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Sisters Of Mercy - Nottingham

By Dan ⋅ May 8, 2006 ⋅ Post a comment

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Let's just get one thing straight from the start: I love the Sisters Of Mercy. They're an important band for me - the soundtrack for some fond memories from my childhood is provided by Andrew Eldritch and co. One such memory involves the first paper-based role-playing game I ever acquired (Nightlife, thanks for asking) and the track playing in the background as we rolled our first characters was "Vision Thing".

And I've continued to love them. Despite my wandering preferences, and lack of enthusiasm or tolerance for some of the bands I favoured back "then", I've continued to listen to, and enjoy, "Vision Thing" and "Floodland" in recent years. And so, it was with much excitement that I made my way to Nottingham to see them perform at Rock City. Little did I know that discovering a new car park would be the most exciting event of the evening…

It doesn't start well. The support act, The Ivories, give an uninspiring performance full of jangly, haunted-house guitars and screeching vocals. Their front-woman's painful lack of charisma renders the whole performance deeply tiresome after the first few songs. Credit where it's due: The drummer does a nice job, and her backing vocals are far better than the lead's.

During the relative calm of the post-support interval, I pick my way through the assembled crowd (one of the largest I've seen at Rock City) to the bar. After much dodging and weaving I arrive and wait keenly, elbows perched on the bar, for a member of staff to catch my gaze. My eyes wander to the full-length mirrors behind the bar and I realise with some amusement how bizarre I look. I'd made a half hearted attempt at "goth" for the night; an old Vampire:The Masquerade t-shirt had been dusted off and pulled out of the wardrobe. This proved too small (I'm sure it must have shrunk in the wash or something), and so I switched to my faithful grey Bullseye t-shirt. As a result, my reflection in the mirrors makes me look like a darts fan at an Addams Family convention, surrounded as I am by frilly white shirts, black sequined dresses, and large amounts of leather. 

In the moments before the main act appear, vast amounts of smoke are pumped onto the stage. Vast amounts; just as I think there can't possibly be any more smoke, there is. Eventually, veiled by an obscene amount of smoke, three figures "appear" on stage and launch into their opening track. The energetic, thrusting guitar sounds pretty good, but Eldritch's vocals are quite low in the mix, and I have difficulty making out which song this is. I come to the conclusion that it's a new track called "Crash and Burn". 

From here, things start to go wrong. The sound guy (let's call him Bob) is furiously playing with his knobs and dials, and at this point I still have sufficient faith to think that he'll fix the sound. A fan appears behind me, shouting at a bearded guy who is busily pushing buttons behind Bob. "Why's he so quiet?" he shouts and Beard frantically points at Bob - "Not me! Him! Him!". The fan moves away; Bob is clearly engrossed in his knobs.

The second track kicks off - "Ribbons". A rather large, female goth is hoisted onto the shoulders of someone in front of me and, in silhouette against the lights and smoke of the stage, starts to perform elaborate actions to the words of the song. She's obviously decided that, as Eldritch is pretty much inaudible, she'll sign the lyrics for everyone. How nice of her.

Third track: A sort of Dr.
Jeep/Detonation Boulevard medley. I begin to wonder just what exactly is going on with the vocals? Eldritch is way too quiet, and yet the backing vocals provided by his God-awful shouty nu-metal guitarist are horribly loud. A new track follows. At least, I think it's a new track - by this point things might as well be instrumental. The stage is now so full of smoke that the band are no longer even silhouettes. I think I catch a section of the chorus, something along the lines of "if it makes you happy". I don't think this is a Sheryl Crow cover, however.

Next come two popular tracks, "When You Don't See Me" and "Flood I". A large (male) ponytailed goth is hoisted up in front of me, and I can't help but wonder what the guy holding him looks like. Finger wiggling, wrist crossing, and some sort of kung-fu style punching (think: the training scene from Enter The Dragon) ensue. Ponytail is having a good time, at least.

