Along with Jane’s Addiction, the Cult was one of the first important gateway bands that inadvertently introduced the concept of so-called alternative music to mainstream rock fans. However, this particular influence didn’t really begin to gain momentum until the release of 1987’s Rick Rubin-produced Electric, an album that marked a deliberate turn away from their initially gothic and dreamy, post-punk flavors. All the New Romantic girls at my high school were actually quite despondent about this, having invested their black hearts so deeply in the bewitching sounds of their 1985 album, Love. I’m much more of an Electric kind of gal, but I certainly understand the urge to hear songs like “Rain”, “Revolution” and “She Sells Sanctuary” in their fully realized context. Tonight is the opportunity to do just that—albeit a good 24 years after the fact—as the English band will be performing that album in its entirety.

Wed., Aug. 26, 7 p.m., 2009