"We are a rock'n'roll band and a pop band  and an industrial groove machine. And intellectual love gods in our spare time. We make records, sometimes.  -  We play concerts, sometimes. That's All"

These are the words of Andrew Eldritch for the past 30 years. Because this is as long as the Sisters of Mercy exist. Well - let's get it straight. The Sisters of Mercy is a pseudonym, which actually stands for Eldritch who appears with exchanging musicians. But this act is truly a phenomen in Europe. There is no other band who can manage, not to produce a new albums since 1993, but when they tour, the venues are crowded and sold out. Whatever this cultstatus means. 

I have seen Eldritch now at least 5 times so far, and apart from the almost unbearable situation for photographers (see pics above), there is one more curiosity. And that's the fact, that the biggest hitsingle the Sisters ever had "More", is never included in any setlists on their concerts. After some reseach, I came to the result, that it must be either a spell done by Andrew, never to perform this track live again, or some guy named Jim Steinman, who co wrote this song, owns the rights. We will never got to know this for sure. Never mind, there is still 'Vision Thing' and 'Temple Of Love'. And to be honest, the Sisters of Mercy didn't have many more hitsingles until this very day. But at least these hits have given him cultstatus, and Eldritch must not worry about his pension later on. 
There have been already 4 tributealbums in the past, performed and produced by various artists. 
It's a fact, that these 4 shows, lined up once again here in Germany after some years, are completely sold out. For Munich this means aprox. 2.000 fans, dressed mostly in black with pale faces. And I for my part regret, not to have put on my white jeans and white Jacket. They'd probably treated me like an alien. *lol*

The evening starts off with a band named „IlikeTrains“

And apparently these english guys gave themselves this funny name, as they are truly big fans of trains. Founded in 2004 in Leeds, Guy Bannister, Alistair Bowis, Simon Fogal and David Martin have put out 2 EP's and one full album so far. They call their style post-rock, whatever this stands for. I personally think this performance is a rather depressive Ode to the individuel selfconfidence, following the slogan, I give myself a bullet without much pain. So the audiance reacts rather laid back to this morbid hymns. At least they get some polite applause. I don not doubt, that this band has some musical talent. But for me this sounds all too monotone and like I said before, depressive. But well, in the end, every supportact for the Sisters would do hard. Because the audiance is fixed and focused on the headliner... And that one keeps us waiting. 
http://www.myspace.com/iliketrains

IThe stage without a drumkit is not unusual for a Sisters of Mercy Gig. And until 30 seconds before the start, you can see this clearly. 

So everybody is waiting for the things  coming up ans is surprised, that the famous fog ain't here yet. Because if you'd used dry ice for this stage outfit, it would take ages to get to this sight. But it doesn't. Because this special effect is not caused by dry ice but more or less with ligths only, believe it or not. And we photographers are pushed to the limit to get at least 2 or 3 decent pictures. Apart from that, we only get the 3rd and the 4th song for taking pics in the pit. Nobody knows why and no reason for that given.  We need full concentration as we have to use every second where some clear sight is shown and gone again in the next moment. Thanks god.some of us, know the circumstance and can deal with it. But for some this is bad surprise. 
Anyway, I should mention, that Andrew Eldritch has gone on distance with the expression gothic. This one, he says, journalists have invented. But whatsoever, most of the audiance have shown up in an gothic outfit.
Andrew, meanwhile a boldhead, wears a cool psychodelic shirt and is still untouchable. Which means again, no hello, no announcement inbetween the songs and no good bye in the end. But that's what you call image care. He is accompanied by Chris Catalyst on guitar and Dr.Avalange on bass. 

That's what we call minimalism. The drum machine does the rest. Only once in their carriere, that Sisters appeared with a real drummer. And that was at a playback appearance in the TV Show Peters Pop show on german TV in the beginning of the Nineties. Eldritch does his job very professionally to fullfill the job. And according to the visuell restrictions there ain't much other action to describe up there. 

Whatelse to say? At the well known tunes, the audiance is freaking out  and celebrates one big party. And I really do think, there is nothing new or even innovative neccessary in the future, only this foggy atmoshphere and some kind of god as the cult figure. (by they way, this guys speaks so fluent german, he doesn't even show any accent.)

'Something Fast'

No surprise, as Eldritch spends a lot of his life in Hamburg for many years now. 
However, the popularity of the Sisters of Mercy once again gets a push up the popularity scale. And if he doesn't retire, then he will still live on stage with 'Vision Thing' and 'Temple of Love' - only 'More' is missing out of whatever reasons. We don't need it, was realized tonight. So what.... 
'till the next spooky fog party.....
http://www.thesistersofmercy.com

'Vision Thing'