Three more new tracks follow, and by this point I'm so bored that I check my email and send a few text messages. There are now three finger wiggling goths silhouetted against the stage; every one of them more enthusiastic than Eldritch. I remark to myself how much one of the new tracks sounds like "Sweet Dreams". Bob is still frantically flicking switches and twirling knobs. I still can't hear Eldritch and the rest of the noise from on-stage hasn't changed at all - I become convinced that they've given Bob a desk that isn't plugged in.

After what seems like an age of unidentifiable noise, they play "Dominion/Mother Russia". Things sound slightly more impressive for a while, but tedium soon returns. I still can't hear anything, and the idiot on guitar is shouting into his microphone again. I do manage to figure out what the floaty goth dancers are doing by this point though; They are clearly as bored as me, and are doing the old linked-thumbs, wiggle-fingers "Look - it's a butterfly" shadow puppets routine.

At this point the will to live has pretty much departed as five more mysterious tracks are played. I can appreciate the urge to play new material, but when the lead singer isn't introducing anything to the crowd, and when you've not released an album for nearly ten years, it gets quite tedious. Eldritch hops about for one track making loud gargling noises, which sound exactly like The Cookie Monster doing the Tarzan yodel. What's particularly surprising is that the gig is being filmed; a guy wanders over to change the tape just after the Tarzan track, and squints - in that "I know what I'm doing, me" type way - through the eye piece. I'm sure, just like the rest of us, all he can see is a stage full of smoke. 

"This Corrosion" is played and the crowd, for the first time all night, become animated. Slightly. The band then promptly depart from the stage. A few moments later they return for an encore of "Something Fast" (with accompaniment from a mysteriously absent female vocalist) and "Lucretia". The audience react well, Ponytail is hoisted above the crowd again (although this time he's taking a leaf out of the large female goth's book and is signing to the words), and Bob is still leaping from one end of the mixing desk to the other, desperately looking for the volume control. Or the off switch.

They finish again, Eldritch bows and they leave. Then they return again. Except something is wrong. There is no smoke, and no Eldritch. The two guitarists leap about for a few minutes, performing what I believe they think is a spirited instrumental track but which actually looks very silly. Particularly as shouty Nu-metal guitarist manages to propel his sunglasses across the stage mid-leap. The smoke returns, as does Eldritch, and I start to wonder whether he's had some sort of horrible disfiguring accident and can't bear to have the crowd look at him. Or maybe the mist just follows him around, like some sort of bad b-movie monster? For their finale, the band perform a Sisters of Mercy tribute-act quality version of Temple of Love, and are gone. 

This gig was, without doubt, the worst I've seen in a long time, maybe ever. And I never thought I'd say that about the Sisters Of Mercy. I really wanted Eldritch to be as magnificent live as he is on the albums, but based on this gig, he's not. Will we ever see a new Sisters of Mercy album? I have to wonder. Some of the "new" tracks have been part of the set since 1993, and Eldritch still hasn't released them. I also have to wonder whether the bad vocal mixing and the ludicrous amounts of smoke weren't intentional; all part of Andrew Eldritch's attempt at self-mythologising. One things for sure: I'll never pay money to see them again.

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Discussion

Comments for “Sisters Of Mercy - Nottingham”

Viewing 26 Comments

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    I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I paid real money to be there too, and believe you me the review is far, far more entertaining than the actual gig. When watching the audience is infinitely more diverting than what's happening on stage, you know something isn't right. (Not that you could see what was happening on stage anyway, and I'd much rather not have heard what was happening either).
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    I also pretty sure Eldritch hasn't been horribly disfigured. The smoke is actually to make him harder to hit when disgruntled audiences start throwing things.
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    "I can appreciate the urge to play new material, but when the lead singer isn't introducing anything to the crowd, and when you've not released an album for nearly ten years, it gets quite tedious."

    Not sure I agree - I saw Gary Numan do something similar the other week. The difference is that Numan pulls it off because he's still a thoroughly decent performer.

