As one of many genre-focused festivals they have produced, Southern California promoter giant Goldenvoice has carved out an impressive niche with the goth/New Wave-centric Cruel World Festival. Staged outdoors in the giant field area Brookside Park, surrounds the legendary Rose Bowl Stadium. Last year’s event saw a sudden bout of craziness when right as headliner Siouxsie Sioux’s set was supposed to happen, the entire festival was evacuated due to a threat of a lightning storm (a make-up show was done the next night for Sioux’s set). This year, no inclement weather was to be endured as this was a typically gorgeous Pasadena spring afternoon. In the now ever annoying trend of one-day festivals cramming too much talent into one day, too much talent was crammed into just one day, the main stage a rotating stage with no more than five minutes in between set breaks. This meant that there was no real way to get most of what you really wanted out of these sets, you had to make hard choices and miss something you didn’t want to. There’s just no way to physically cover that much ground.

All photos by Raymond Flotat

Our day started with Gary Numan, playing the entirety of his 1979 album, The Pleasure Principle. Though not performed in album sequence, each of the album’s ten songs made an appearance. Numan performs like he’s still twenty-two contorting and writhing on stage with manic glee as he sings each song. Starting with “Airlane” and “M.E.” with predominantly synth accompaniment, the crowd was treated to a vintage slice of history from an artist that has continued to make excellent songs all the way through this decade. Predictably, “Metal” coming halfway through the set was the highlight, its bounding and jubilant instrumentation making for an infectious and supremely cool earworm begging the crowd to dance in their preferred method of thrash. On “Conversation” Numan was joined on backing vocals by his three daughters Persia, Echo and Raven (the latter of which you may have noticed coverage of in mxdwn for her new solo material). And it all ended as it only could, with his famous hit single “Cars.”

Immediately following Gary Numan was perhaps the most talked-about set for the weekend. Ministry was doing a set performing songs from their legendary proto industrial albums With Sympathy and Twitch for the first time in forty years. Some algorithm or logic the festival’s bookers used to determine Ministry’s set should be at 4:45 p.m. was clearly flawed as the special performance had the largest crowd at the Outsiders Stage (the de facto main stage) of any performer there until Blondie and Duran Duran came on later that day. Ministry should’ve been on either just before Soft Cell or just after them judging by the draw they truly were. Ministry impresario had long avoided performing songs from this era of the band and their famous technopop number “(Everyday Is) Halloween” was famously brought back into live sets only in 2019, but still as an acoustic rendition. Here, Jourgensen was joined by Roy Mayorga, Charlie Clouser, John Bechdel, Monte Pittman, Paul D’Amour (who some of you may remember was Tool’s original bassist in the Undertow era), Cesar Soto and two string players and four backing vocalists that Jourgensen affectionately called the Mini-strings and Mini-strettes respectively.

Even though the set was only nine songs, this was a wild treat. Ministry’s albums paint a vivid picture of progressive evolution as from With Sympathy through The Last Sucker, the band slowly evolved from technopop dance to industrial dance to industrial rock to industrial metal and on to for all points and purposes straight metal. They were always the pace car for innovation with electronics in rock and numerous bands have tried hard throughout the decades to follow in their wake. Some fans never could follow them through their heavier phases, and those fans will tell you if you ask, these first two albums and associated singles from the early ‘80s are the material they positively love. Aside from “We Believe” and the penultimate song “Revenge” none of these songs were played any more recently than 1987. Some, such as classics and set opener “Work For Love” and “Effigy (I’m Not An)” have not been heard live by anyone since 1984, a whopping forty years ago.

Jourgensen put serious time into bringing forth the sonic tapestry that these early dance songs boasted (they were created at a time where technology and synthesizers were nowhere near as capable as even just a few years later) and it showed in the performance here. The band had the forceful energy and verve that the band’s standard industrial metal sets exhibit but with the enrapturing and colorful dance vibes these songs are famous for. Early career cut “All Day” was a welcome slice of that time and the band brought forth the very first Ministry single, “I’m Falling.” It ended strongly, featuring “Revenge” and “(Everyday Is) Halloween” to close things out. Worth noting, that while Jourgensen has done “(Everyday Is) Halloween” several times in 2019 live, this was the first time since 1988 with the full electronic instrumentation as recent performances were done acoustically. Hopefully one of the major concert promoters is wise enough to book this approach for a full national tour as the fans everywhere need to hear this.

DREAMCAR, a supergroup side project featuring No Doubt members Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young along with Davey Havok of AFI had the misfortune of playing after Ministry and at the same time as The Jesus and Mary Chain. Most of the Outsiders Stage crowd split to head across the field to TJAMC. All mega competent players, DREAMCAR did a fun set of ‘80s inspired new wave pop including a cover of David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream.”

Early ‘80s new wave pop star Adam Ant followed on the Outsiders Stage. Performing a bevy of hits from his early band Adam and the Ants; this was an upbeat and rocking set. His big solo hit “Goody Two Shoes” was performed second to last and he ended with “Stand and Deliver.”

