C-Halle, Berlin, Germany
1st March 2011
The Sisters of Mercy
THE SISTERS OF MERCY are a living legend and one of the most famous bands of the world. Their music, a highly original synthesis between Punk, Rock and Pop is said to be the beginning of Dark Rock. THE SISTERS consist actually of Andrew Eldritch (vocals), Chris Catalyst and Ben Christo (guitars) and Doktor Avalanche, probably the world’s most famous drum computer.
At the C-Halle, THE SISTERS were going to play their only concert in Germany. Naturally, people were full of expectation and the C-Halle was nearly sold out. Due to their mixture of music styles, THE SISTERS attract also a very heterogeneous audience: Now middle-aged people who were supporters of the band since the beginning were standing together with young Gothic people and rockabilly girls with gorgeous skirts. Old-School Hard Rock fans and decently dressed woman, Metal people and EBM-addicts - all were waiting for the legendary British band. http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com
Music & Performance
People had to wait a long, long time for THE SISTERS, and they waited more patiently than most of the concert visitors I have had the opportunity to observe. The concert was said to begin at eight. At half past nine, some people started to pipe, but most of the visitors were waiting, drinking some beer and enjoying the pleasant anticipation. At ten, some clouds of mist announced the appearance of THE SISTERS. It was difficult to see anything but fog and changing light effects in pink, yellow, green and lavender, but I can say that Andrew wore a bright shirt and dark sun glasses as usual. THE SISTERS started to play without saying a word - something that did not change during the concert, cause they did not present themselves and they did not gave any type of welcome to the public. The first songs didn’t wake a great reaction at the audience, cause they were relatively unknown. It must be said that THE SISTERS did not make any longer break between the songs - the songs followed each other without any time for applause ore comments.
Things changed a little bit with the fifth song, ‘Marian’, which was highly acclaimed by the public. People started to move and to become more involved. The eighth song, ‘First and Last and Always’, carried people away, although it must be said that it was due to the high quality of the song itself and not due to the performance, ‘cause I have seldom seen such a heartless performance like the one performed by THE SISTERS in Berlin. I would say that this was the tenor of all the concert: Songs with high quality, some of them famous all over the world, performed professionally, but without any kind of passion or emotion. The ninth song, ‘Arms’, was acclaimed by the public, just as the tenth song, ‘Mother Russia’ which was underlined by beautiful light effects. Little stars of bright light and changing colours gave some magic to the cold stage. However, the atmosphere remained retained and some people started to leave the hall visibly disappointed. After only one hour, THE SISTERS had played 16 songs and waited a few minutes for the applause of the public to start with the encore, although it did give the impression that the encore was a fixed part of the program, cause normally bands do wait longer before they start to play the encore.
At the first encore, they performed two songs. Among them, ‘Vision Thing’ woke the enthusiasm of the public. After a short break, THE SISTERS played a second encore consisting of other three songs. They finished the concert with a short version of their most famous song ‘The Temple of Love’. Although people loved this song, it could be noticed that the version THE SISTERS gave of it did not convince the audience entirely. After only one and a half hour, the concert had finished. The predominant mood between the visitors was a gentle deception. Although the concert had been technically good, something had been missing - the heart and the passion of the band members.
Setlist
01. Doctor Jeep / Detonation Boulevard
02. Amphetamine Logic
03. Ribbons
04. Crash and Burn
05. Marian
06. On the Wire
07. Gift That Shines (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry cover)
08. First and Last and Always
09. Arms
10. Dominion / Mother Russia
11. Summer
12. Alice
13. Anaconda
14. Lucretia My Reflection
15. This Corrosion
16. Flood II
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17. Kiss the Carpet
18. Vision Thing
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19. More
20. Pipeline (The Chantays cover)
21. Temple of Love
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 6
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran from M’era Luna Festival 2010 (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebookcom/blackcatnet)
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