    Personally I've got no problem with groups playing completely new material - after all The Fall used to regularly play sets almost entirely composed of new songs, though that's now a thing of the past - if it's good enough they'll hold your attention. I'm sure the problem was really that the Sisters were basically just rubbish :)
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    Spot on review of a dire gig. I’d have had more fun listening to ‘Floodland’ at home with the lights out while waving a torch around and burning some toast in the kitchen, at least I’d have been able to hear the lyrics.

    One thing you failed to mention was Eldritch’s bizarre attire, a black hockey shirt; I think he was going for some kind of goth rapper look. That’s if it was Eldritch, as I couldn’t hear or see him, in silhouette with the bald head and protruding ears it looked more like the ‘Yellow Bastard’ from Sin City wearing sunglasses.

    I’m glad I didn’t waste money on a T-shirt as I don’t want anything to remind me of this event, I just hope the next time I listen to ‘Floodland’ or ‘Vision Thing’ I don’t have flashbacks.
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    If you could only see him in sihouette how do you know the hockey shirt was black?
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    Thank you Captain Pedantic for keeping the world safe from little mistakes. What I should have said was that 90% of the time he was in silhouette and the rest he was bathed in green, purple, red, etc coloured lights that gave the IMPRESSION the shirt was black. Hope I’ve cleared that up for you.
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    I thought it was yellow, personally...
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    Well the stripes may have been yellow....

    This debate is far more interesting than the gig, which says it all really.
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    If you had done your homework, being a sisters fan and all, you would have found that there is a massive availability of sisters bootlegs .
    the new songs are so new some of them have only been around for 5 or 6 years.
    smoke and lights are all part of the sisters experience.(read the official web page).
    the sisters dont really do "goth " any more.
    you have to many preconceptions and a bad case of "oops i should really try and follow a band im supposed to be a fan of"
    but thats only my opinion , for what its worth.
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    Nigel Drumm. What a lovely name. I might change my name to Steve Autoharp.

    My question to you is this, though, Nigel: if there's so much smoke that the group is hardly visible, and the vocals are mixed so low as to be inaudible, is there any point going?

    Personally I'd rather stay at home and consume a large quantity of beans on toast, and then spend the rest of the evening farting in the bath.
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    Thank you for the comments Nigel.

    Can I first ask: Did you go to the gig in Nottingham? What did you make of it?

    Second: My only preconception was that I'd be entertained. I'm not "trying to follow a band I'm supposed to be a fan of", I paid my money and attended the gig in the hope that I'd see an enjoyable, quality performance by a band whose albums I've enjoyed for years. The availability of bootlegs and presence of smoke and lights don't change the fact that this was, by any stretch of the imagination, a crap gig.

    Third: Thanks for pointing out that they don't do "Goth" any more. As you can see, Mr. Eldritch's outfit has come under particular scrutiny here, so we're always happy to discuss his dress sense. Although the assembled legions of fans evidently didn't know this, so hopefully you've set the record straight for them.
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    The last time I saw the Sisters play live was, blimey, back in 1993 when they opened for Depeche Mode at Crystal Palace. They were bloody good as I recall. Plenty of dry ice or course but not overkill. Andrew's vocals were spot on and you could actually hear what he was singing.

    The acustics in a venue can certainly make or break a concert and having gone to a few gigs where I've paid good money only to witness a big pile-o-shite you have my sympathy. I'm looking at you Frontline Assembly at the Camden Underworld and you Nitzer Ebb in some other London venue that I can't remember now.
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    Thanks Kevin; so at one point they were a decent live band...hmm...maybe they'll return to form once a new album's published.
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    I thought they were fantastic.
    Before i went i read up on Andrew Eldritch and his opinions towards live shows, personally i got everything i expected, and it was great.
    Money well spent.
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    So Eldritch's opinion is that he should be both invisible and inaudible? Hardly worth him turning up really. I wish I hadn't.
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    "Before i went i read up on Andrew Eldritch and his opinions towards live shows, personally i got everything i expected, and it was great."

