Iron Maiden beer is in Orlando.

I can vividly remember my brother and I buying Electric (on cassette no less) when it came out. We were huge fans of Love and upon initial listen were not sure what to make of the stripped down more AOR influenced Rick Rubin production. After a couple of listens we agreed that in this instance different was good. A few years later I had the opportunity to see the Cult on their Sonic Temple tour. They were fantastic and at that point had fully embraced their arguably dumbed down music sensibilities. I checked out on the band after that album.

Electric has remained a favorite from that period of time so when the opportunity to see them play it in its entirety came up, I immediately pulled the trigger. The House of Blues in Orlando ( = Lake Buena Vista = Disney) is not my favorite place to see shows but its small enough that most shows are pretty enjoyable. The opening act was a three piece that sounded like Monster Magnet junior. Their songs were too long and well, I could have done without them.

The Cult came out and played the Electric album front to back minus their cover of Born to be Wild (replaced by Zap City). After running through Electric there was a short intermission. Upon their return they played most of their hits spanning their entire discography. Highlights were from the Love album (Rain, Phoenix, and of course She Sells Sanctuary. Ian and Billy seemed to enjoy themselves but were not complimentary of the venue. Billy Duffy’s guitar playing (by far the loudest in the mix) was enthusiastic to say the least. Ian is still a showman but time has not been favorable to his voice. The full set list can be found here. Overall a solid rock show from a bunch of 50 year old dudes. Recommended.

Note for guitar nerds: Billy’s setup appeared to be a Gibson LesPaul goldtop or a Gretsch White Falcon into a Matchless combo, a Roland JC120, and two Marshall cabs. I didn’t see his pedal board.

To say that the Two Stroke Taco team are fans of Slayer might be a bit of an understatement. We were bummed to hear about the passing of legendary Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman yesterday. Full story here.