Sisters Of Mercy + Mojo Fury - live
@ the Olympia Theatre, Dublin. 11/11/11.
(review & pics copyright Joe Donnelly 2011)
Another night another roadtrip again accompanied by $$ to see one of my favourite gothic punk bands from the 80s "The Sisters of Mercy" live ,and to say I was really looking forward to this show would be an understatement. In my time warped ravaged mind this was sure to be something really special, plus I would have a good excuse to be christening my new (thanks again Des) "Stiltwalkers" tshirt. First up it was fellow Belfast / Lisburn boys "Mojo Fury" who were a band $$ had been raving about for quite a while, until tonight I hadn't really heard much of their stuff but I was very familiar with the name. Pretty soon though my uninformed misconception of them possibly being feather weight indie boys would be blown clean out of the water, they were excellent plus I think we use the same excellent tattooist.
They had a noisey electro / rock groove going on that at times reminded me of "Nine Inch Nails" & "Orgy" which I really liked .
With top quality hook filled self penned tunes like "We should just run away,The Mann & I ain't sharing" amongst others their future looks assured ,and winning the Artrocker magazine best new band 2011 award won't hurt either.
Make sure to check them out because I guarantee you will be happy you did.
It had been 15 years since their last irish gig but who gives a toss they're here tonight and thats all that matters now . The gig was sold out thanks to what seems to be an influx of their very enthusiastic eastern european goth brethren including quite a few black veil brides.
The strobes nearly blinded us during the roadie tests earlier ,not that that made any difference because we could see bugger all clearly from the off anyway.
Dunno if seriously excessive dry ice intake has the same deadly health issues as passive smoking does, but after the pea souper ammount we were all exposed to last night for a solid two hours straight then I reckon we're probably already stuffed lol.
Do not adjust your screen these are not bad photos attached ,this is the actual scene of the crime with the view we had from the fourth row from the front in the balcony which actually hangs back not that far from the edge of the stage, so we were pretty close to all the goth punk action.
For nearly two hours the venue was swamped in the thickest dry ice I've ever seen ,there wasn't a clear view of the "Sisters" all-night but nobody seemed to care.
These days there are only three main members of the band front of stage including the ever present main man "Andrew Eldritch" with a tech guy operating three macs and Dr Avalanche 2011 from a scaffold pole platform at the back.
I knew what to expect but as the lights went down and the Sisters " First and last and always"intro started there was sill no fog cover to be seen, I thought to myself maybe they've changed the habit of a lifetime. How wrong was I , all of a sudden there was this huge puff of smoke from under the monitors and the place was engulfed in a translucent cloud masking the bands entrance and thats just how it remained for the next 120 glorious mins or so.
The long setlist was well thought out ,and apart from the omission of a few fan favourites including "Walk Away" & "Anaconda", there was really nothing to complain about on the song selection front .
So in no particular order, heres what I can remember.
First & Last & Always.
Train / Detonation Boulevard
No-time to cry
Alice
This Corrosion
Dominion / Mother Russia
Ribbons
When you don't see me
Rock in a hard place
Marian
Something Fast
..........and then theres the rest I can't remember just now.
Each tune was belted out in rapid succession and the hardcore fans were getting crazier with each song.
The "Sisters" were definitely on premiership form last night , the sound was dodgy at times but they were sounding very powerful .There wasn't much between the songs chit chat but they seemed to me to be really enjoying themselves regardless of the lack of band / fan banter, the fact that they came back onstage twice to play multiple encores though says it all.
And the encores were, and again in no particular order......
A short version of "Lucretia my reflection" without the vital bass intro (which seriously pissed off $$).
More .
Vision Thing (which was f****** amazing).
Then finishing with a manic Temple of Love.
This was one of those gigs you'll always remember for all the right reasons.
On the 11.11.11."The Sisters of Mercy " tore Dublin a new one.
Joe Donnelly Belfast. 12.11.11