    I'm going to be on shaky ground here, as I'm a Fall fan, and I'm forever warning people that go to gigs with me that "tonight night be crap..." However, despite the obvious fanboys, Fall fans tend to be a reasonably pragmatic bunch. If Mark E Smith and his merry hired hands are having a bad night, most of us will usually say as much.

    I wonder if the positive reactions to such an evidently poor Sisters gig is symptomatic of the whole goth dressing-up rigmarole? Not that I have anything against dressing up per se, but it strikes me that being a full-time Rocky Horror type these days isn't so much a statement of being "dark and dangerous" as it is an exercise in terrible, terrible nostalgia.

    "Ooh, wasn't it lovely in the mid-80s when frilly shirts were so much cheaper?" "Ooh, I like that group, they remind me of Nephilim in their heyday".

    There's a strong element of pretence in it, isn't there? Again, I've not necessarily anything against that. After all, we all pretend to be civilised to people we can't stand on a daily basis. But consider this: if the "let's pretend" element becomes so all-pervasive that it becomes possible to view a filthy lump of coal as a shining jewel, simply because it fits in with the lifestyle code are we not straying into the territory of dangerous, delusional cults?
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    that sucks for you. everything i've seen and heard from the us leg of the tour was spot on. i downloaded some songs from the las vegas show and they were as good as ever. combined with the crowd noise (cheers, etc.) many of the songs were more exciting than the original versions. i wanted to go see them in texas but that would have meant a 6 hour drive and an overnight stay meaning i'd miss two days of school which my parents weren't very keen on. i hope they come back in a year or two when i'm out of highschool. also on their website it says they're doing a free concert for ticket holders in barcellona because eldrich had a "bad voice day" when they played there in april... perhaps one for nottingham should be in order???
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    The sisters have always been "crap" live and things never change. I havent seen them live since 1985, so I went along to Rock City to see if things had changed; for old times sake. I wish i hadn't, they were terrible and I left before the end. The whole thing surrounding the sisters is hearsay and rumour - I wish they had stayed away after 85 and left us with some good years to remember instead of this shambles- Eldritch please hang up the hockey shirt and find good shrink.
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    John is correct they were awful and have always been "iffy" live - they have toured for the past 25 years on the back of one half decent album and some good early promising demos. Stop living in the past and let it go --"Goth is Dead!!!"
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    I went to see the Sisters of Mercy at Rock City too. I had not been there for over ten years. Pity the toilets downstairs were still a major health hazard, a bad omen. The support act; the lead singer was an incredibly poor cross between Souxsie Sue and Martha & The Muffins. Sorry but she is holding the Ivories back. The main concert; I have been a die hard fan of the Sisters Of Mercy ever since I bough 'The Damage Done' so many years ago I lose count. All I can sum the concert up into is a complete waste of time and money. Andrew Eldrich used to look so good. Now he looks like a smack peddler from an inner city council estate. I am not being rude or insulting, it's the truth. The lead guitarist. A joke, a buffoon and an embarassment. The songs; I strongly suspect much of vocals were laid down pre recorded and mimed. Not acceptable for £22.50. The songs; Never try to modernise a 20 odd year old song. Everyone came to hear the songs as they were originally sung and played. The smoke; I suspect laid on heavily to disguise the very poor and mostly pre recorded stage show. Plus if I was Mr Eldrich then I would want to hide dressed like that. Result; a waste of time, energy, effort and money. Never again. In conclusion; Even Peter Murphy and Daniel Ash reconciled their differences to reform Bauhaus and put on some spectacular gigs. Advice for Mr Eldrich; go and see Wayne Hussey, reconcile your differences and tour as the original band playing the original songs the way they were supposed to be. That concert was not a Sisters Of Mercy gig it was an Andrew Eldrich gig.