’s energy and wit was pulping through the air, and we were sipping it like orange juice.

As different lights and images draped over Cults like they had been trapped in an LSD/LED trip, everything worked! They felt closer, more comfortable with the crowd, and we were able to capture more of the details in their style and sound. You are not going to get too many, if at all, duos that make you feel as retro as the days of Andy Warhol’s Chelsea, but also as electro as modern pop. For More Information On Cults Click Here.