Monday, March 13, 2006

Thank you, Andrew! Hope to see you in another 5 years!

(Andrew = Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the Sisters of Mercy)

You know, it's almost like a religious experience for me, going to a Sisters show. I always come out beeming like an idiot. Saturday was no exception.

We (my brother Brad, his wife Liza and me) left for Montreal close to 5pm (apparently, we were supposed to leave at 4pm, when I was on a walk.. oops. I'm glad they waited for me!!) got there roughly two hours later, parked off of St Catherine and had chow at one of those 'fancier' St. Hubert. Good meat. Chicken and ribs. Yum!

After food went straight to the Metropolis. We actually didn't know what time Sisters were coming on.. but when we got there the sign said 9:10pm. Liza checks her watch... 9:10! Of course, all bands run behind schedule so we still had time to find a good place to stand and buy some swag. Anyone ever been to the Metropolis? It's a converted old performance hall, much like Barrymore's only bigger. The upstairs is lined with tables and stools all facing the stage. Must have been a couple thousand there that night. The place is awesome, I'd love to go there on a nightclub night.

Being a Sisters concert the "all fans must wear black" rule was in effect, although not as much as past years. Since the band has been around for more than 25 years now, the fanbase is getting older and I guess folks aren't going all out as much as they used to. Speaking of fanbase, I was surprised to see so many early 20ish fans there. Their last full album was released in 1991, so these kids have done their research. I just turned 30 and I'm barely old enough to know who Sisters are.

Anyways, the show! FRAKING AWESOME. Great balance of old favourites and material that hasn't been released yet (did I mention there hasn't been a new album in 15 years?). Whenever they get that new stuff onto CD, I'll be picking it up for sure. Andrew, who always appears differently everytime I see him, is now bald. And there was only 2 other band members, both guitar. They use a drum machine for everything else.. his name is Doktor Avalanche. They opened with First & Last & Always (a favourite) followed by Ribbons (another favourite!). Also during the show they played Flood 2, Temple of Love (woohoo!), Dominion/Mother Russia, Lucretia (my Reflection), Alice (hadn't heard that live before!) and other goodies.

Brad and Liza had a good time, but had a couple of complaints.
1) Too many songs that haven't been released (leads to lots of: "What's this song?")
2) The excess of smoke. Not cigarette smoke. Stage smoke.

Let me explain something about seeing this band live. They are known for their smoke and lights show almost as much as the music. Here's an example of what it's like.

Quite the visual, huh? Notice how sometimes the smoke is covering up the entire stage? Well the first 20 minutes or so of the show was just like that. You couldn't see Andrew at all. I found it kind of funny, and was too into the music and the visuals to really care about seeing Andrew, but some folks were pretty ticked. I read that one guy asked for his money back. I dunno if it's that much to get worked up about.. I mean Andrew is just standing there singing. It's not like he's dancing or anything. Now THERE'S a funny visual. :)

So yeah, show was great. Hope I get to see them again. Hope even more we get a new ALBUM soon! :p

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