On their first US tour since 1999, SISTERS OF MERCY played a lackluster show that made me wish that I hadn’t spent $45 plus service fees to see them.
At this point, the band includes mainstay and sole original member ANDREW ELDRITCH (not counting DOKTOR AVALANCHE, their venerable drum machine, of course) as well as guitarists BEN CHRISTO and CHRIS CATALYST. They have an unusual setup in that when they play live, it’s just Eldritch on vocals and the two guitarists on their instruments, so there’s no bass and the percussion is handled by the aforementioned Doktor Avalanche.
Opening with the title track of First, Last and Always, they played a lackluster set characterized by the inclusion of rare songs (including some from the hard-to-find Sisterhood EP, which I’ve never heard) as well as new ones that I didn’t recognize as well. Regardless, even the songs I did recognize (such as “Alice,” “Dominion/Mother Russia,” “Flood II,” and tracks from 1991’s underrated Vision Thing, like “Detonation Boulevard” and “Doctor Jeep”) were played so badly that on occasion, it took me about halfway through each song to even recognize what they were playing.
Part of this had to do with Webster Hall’s truly terrible sound. As far as I know, they have a state-of-the-art soundboard, so why does almost every band I’ve ever seen there sound blurry and muddled? Supposedly, it was better up front, but given that I was standing right in the middle of the floor and only about halfway back, it was inexcusable.
Furthermore, singer Andrew Eldritch’s voice just sounded shot. Let’s be honest here: he was never a great singer to begin with, but the personality, conviction and intensity of his best songs matched with his deep croak perfectly on the Sisters’ best moments. However, it seems like he’s lost part of the upper register of his voice, so now when he sings the classics, it just doesn’t sound completely right. This is sad, but a fact of life for too many singers as they get older. Furthermore, it didn’t seem like the crowd was really all that into it. Sure, I can’t blame them all that much, given how mediocre the show was, but I expected a more fired-up audience considering how infrequently they tour and how revered they are in goth circles.
However, there was a bit of light at the end of this proverbial tunnel. The encore was a devastating version of “Vision Thing” that was by far the best thing they played the entire night. Andrew’s vocals were clearer and there was more passion and energy in the playing than I’d heard the rest of the show. I wish they would’ve played like that the entire time, but unfortunately the show was over right after that.
Openers THE WARLOCKS played a slow, noisy, drone-like and very loud set of psychedelic and shoegazer-inspired rock that reminded me of BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB’s first album. I was quite impressed with their set, although I don’t know if I’d be curious enough to check out their records, since all of the songs sounded very similar to one another. Curiously enough, they sounded better filtered through Webster Hall’s sound system than the headliners, but perhaps that’s because I’m not familiar with their records.
