1998/07/25, Taubertal Open Air festival, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Written by Jochen Upheber (MERCYMAN@t-online.de) for Dominion mailing list

I just got back from Taubertal. Apart from some technical problems at the beginning (during the first half of the opener Ribbons somebody apparently forgot to turn on Andrew's microphone) a really good gig. In my opinion the sound quality was a lot better than the last times, especially Andrew's voice could be heard louder and clearer.

A special praise goes to Andrew who never thought of taking care of his voice. All the songs were brilliantly sung; there seemed to be a little bit confusion during Vision Thing, but hey! For me the day was made perfect with the performance of Sister Ray (this time cut to approx. 8-9 minutes). I haven't found out yet why I like the slow version of this song so much - maybe because The Voice is so much stressed.

Interesting for me was further that for the first time (during gigs I attended) Andrew introduced the band members to the crowd (maybe I didn't notice it in the past) And all were - again - in a good mood. I really have the impression that this time the band members of the Sisters get along with each other well.

As I had the possibility to get backstage before the gig, I talked some words to Mike again (nothing important) who is indeed a very very kind man. The weather was excellent, the scenery of the landscape exciting. The bad thing of all this is that unfortunately I hadn't got more time to stay at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the best preserved towns in Europe from the medieval ages.

Written by Olivier Kurtek (kurtek@jacta.univ-lille1.fr) for Dominion mailing list

It was not completely dark on stage when the first whistles of Fly and Collision came on. A few moments later everything was black and Afterhours began -- long-long Afterhours. The beat usually used in Comfortably Numb? No, it will be Ribbons. Mute Ribbons during the first 90 seconds in fact. Not nervous, Mr Bax works. And when the vox is on, a good Ribbons, an old Ribbons without Adam shouting. The misadventure of the Ribbons reminds me Leysin festival in July 93 with a strange More. But this time, everything turns out okay.

Following Ribbons, the tracks are classics now: really speedy Logic, War on Drugs (with some changes), Giving Ground. Lights are very good and even if all the people here are not Sisters fans (ex-Reptile House refugee camp not overcharged) audience is cool and in really good mood. The same for Mr. Bax! Not like the last time I saw Sisters in Germany (Hamburg, January). Okay stage is bigger.

Next a very interesting On the Wire with a perfect sound on Teachers and then, everybody's going to dream. Lights are fabulous on Summer! Pure orange and 'make it shine'. Really surprised by Romeo Down (is he really?) and a long-long Flood before you're going to >pray<. Break. So the first part is classic? Classic but gooood!

To de-break band begins with First and Last and Always definitely in its best version. Re-break. Surprises are coming now. Something Fast is quiet and slower than ever. A must. So slow that Vision Thing takes hours and hours to drive fast. And this time, Adam sang a verse alone. Vision Thing ended in confusion.

Audience is tired, I am not, the band are not. Then Mr. Bax began alone (the never expected) Sister Ray Says. Epic and fantastic like usually! This time sentences are from Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Sister Ray Says and something like Walking the Dog (no! impossible!). Violent and dark. Mr. Bax, Adam, Mike and Raver-Rage vielen dank!

Play time: 110 min (80 + 20) including a long intro (Collision and Afterhours) of 12 min. Sister Ray Says is a 10 min. version. The sound was not especially good until Giving Ground: sometimes Mr Bax's voice was undersampled, sometimes oversampled.

Something I've always wanted to say:

For me Sister Ray Says played by Sisters is not a Velvet Underground cover (I hate this fucking troop of clowns). Suicide has a track called Sister Ray Says. Sure, it is an homage to VU's song but NOT a cover! This track is very old and first time they played it, it was in 1972 in New York. So, early Sisters should have already heard it live.

Since 1981, Sisters are usually playing Sister Ray Says and the early versions sound like the Suicide song. So, we should call this track Sister Ray Says and not only Sister Ray. You can find a Sister Ray Says on the Roir session of Suicide and on the new CD it's now listed as "Mr. Ray" (but is not!). Suicide also played it in London in March.

Written by Paul Cuska (cuska_p@cuska.rol.ch) for Dominion mailing list

Ribbons, the opener, was fucked, no guitars could be heard, no vocals, and thing improved only slightly with the second track Come Together.

Summer was just excellent, and Romeo Down too. The others were fabulous as well, but I just love these two named. I thought War on Drugs was not really controlled, if you know what I mean.

Von fucked up Vision Thing, and Adam saved the day by singing various parts to show Von where they were, he even sang almost a whole verse, with Von walking next to him, observing Adams singing, and joining him at the end of the verse.

Sister Ray was a "groovy" (=slow) version, about two hours long and included excerpts from Stop Dragging My Heart Around.

The overall volume was VERY low until in the middle of the gig they (thankfully) turned the volume up. The lights were excellent, again, "another shade of blue" - and the stage was flooded with blue, etc. You get the idea.

All in all, though, not the best Sisters gig to me, but nevertheless exhausting and satisfying, and leaving me hungry for more.

Press pass scanned by Jochen Upheber (MERCYMAN@t-online.de), flyer scanned by David Hlavacek (half_god@hotmail.com).