With all the smoke on stage, it was difficult to see them, but Sisters Of Mercy brought their brand of goth-rock to the Powerstation Wednesday night. These days the band consists of leader Andrew Eldritch on vocals accompanied by guitarists Ben Christo and Chris Catalyst. The band (meaning Eldritch) has never employed a live drummer, depending rather on “Doktor Avalanche”, the name given to whatever hardware (or software) is now keeping the beat for the group.
The trio came out cloaked in a haze of fog, generated by a machine that seemed determined to keep the audience from getting a good look at Eldritch, who was, upon closer scrutiny, wearing a goatee and shaved head. They opened with Ribbons from their 1990 album Vision Thing, although it was hard to tell exactly what song Eldritch was singing as his voice was buried deep in the mix, leaving the first 30 minutes of the show to be focussed mainly on the guitars and the omnipresent drum machine.
Once the mix was cleared up, it sounded like Eldritch was in good voice, treating the sizable crowd to favourites like This Corrosion, Mother Russia and More, with Andrew sounding very much like Billy Idol on the latter.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind the questionable sound mix, or the fact that bass lines and keyboards were also being generated by mechanical means. Like the Kitty, Daisy and Lewis show a month earlier, most of the fans in attendance took the show as an opportunity to dress up…not in rockabilly gear, but in black eyeliner, black polyester, or black anything.
The songs were most effective when they featured strong guitar riffs, since those were actually being played by live musicians.
After a somewhat short regular set (just over an hour), the encores included a pensive Something Fast followed by a more energetic Vision Thing and crowd favourite Lucretia My Reflection. After a lengthy instrumental, they closed out with Temple Of Love.
All-in-all an entertaining, if somewhat unspectacular show that would have been improved a better sound mix and a live rhythm section.
Marty Duda
Set list:
- Ribbons
- Detonation Boulevard
- First, Last & Always
- Crash & Burn
- Logic
- This Corrosion
- No Time To Cry
- Gift That Shines
- On The Wire
- Arms
- Dominion/Mother Russia
- Summer
- Alice
- Anaconda
- More
- Flood
- Something Fast
- Vision Thing
- Lucretia My Reflection
- Instrumental
- Temple Of Love
At 52 years of age I think the fact that Eldritch is still belting out these classics from a stage in front of a live audience instead of from a rocking chair in a local nursing home to fellow patients is testament itself to the overall popularity of the Sisters.
Yes the smoke is a pain and yes would to have the original line up together and yes I wish I could retrace my mistakes in life blah blah blah…
The Sisters are still playing and thats just the coolest thing!!!!!
I went to the show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne and found it disappointing. Eldritch’s voice couldn’t cut through the mix, the songs merged into each other quite indecipherably at times and while the lighting was terrific, the smoke became silly. Of course, them getting here in 2012 is better than never but only the staunchest fan would suggest that this was what they’d always been waiting for. I’d say it’s always difficult to keep a band going when you are the one and only original member forever training up the latest arrival.
O kaay..inneresting comments.coz they plat here next week @ the Corner Hotel.Melbourne.Good to hear these views.all of ‘em.I’m not a rabid fan of TSOM but,I do possess floodland on ipod and diggin around in my boxes of cassettes I do own Vision Thing…will i go see ‘em? possibly.
and Mike D.think its my cousin there.have to be,coz you are into them from all those years ago.Hi.
I’m sorry, but anyone who talks about the Sisters and suggests that they should employ a live drummer is clearly disqualified from comment. It’s like going to a soccer game and suggesting they pick the ball up. Doktor Avalanche is the MOST important member of the Sisters. Eldritch himself could be replaced, not the Doktor.
My 10p worth:
Standing mid-room straight-on to the vocal microphone I thought the sound started OK and got a lot better as the gig went on. Von was virtually inaudible – not much more than a mumble – for ‘Ribbons’ and ‘Dr Jeep’, but by a few songs in it seemed to improve. Certainly by the second half he was very clear and seemed really into it – pouring meaning into every sentence. I had honestly thought that he might just be going through the motions a bit, but that wasn’t the case at all. Like the goatee, very cool. He looks a VERY young 52-yr old.
