The Sisters of Mercy are one of the most influential bands of the 1980s. They were one of the first British bands that worked with an electric drumkit and through the Post-Punk movement they stand at the doorstep of the New Wave- & Gothic music. The Sisters of Mercy had great hits with ‘This Corrosion’, ‘Lucretia my Reflection’ and ‘Temple Of Love’. For their 30 year anniversary they went on tour and brought an exclusive visit to the 013 venue in Tilburg – The Netherlands. I was there to make a report for Music-Photocalypse but once I arrived I received some horrid news: 30 minutes before the show started, the management decided that professional photography was not allowed during the show. The true reason for this was unknown to the people at the box office at the 013. As disappointed as I was, I entered the venue with mixed feelings. But as smart as I was, I brought my compact camera along as well - so we are one of the lucky ones that do have some photographic footage of the exclusive NL show of The Sisters of Mercy!

To quote the band with their own words, is something that set the mood for tonight:

We make records, sometimes - We play concerts, sometimes

When entering the venue, a rush of youthfulness overwhelmed me as lot of older people, that had my age in the 80ies, all got together on that special Wednesday evening in the 013. The show started with a delay of more than 30 minutes. When the band was finally ready to enter the stage, their infamous curtain of smoke appeared and the music started to play. I was quite surprised to hear that they stared the show with ‘Kiss the Carpet’, a great song none the less. It was a pity though, that the band members themselves were hardly visible on stage, due to the aforementioned smoke.

In the beginning the vocal sounds were a bit quiet though and from where I was standing, it was almost impossible to hear that someone was even using his vocal cords. After the second song the sound improved a bit and the audience was spoiled with all the great songs The Sisters of Mercy have to offer. All in all it was a wonderful show when I write on a personal note. It could have been better I guess, but I have never seen The Sisters of Mercy live before, so I cannot be the judge of that. When the show came to an end you could feel the enthusiasm of the audience, people wanted more. As last encore the Sisters of Mercy gave an instrumental version of ‘Pipeline’ which was very well received by the audience and the last song of the night ‘Vision Thing’, was a great song to end the evening with!

When I look at it as a (beginning) journalist, the show could have had some more edginess in it. It was great to hear, but the visual performance wasn’t something special. It felt like the band was there to do their thing, nothing more, nothing less. There was not much interaction with the audience, the old school diehard fans were slightly disappointed because of this. Also the pre-announced DJ-set was cancelled due to unknown reasons, something a lot of people had been looking forward to. I am happy I went to the concert and I am happy to have seen a band that was on my personal ‘to see list’. But I guess that there is that glitch between generations, the majority of the audience were 30/40+ of age. I on the other hand was still running around in diapers back in the 80s. That might probably explain why I am more enthusiastic than the ‘older generation’.



Setlist:

Kiss The Carpet
Flood I
Marian
Crash And Burn
Ribbons
Amphetamine Logic
Alice
John, I'm Only Dancing
Dominion / Mother Russia
Summer
Giving Ground
Doctor Jeep / Detonation Boulevard
More
Lucretia
This Corrosion
Flood II
--
Something Fast
Temple Of Love
First And Last And Always
--
Pipeline (instrumental)
Vision Thing


Review | Pictures: Cynthia Veekens