1996/07/14, Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany

Written by Robin Colman (sisters@pandora.be), German translation was published in Head and Star fanzine

Lucky to find out that the gig would be in Offenbach and not Hanau, like they've told me at 'German Tours'. Thanks a lot to the nice German fellow who saw us looking at a city map and told us that the gig would be at the Stadthalle.

3 PM, nobody around, everything is very quiet, no public, no crew, no posters, nothing, the Stadthalle looks empty! The backdoor is open and I go in to get some information, first guy I see in there is ANDREW ELDRITCH. The man himself, trying to eat some vegetables and not very pleased to see me this early after having a rough night. He doesn't know what time he has to perform today, doesn't know if he will perform today, and has no idea how many other bands are appearing. The only thing he knows is that he had a rough night.

Security saw me inside the building and threw me out, but who cares, I know Andrew's here! Rodney Orpheus comes over to have a chat with us and he tells us that he doesn't know what to do in here, nobody knows! It was very nice to talk to one of Andrew's best friends. The subjects went from The Sisters of Mercy to Rodney's new project "Sun God" and his place of birth, Northern Ireland.

7 PM, the doors finally open, by the time I get in there is a band playing, only a few people watched it, and 'till now, I still don't know which band it was! About 300 people are in the Stadthalle and I think that only 50 of them are real The Sisters of Mercy fans, so every Sisters fan can be in the first row.

Lights go out, the stage gets filled with smoke, adrenaline and a very special atmosphere. This was going to be great. First song of tonight's holocaust: Kiss the Carpet. Andrew's voice was great, I was standing at the first row and I even had somebody on my shoulders, the song was much too short but looked like it was played for centuries. Who said something about Ochtrup? Ochtrup was bad, really bad compared to this!

Adam turns out to be a very good background singer (we can't say that about Andreas) and the Babylon Zoo guitarist is still a very ugly guy, I can't help it. Only 50 or 100 people are watching this gig and it is one of the best I've ever seen. That's what I say after every concert, I know, but this was special, you could breathe the words, you could smell the music. Andrew performed longer than the day before and you could see that he enjoyed it, no problems with the sound and the microphone this time. They're playing in a dark room and have a chance to use all the lights, and a small but hyper enthusiastic public that follow him to die!

Andrew watched, observed and ruled his public during the whole show, he was the master, he was in command, and there was certainly nobody in that room who had any doubts about it!

The real Sisters fans didn't even stay to see Sex Pistols, no luck, they were as bad as ever, but when they finished playing and everybody went home, there was one small, thin man standing at the merchandise tables all by himself. The small blond man was talking to himself, until a fan of his came to have a chat with him. Andrew said that Sex Pistols were crap, he expected more from them, but he liked the Sisters gig tonight very much.

Too bad there were only a handful of people. On this moment, a very drunk punker asks Andrew to sign anything for him. Andrew says yes, takes a pencil and puts his autograph on this guy's T-shirt, just on John Lydon's head.

Rodney is there to pick Andrew and travel to the hotel, no Mercedes, no large tour bus, only a small white van, including the band, their equipment and their T-shirts. There have been other times!

A friend of Andrew filmed the whole gig, and I would give my left eye to get a copy, but I am afraid that it will stay in Andrew's personal collection forever. I know that the last 1993 concert was also completely filmed and I haven't seen a copy of that one either!

Rumor that I've heard from a friend of Andrew before I get in my car of another 600 kilometers drive: the Sisters will probably play Dortmund in August or September. And from Rodney Orpheus I've heard that there were no new Sisters songs written or recorded.

Written by David Caskel (CASKEL@restrum.uni-mannheim.de) for Dominion mailing list

Well, the Hanau thing turned out to be a Offenbach thing and it was even more ACE than Ochtrup. Actually, it turned out to be something like a private audience to a few people. The Sex Pistols really had problems to sell more than 500 tickets. There were supposed to be 600 people in the end. Well, the Sisters the same set as in Ochtrup- just with "Kiss the carpet" as Song NO.1 Eldritch did not say much, but it was excellent. According to Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra complex turned rowdy) Eldritch was completely drunk (Vodka orange) in Ochtrup. So that s why he took off his sunglasses for a second.

Anyone needs more information concerning the split rumor: Eldritch finished the set with saying "Bis demnaechst", which means "See you soon".

In the end HE disappeared in a Hamburg mini van waving and grinning, WAIT FOR MORE TO COME.

Written by Chris Beal (Chris.Beal@uk.sun.com) for Dominion mailing list

I made it there - even though it wasn't Hanau, but Offenbach. There was no promotion that I could see, but the place was still pretty full. People only seemed to appear as soon as the smoke machine went on (instant goths, just add dry ice!)

It wasn't too crowded, it was nice to just have some space to dance, and not be pushed all the time (though that can be fun too).

Set list was pretty much the same as Ochtrup, and once again, a couple of genuine encores.

All in, a very good weekend was had.