I strolled down to the front right, in front of Chris for ‘Summer’ to ‘Flood 2′, a couple of people back. Sound still excellent in front of the stage. Atmosphere quite subdued down there – a few punters just limply stood there, but a small moshpit started rocking for ‘Alice/Anaconda/More’. Von commented how hot it was – like a bloody oven in there, and Chris was looking quite a bit worse for wear. I know he’s not been in the finest of health recently and looked like he might’ve been struggling a bit in the furnace.
Seemed like a good percentage of the crowd didn’t know the “new” songs, and maybe only a handful of us recognised ‘Gift That Shines’ or ‘Top Nite Out’? Absolutely stoked to hear ‘Teachers/On the Wire’ – a standout of the night. Great versions of ‘Arms’ and ‘Crash ‘n Burn’, but I have to say, I do like the unreleased stuff probably a bit more than most of the released material. And WTF is with ‘Temple of Love’? It’s a muddy mess. Without the vocals you’d hardly know it. It needs to be much sparser and clearer. Compare to ‘Something Fast’ that was crystal clear, and then to finish with something that is just a sonic puddle isn’t working in my book. Fine, if you want to go out on a big finish – do the encore with ‘Lucretia’ (superb BTW) ‘Top Nite Out’, then do the singalong-a version of ‘This Corrosion’?
The absolute highlights of the night?’ Top Nite Out’ was the best bit of pure guitar magic of the evening. ‘No Time to Cry’ – surprisingly, given that it’s a long way down my list of fave TSOM singles, but Von actually sang it like he really meant it injecting real personality to the words – almost like a lullaby, like you could whisper it to a child? I didn’t mind the flattening out of the gig in the middle with ‘Gift that Shines’ and ‘Teachers/On the Wire’, as it meant you could take a breath and lose yourself in those two songs. Dunno if the rest of the crowd thought the same though – it was like 8 minutes of shoe gazing, waiting for something else they could yell along to…
Overall it was everything I’d expected. I guess in my wildest dreams I’d hoped for something truely amazing. Like, fab reworked versions of songs, some old classics and maybe even some ‘actual’ “new” songs. In truth, I’ve been browsing Youtube a bit recently and there doesn’t seem to be a whole heap of difference from what is aw last night to concerts from 2006? Even setlists seem eerily similar. However, I am absolutely not grumbling – this was my chance to see TSOM live and they did not disappoint. I guess this is what you get nowadays, and there are plenty of us happy with it. I’d say that the girls are easily on a par with anything else that’s out there on the festival-rock circuit at the moment. Not sure if I’d pay to see the same show again – if I thought it would just be more of the same – though.
The sad fact is sisters ARE a GOTH legend. They weren’t that great live, but were fun. And at the end of the day, while better sound, and live keyboards, and more importantly BASS should have been there. It was SISTERS in AUCKLAND!!!!! i know most of us Sisters fans would NEVER have thought this would happen. So while it was mediocre ( i have good sources say they always are live) it was a treat to see them! : )
As said it was basically a sad show and a waste of 70 odd bucks. Sound was a disgrace – how can you mix a decent sound stage when you are sitting below the heads of the audience. Everyone I talked to said the same thing – “we couldn’t even suss out what song they were playing”. And what’s with all the smoke? Surely there are some decent lighting techs out there who can give us more than blue and white lights through a overpowering haze.
Thoroughly disappointed – next time I am going to spend my hard earned cash on some local talent.
They were once pretty good live. I saw them at the Electric Ballroom in London in 1984 with the classic lineup. They were though an hour late on stage with Eldritch (who had a serious head of hair in those days) very unsympathetic to the impatient crowd and getting an empty beer jug in the head for his smugness.
Apart from the “Doktor Avalanche” beats everything was played live that night and delivered with a stern goth attitude, dry ice and bright white back lighting, that turned what was a hostile bunch of hardcore fans into smiling sweating goth mass.