Sisters of Mercy - Olympia November

Banjara

Bit of an oldie meself and last saw them in an amazing gig back in the 80s.......... they were fantastic live!!

They are one of the bands I really liked for a while but stopped listening to after a few years ...........all the band changes/so-called acrimonious splits didn't help and I suppose you just grow out of musical tastes.

Anyway, would be interested to hear if any old/more recent fans can vouch (or not) for their live performances of recent ... not sure if there have been many... I think they did a few 30th anniversary gigs earlier this year.

Am tempted to get tix but it's an investment in terms of travel/accom etc. A mate of mine recently saw the Stranglers in England and they were appalling apparently. The same friend saw SLF and they, (in her opinion anyway), were great. I suppose it's always a risk going to see a band from your youth after 'x' amount of years!

Any comments much appreciated!!

turfthrower

I've been a fan for a long time, and have traveled to see them a few times. It will be a treat to have them play here in Dublin - the last time was 15 years ago in the Red Box.

The sisters are a labour of love from the fan's point of view - the last album came out in 1991 and when you see them live, a good 40 to 50 per cent of the set is made up of songs that have never been released. They also are rarely just okay in concert - they tend to be either dire, or absolutely awesome - and not much in between.

The impressive thing is that they have toured pretty much continuously for the last 20 years without a record to promote and they play lots of original material which is really good and quite popular with the fans who have only heard it through the net. They don't release anything officially anymore and have no record contract.

If you go to the gig looking for a nostalgic 80's goth show, then you will be disappointed. The sisters don't take themselves too seriously. What you will get is an enormous amount of dry ice, a **** hot lights show and lots of loud crunchy guitars playing slightly faster updated versions of the classics - Temple of Love, Lucretia my Reflection, First and Last and Always, This Corrosion, More, Dominion etc - a couple of covers that are usually good fun - most recently they've been playing some bowie numbers - John I'm only Dancing for example.

Here's a recent video that's pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6Bho68yu4&fmt=18

The sound is quite different to the old days, and the band is best thought of as a different beast altogether. The current line up is Andrew Eldritch, two younger guitarists who have been playing with them for around six or seven years, a drum machine called Doctor Avalanche and a guy who operates the drum machine.

Personally, I can't wait to see them in Dublin and I hope they do a good show - it would be great if Irish audiences were into the sisters as we'd see them here more often.

honru

Was delighted to hear this was confirmed. Never seem them live before and have been waiting for an Irish gig for a long long time.

Get the eyeliner out! :pac:

Banjara

Thanks for the informative update and link, Turfthrower ....... must look up some of the more recent stuff online!

BTW, booked the tix online first thing this morning, and am now really looking forward to it!

Morlar

Looking forward to this too, haven't seen them live since london years ago.

cocteau1000

Just heard the sisters are playing in November. looking forward to it. saw them in London years ago and in the boxing club in Drogheda 1990 hows this for a set list (First And Last And Always, Lucretia My Reflection, Body And Soul, Temple Of Love, Dominion/Mother Russia,Emma, Vision Thing, Detonation Boulevard,Marian, Valentine, When You Don't See Me, Gimme Shelter,This Corrosion,Doctor Jeep, Something Fast,Alice, 1969)
They have lots of new stuff, just a pity they aint releasing any. Good site for info http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/

teddy_303

Looking forward to this show too. Anyone know who is doing support? I heard it was new model army, but didn't find anything on interweb to clarify..

lilbitz440

Mojo Fury are confirmed to support. Was disappointed in Red Box but prepared to give them another go.

CptSternn

I haven't seen them since their last reunion tour when they said they would never play again.

CrystalLettuce

Man, New Model Army would have been awesome.

It's sad to see they've changed their sound quite a bit - there's nothing wrong with evolving but when it involved becoming more like a typcial rock/metal act. I did hear they were going all Metal head, playing through ENGLs and that.

Vision Thing was a pretty metal album but it also had "Ribbons" on it which was a real ubergawth track.

Still sounds pretty "goth" to me though. Style of guitar in that clip reminds me of The Cure at the start. It's not too far removed but I can see how for other tracks, it might be a bit on the unrecognisable side.

rob180

Strange , i just found the " Floodland " album in a old school bag i have. " Driven like the snow " was my fav song from this album. Oh the memories.

Morlar

Been checking some of the 2011 tour live videos and they look fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLwor17AhQU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g--hbBQbncw

DaveyCakes

I've seen them 4 or 5 times. First time was in 93 at Crystal Palace with Depeche Mode, epic gig. Last time was in Leeds about 5 years ago, which was fairly poor, partly because of awful sound. The Youtube clips from the recent tours look promising, looking forward to Friday.

poundhound

As much as I hate saying it, they were awfull.
Elderitch was flanked by 2 clowns pretending to play guitar and one zombie standing behind 3 laptops.
The sound was so fabricated, it was like Eldritch singing karaoke to his own songs. Yes, he sounds the part, but why didn't he just come onstage himself rather than acompanied by 2 guys who obviously weren't playing,
Jesus, I dispair, I really do.

honru

The lack of a live drummer, for this kind of band, astounds me. Considering the drums samples they actually use... sound like normal drums.

CptSternn

f®eak s©enery wrote: »

The lack of a live drummer, for this kind of band, astounds me. Considering the drums samples they actually use... sound like normal drums.

Everyone loves Doktor Avalanche!

Sugarlumps

Went with the missus, felt sorry for her as she's a big fan. That wasn't a focking gig, they stuck a cd on and minced around the stage miming. Something not unlike x-factor.

