Before discussing the bands, I’d like to start by stating that the Rose Music Center, just outside Dayton Ohio, is my new happy place. In just the last month I made the relaxing 50-minute drive twice: First to catch Sheryl Crow and then soon after The Cult w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. (More on that later). I already have tickets for Elvis Costello and The Imposters on August 6th and I am literally buying tickets for Crowded House on September 12th right now. 

The Rose is a 5000-seat outdoor venue with a covered pavilion. There is no lawn so all the seats are excellent and have shelter. Located right off I-70 there is ample and free parking with virtually no traffic to speak of. Once in the venue, the outdoor concourse has plenty of concessions and a relaxing area to hang out and blow off the opening act while you find your groove. Bathrooms are numerous and clean. I have never waited in a line at the Rose. 

Two other things I LOVE about this place. First, all concessions accept cash which I really appreciate.  There are some purchases I just don’t like putting on a credit card. Maybe it’s the touring musician in me, but I never open a tab. Just like settling a bet, I don’t like putting it off until the end of the month. The beers are reasonably priced at $9.00 for a 24 oz Bud draft. Not a bargain exactly, but about five bucks less than you would pay at a MLB or NHL game, which is not too shabby.

Second is that the sound at the Rose is excellent. If I am going to a rock show, especially something like The Cult, I want to feel a little volume in my soul. Too many times at The LC, or Kemba, or whatever it’s called this week in Columbus, the people talking on the lawn are louder than the band on stage. I shouldn’t be able to have a pleasant conversation while Jack White is blasting out “Seven Nation Army.” What am I paying for? I don’t know if the folks at the Rose invested in a better sound system or the roof holds in the noise, but it’s a huge improvement over my home town's 5000-seat outdoor venue. 

They also sell earplugs for just $1.00 which is a nice bonus. When I bought a pair I felt it necessary to explain to the vendor they were for my wife and not for me. Obviously. He didn’t seemed convinced. I felt shame.

They have lots of interesting shows still to come in 2022 so click here for the schedule and pay this excellent venue a visit.

The Cult w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -  Dayton, OH  07/15/2022 

In just one day, I went from knowing nothing about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to proclaiming them my new favorite band of all time. Ok, maybe that’s hyperbole but at the moment that’s how it felt. I had heard good things about the band for years so I took a moment to visit SetlistFM to research what they had been playing on this tour and put a playlist together to get primed for the show. 

From the opening notes of “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo” I was smitten. By the time I got to “Whatever Happened to My Rock n Roll” I was ready to throw a chair through a window and swing from a chandelier. It’s always exciting to discover a “new’ band but even more so when you are seeing them just four hours later.  

Watching them live for the first time these random thoughts went through my head:

“I bet Jack White doesn’t talk shit about these guys” (and a woman).

“They would step on The Black Keys. And I like The Black Keys.”

“They have two members less but twice the balls of Oasis.”

 “Geez, MY band kinda sucks.”

(In related news, a friend swears BRMC opened for Watershed once in Columbus, Ohio. I do not think that is accurate but maybe they did.) (editor’s note; Ricki C. looked into this and BRMC played Flanagan’s in Dublin once for a $5 CD101.5 show back in the day, and since Watershed and The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club just might be the ONLY two non-cover bands that ever played that Dublin venue, that might be where the confusion comes in.)

Listen While You Read ! Click here for my BRMC Spotify Beginners Guide  

The Cult did an admirable job following these rock masters with a tight 13 song set leaning heavily on the Sonic Temple release  and completely ignoring every record after. Okay, they did play a new single but you get the idea. This is kind of a shame because their two most recent releases, Dark Energy and Choice of Weapon have some really good stuff on them. Not many people listen, but it’s pretty impressive how bands like Cheap Trick, The Cult, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest keep putting out excellent new music whether the demand is there or not. But I get it; folks want the hits and the hits they delivered. Or put another way, does anyone really need to hear more than 13 songs from The Cult? Probably not. Ian’s voice and rock shaman persona have aged reasonably well and Billy Duffy is a flat-out monster. His look, the tone, the playing are all a 10 out of 10. He is underrated as an all-time hard-rock guitar great. 