Scottish rockers Simple Minds played a strong set on the other side of the field at the Sad Girls stage. The ‘80s were a time known for one-hit wonders. Sometimes that association was deserved, but in the case of Simple Minds, real fans know this band was known for a lot more than Breakfast Club mega hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” Original members vocalist Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill were joined on drums by Cherisse Osei and on backing vocals by Sarah Brown for a set that produced an excited crowd. Yes, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” was performed, but the show was great evidence that the band has always been more than that one hit song.

Soft Cell performed a strong set back at the Outsiders Stage, aiming for the darker side of ‘80s synth pop. Opening with “Memorabilia” and “A Man Could Get Lost,” lead singer Marc Almond looked happily in his element as he sung out the band’s classic dance cuts. He was joined by singer/artist Christeene for the elongated “Nighthawks” and the set closer “Sex Dwarf.” Much like many of the acts on display on this day that big hits in the ‘80s, Soft Cell played their legendary dance club hit “Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?” as their second-to-last song as the crowd danced along.

Blondie took to the Outsiders Stage as the day’s affair was winding down and came on strong with some of their biggest hits right out the gate. Lead singer Deborah Harry got a great response from the crowd on hand with the band’s famous hits “One Way or Another” and almost punk “Call Me.” The incredibly strong song “Atomic” came later using its surf-inspired tremolo guitars and elongated bridge to maximum effect. Later the band played their version of early rap music “Rapture” and “Maria.” They ended strong with two of their best-loved songs, “Heart of Glass” and “Dreaming.”

During Blondie’s set on the other side of the field early 2000’s post punk band Interpol played characteristically in dark shadows as lead singer Paul Banks played guitar sporting a dark pair of aviator sunglasses. Opening with “C’mere,” and “Say Hello To The Angels,” Interpol had a solid crowd, but were the one somewhat contemporary prominent band on this bill. Definitely stylistically comparable to the bands on the bill, fans here may have been from a generation just a bit behind who would have found Interpol resonant.

The festival’s headliner Duran Duran took to the Outsiders Stage shortly afterwards. Arriving like conquering heroes, all four primary members stood on a raised platform before starting the set, the band played a strong set featuring many of their greatest songs. Starting with the plucky keyboards of “The Chauffeur” they went for emotive and evocative first. “The Wild Boys” followed slowly picking up the energy. Their classic upbeat hit “Hungry Like the Wolf” followed prompting singalongs from the whole crowd present. Wisely, they dropped in their famous James Bond theme song “A View to a Kill” next. Things went towards the funkier vein of their sound on “Notorious” before playing a relatively newer track, “Invisible.” Lead singer Simon Le Bon happily commented, “For the last month were just thinking we should make [the set] as good as we can. And now we’re here.” They followed with two of amazing ‘90s hits, “Come Undone” and “Ordinary World” (the latter of which Le Bon dedicated to the people of Palestine, Israel and Ukraine). They even dropped in their cover of the early hip-hop Melle Mel / Grandmaster Flash hit “White Lines (Don’t Do It).” The ended after an encore break with “Save a Prayer” and “Rio.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the field — another of the day’s infernal conflicts — goth legends Tones on Tail did their first proper show since 1984. You read that right, even though Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins have performed in numerous incarnations together since (Bauhaus, Poptone, Love & Rockets) this particular project has seen a live audience since the glory days of the early ‘80s. This is where sinister and subdued meet in an alley and have a knife fight. Daniel Ash patiently emoted each of the set’s song allowing the basslines to carry the weight (tonight played by Diva Dompe instead of original bassist Glenn Campling). Cuts from Pop “Happiness” and “Performance” were played and the show featured the first known performance of the band’s song “Twist.” On “Movement of Fear” Ash doubled on saxophone and vocals (readers of mxdwn since the very beginning will remember that Tweaker covered this song on the excellent 2 a.m. Wake-Up Call album). Hopefully, this is not the only time people get a chance to see the band perform, because this is very much in the pocket of what true goth fans love. It would be a shame if this were the only chance anyone has to see this.

The talent here, much like what we saw at Sick New World two weeks ago, is beyond question. Tons of incredibly talented musicians working hard in limited time to put on great shows. The promoters deserve tons of credit for assembling such an impressive bill and footing the expense to make it happen. But how long can that enthusiasm drive fans to go to ever more complicated venue experiences, with ever more needless VIP configurations, to spend more and more money on food, before everything is just priced fully beyond what is reasonable for a fun expense? One day is too much to make the value proposition for so much talent worth it. Having a fun day seeing beloved bands shouldn’t mean an audience has to literally run from stage to stage all day before falling out from heat exhaustion. There are lessons to be learned here, and hopefully those in control of the concert industry learn them before fans decide live music is an unnecessary expense. The premium should be on the experience and making the audience comfortable, not on elite levels of access.

All photos by Raymond Flotat