The Sisters of Mercy and The Ivories, London Astoria, 02/05/06

[zoo_music_girl]

Last night we went to see The Sisters of Mercy. I use the word "see" loosely as there was a huge amount of dry ice and we only got occasional glimpses of the band. I used to be a huge Sisters fan. I have This Corrosion in three formats. I have umpteen bootlegs because my local record shop used to keep them by for me. I've even got an original copy of "The Damage Done". This was my third attempt to see the Sisters (there weren't a lot of opportunities for gigs living in North East Scotland as a teenager). I had a ticket for the infamous cancelled Birmingham gig in 96 or 97, and I was at the Astoria in 2000 (2001?) but got stuck right at the back and the guy I'd just met in the pub wouldn't shut up. (He was cute, but he wasn't that cute.) Third time lucky?

We'd planned to skip the support band and have a drink with Steer and Jane first but we missed them (bumping into them as they were leaving) and ended up at the Astoria really early anyway. We were both feeling a bit crappy so we made the most of being early and grabbed a table upstairs with a good view of the stage. I'm glad we were early because support band The Ivories were very much my thing, three Chrissie Hynde impersonators on vocals, guitar and drums and a bloke on bass playing bouncy punk flavoured rock. The singer was channelling Patti and pre-Juju Siouxsie. Great stuff. I'll be buying their album, which I think the singer said was out on Monday. She used to run a club called "Release the Bats". Be still my beating heart.

The Sisters, unfortunately, sucked. Big time. The sound was awful, not much improved when we ventured downstairs, and Eldritch's vocals were absolutely buried in the mix (apparently he couldn't hear himself either), in fact the only thing I could hear clearly was Doktor Avalanche, and it was sounding tinny. For me the lyrics and Eldritch's amazing voice are absolutely crucial to the songs. What's "Giving Ground" without the deep bass growl on "ground"? I didn't even recognise "This Corrosion" till the "hey now now" bit came in, and the lovely phrasing at the end of "Dominion" was almost impossible to make out. The best ones were definitely the big crowd pleasers, because you could actually hear the words.

Lousy sound aside I'm still not sure it would have been that great a gig, there was just too much damn dry ice for them to put on a decent visual show and I really didn't like what they did to some of the songs. I felt like calling the RSPCA for what they did to "Anaconda", and you can call me a boring purist if you like, but "Something Fast" really shouldn't have a guitar solo. Even Simon said so.

On the plus side, there were lots of songs I didn't know, so it looks like they actually have new material. Unfortunately I didn't like any of it much, but perhaps it will be better on record. We stayed for one encore and buggered off. I doubt there'll be a fourth time.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

I think the Sisters have gone straight to the Vegas show.

Have the Ivories got any songs up on the web? I couldn't see a link on their page.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

It sad to see you both so fleetingly. I am definitely going to try to organise a proper outing (or in-ing) when Steer is next in London.

[thermaland.livejournal.com]

Ha! Just a few minutes after reading this I got a text from a friend who was at the show too and thought it was crap. I saw SoM at Brixton Academy some time back (late 90s?) and also didn't enjoy it. I suspect that Eldritch just doesn't bother very much live because mostly goths come and see him and he doesn't like goths. Spiteful bugger.

[gothbabe.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering how the gig was last night. I also remember that gig at the Astoria in 2000/01. We were both there and I saw you and the guy who wouldn't shut up.

What a shame that the sound sucked at the Astoria as I remember it always being terrible at The Forum. Oh well, perhaps all good music is dated.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Shame to miss you. Next time I'm sure.

I'm off to see them tonight. Only fancied doing one date this tour. I love the Sisters live experience but it is really about sweat and loud noises and not being able to see the band rather than anything else. Then again, I know what the band look like so I don't mind not seeing them. Poor sound quality is unfortunately pretty common.

They probably have about an album worth of new material that they regularly play live. Summer, Romeo Down, We Are the Same (Suzanne), War on Drugs and the instrumental which is usually referred to as Snub Nose. The last two are particular favourites of mine. Typical gig will have nearly as many unreleased songs as released.

I have no idea if I was or wasn't at the Astoria 2000 show. I have a horrible feeling that was the one I didn't get a ticket for but did get the train from edinburgh (where I was having a meeting) to london intending to get a ticket from a tout and then got stopped somewhere around zone two for three hours and just got straight on the train back to york.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I was wondering whether to feel particularly stupid for not having got around to getting tickets, but now I don't. I'll just treasure the memory of the pretty good gig at Brixton in 92ish, and probably buy any new album like a sucker.
Sad to hear it was so disappointing, though, although yay for Chrissie Hynde-alikes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mrx_/]

" I had a ticket for the infamous cancelled Birmingham gig in 96 or 97"

So did I. In fact, after that I vowed never to pay to see the Sisters ever again. ' seen them 2ce since, but ' still don't think they deserve my hard earned cash, so didn't go last night. I think the Astoria's sound sucks, always. In contrast, the Mean Fiddler/LA2 is great.

Ho-hum.