We lasted for 2-3 tunes and got the fock out of there, if there had of been a break in the music I would of been whoring down abuse. The yager bombs more than made up for that sorry excuse for a gig.

Morlar

That was an excellent gig. I am a bit staggered by some of the verdicts here, can only guess that they come from people who aren't fans or didn't know what to expect. I thought they did a very good job all round, from engaging the crowd . .. . 'Last I heard it was 2-nil' to playing all the classics mixed in with newer songs. The only down point for me was no 'We are the same, Susanne'. Every single person I saw or spoke to there had a fantastic time. High point for me would have been Dominion/Mother Russia.

DaveyCakes

I enjoyed it....good mix of songs, good sound (although a bit quiet at the start), and lots of smoke and lights....

poundhound

Morlar, I am a fan and have seen them before. However the previous time the guitars were plugged in. Last nights show was Eldritch singing to backing tracks.

Sugarlumps

From a few years back 2006, please read the review and comments below.

Reiketsu

This was not worth a four hour bus journey. Very disappointed! Eldritch put in very little effort. I could hardly hear him and at the times I did, he sounded like Cookie Monster. Woeful gig! To top off a wonderful night, some lout spat in my face outside a bar and then moved on to another girl.

Then I drank some Captain Morgan and had a wee dance and all was well. But seriously, disappointed! I wasn't around for their heyday- I can only assume that was the time to see them.

purplechaos

Very disappointed in the Sisters gig on Friday, sound was awful and couldn't actually see the band due to the sheer volume of dry ice.... could have just stayed at home and put the cd on! :mad:Could have been anyone up on the stage!!

SerialComplaint

Thanks to those lovely folks at the Olympia for creating such a pleasant view of the stage from Circle balcony. Here's what I was looking at from my front row seat.

How on earth do they get away with defiling a beautiful building like the Olympia with bloody scaffolding on the inside?

abouttobebanned

Lot of smoke there... What were they trying to hide?

Morlar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5sfRxcSl3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YsrU58NId4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUctXLZFqLs

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sisters+of+mercy+dublin&aq=f

poundhound

Thanks Morlar for those clips. The footage of Dominion proves my point, I've never seen a guitarist playing and drinking a bottle of water at the same time?!

turfthrower

I wasn't at this gig, but I've seen them loads of times and listened to lots of bootlegs. The bass, synths and drums are run from a laptop, but the rythym and lead guitars are played live. The guy you can see drinking the bottle of water isn't playing the riff you can hear. The other guitarist is.

(I've stood four feet from this guy in the front row of a gig and watched him play and I play myself. He's exceptionally skilled.)

If you listen to the rest of the song, you can hear bottle-guy playing the lead riffs over the other guitar line quite clearly. Check it out around the 2:40 mark.

The Sisters aren't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. However, none of the vocals or guitars are prerecorded. There's far too much variety from one gig to the next, and both the guys playing there also play in other bands - they are exceptionally tight gigging musicians.

The Sisters have always used a drum machine and pumped silly amounts of dry ice onto the stage - that's what you get at a Sisters show.

This gig seems to have really divided opinion - lots of people say it was excellent and lots of people seem to have hated it. At the very least, it seems to have been interesting.

Morlar

turfthrower wrote: »

I wasn't at this gig, but I've seen them loads of times and listened to lots of bootlegs. The bass, synths and drums are run from a laptop, but the rythym and lead guitars are played live. The guy you can see drinking the bottle of water isn't playing the riff you can hear. The other guitarist is.

(I've stood four feet from this guy in the front row of a gig and watched him play and I play myself. He's exceptionally skilled.)

If you listen to the rest of the song, you can hear bottle-guy playing the lead riffs over the other guitar line quite clearly. Check it out around the 2:40 mark.

The Sisters aren't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. However, none of the vocals or guitars are prerecorded. There's far too much variety from one gig to the next, and both the guys playing there also play in other bands - they are exceptionally tight gigging musicians.

The Sisters have always used a drum machine and pumped silly amounts of dry ice onto the stage - that's what you get at a Sisters show.

This gig seems to have really divided opinion - lots of people say it was excellent and lots of people seem to have hated it. At the very least, it seems to have been interesting.

There endeth the lesson.

poundhound

Turthrower, the 2nd guitarist was playing bass. Therefore the aforementioned riff was prerecorded. The lead guitarist may have played sporadically over the backing track but it's hardly a live band.
Believe me I love these guys, I'm not a hater but as an experienced gig goer, this show left me underwhelmed.

turfthrower

Well if you're convinced of that, then you're entitled to your opinion and you're probably not gonna change it.

For what it's worth, I know that the second guitarist (Chris Catalyst) only plays bass on one track that is regularly part of the current setlist, Neverland. On all other tracks, the bass is prerecorded and triggered along with the drums by guy running the laptop at the back. On all other tracks he plays rythym guitar.

Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer if The Sisters used a live bassist, but they haven't since 1993. They are who they are, and the act is what it is. Personally, I really like the sound, and take the drum machine for what it is -a deliberate aesthetic choice. Don't get the prerecorded bass to be honest, but the guitars are 100 per cent definitely live.

This band excites strong opinions, because they've have two or three really strong but quite different incarnations, and people argue over which version they prefer - the early 1980s goth version, the late 1980s industrial synth version, the early 1990s metal version or the current rock version.

For what it's worth, they played the same track two nights later at the Roundhouse in London, and you can look that up on youtube and clearly see that Catalyst isn't playing a bass. But, there you go. Your mileage may vary.