It’s interesting they closed out the set with three songs off the Love record and people just lost their minds. Including me. Love always seemed like more of a, ahem…”Cult” record then the Rick Rubin-produced Electric or the Bob Rock arena-sounding Sonic Temple but watching the response to”Revolution,” “Rain,” and “She Sells Sanctuary” one would have guessed that record was double platinum.  A quick visit to Best Selling albums confirms that Love did sell less than those other two records. Must be streams? Yes, “She Sells Sanctuary” has over 129 millions streams, far out-pacing second-place “Fire Woman” with 40,873,004 plays. But “Sanctuary” is the only song from that record to dent the top ten. I guess reasonable people can conclude that Watershed closing our shows with “She Sells Sanctuary” for five straight years was a major factor in the song’s enduring success. And Mean Mr. Mustard's legendary AC/DC Cult Night which was once enshrined in the Pencilstorm Hall of Fame. Click here for the Pencilstorm HOF Class of 2016.

The encore was predictably and properly the awesome “Love Removal Machine.” However, with an early morning at the coffee shop the next day, I skipped out about a minute before the final chords stopped ringing to get a head start on the crowd. 

The Cult w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Boston MA,   07/23/22 

So one week later, I found myself in Boston for a quick family vacation when lo and behold, The Cult and BRMC were making a stop in Beatown the same night as myself. The rock n roll Godz were smiling on me as the Red Sox game I was attending ended at 7:15 pm. To save money I sprinted about 20 minutes (in record heat) to Copley Square where Uber’s were about $30 cheaper than around Fenway Park. I arrived at Leader Bank Pavilion a sweaty mess but with time to reinvest my saved money in two tall cans of Budweiser before settling into my seat for the show. 

To say the crowd was light would be an understatement. There were rows and rows of empty seats. It’s not like they were charging Springsteen prices, either. My ticket was just 29 bucks ($42 after the Ticketmaster F.U. monopoly charges). I was about thirty rows back, just off the center of the aisle and there was nobody sitting around me. Glad I didn’t spurge for the expensive seats. These were plenty good. 

I felt kinda bad for BRMC playing in such an empty venue but then again, put these 2,000 people into a club and it would be a huge show. And as a lifelong opener myself, we get paid the same no matter who turns out. It’s not really the opener’s problem and it never affected our mindset. Now bombing as a headliner, which I have experienced many times as well, is a little more problematic for the ego. 

Anyway, their opening rhythmic feedback into “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo” was even better the second time around because I was looking forward to it. I love the way they take the stage. It made me literally run, not walk, to get to this show on time.  Note to ALL rock n roll bands, the opening is EVERYTHING. Do not waste it. 

Even better, unlike Dayton, this night they ended with “Whatever Happened To Our Rock N Roll.” A classic sentiment and a whopper of a set closer. If a band knows how to take the stage and leave the stage, does what happens in between matter all that much? Rock n Roll has much in common with pro-wrestling when you think about it that way.

Despite the small numbers, the crowd was receptive and the band looked pleased. I was pleased too. 

Surprisingly,  the crowd filled in to a respectable level by the time The Cult took the stage. Since I had traveled since 5 am from Ohio, taken a water taxi, a hop on/hop off bus tour and a full baseball game all in a record breaking heat wave, I was sort of planning on ditching their set after a few songs. Hell, I had just seen it last week in Dayton and one time seemed plenty. However, Cult singer Ian Astbury was a different beast tonight. He made a quick mention of being from Boston. I could find no evidence of this online but for whatever the reason he was on fire. Not only did I not leave the show early this time, I bum-rushed the stage for “Love Removal Machine.” It felt good to slide past the 78-year old grandma working security and throw some horns at the band.

I’m not exactly sure where The Cult slot in the great family tree of rock n roll, would it be a Smiths - AC/DC branch?  Perhaps close to The Doors and The Four Horsemen?

I should note that Sonic Temple cover art playboy Billy Duffy was amazing again. He is a notch above any hard rock guitar player from the 80’s.  Including Slash. Yup, I said it. Billy writes all these licks too. No Izzy Stradlin doing the creative heavy lifting while Slash solos over top of the well crafted songs. Billy is the only guitar player in this band. Damn, the dude is a legend.

Colin Gawel plays music with Watershed and The League Bowlers. He founded and writes for Pencilstorm.com at Colin’s Coffee in Upper Arlington, OH.