The Sisters of Mercy - 1998 - Summer

Setlists overview

Setlist didn't really crystallized during the short six date tour; however, main list (everything except opener and encores) was pretty much constant. The pattern of the setlists was something similar to this:

First and Last and Always (on some nights) Ribbons Come Together Train/Detonation Boulevard Amphetamine Logic War on Drugs Giving Ground (We Are the Same) Suzanne On the Wire/Teachers/On the Wire Will I Dream Dominion/Mother Russia Summer Anaconda

Romeo Down Flood II Temple of Love <break> Comfortably Numb/Some Kind of Stranger (on some nights) <break> First and Last and Always (when not used as an opener) This Corrosion <break> Something Fast Vision Thing <break> Sister Ray

Song order pretty much follows that of Event Horizon which directly preceded this tour. Compared to the winter tour, this one didn't have any additional songs, and five Event Horizon songs were not played: Jolene, Kiss the Carpet (both these didn't come back next tour), Under the Gun (this obviously left TSOM shows for good), Body Electric and Alice. This was the last tour with Anaconda still permanently in sets -- it got excluded right after it.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the tour was often performances of the revamped Sister Ray medley. It seems the band had decided to play it in all gigs they could, time permitting -- and circumstances didn't permit to perform it in three gigs of the six.

Shows to look for

All songs of the tour were performed in two gigs of the six: 1998/07/04 Reuterstadt Stavenhagen (opened with Ribbons) and 1998/08/08 Neerpelt (the only gig to open with Comfortably Numb/Some Kind of Stranger, described as the best performance in years by many), so these seem like the most obvious targets in quest for live recordings. Neerpelt gig was issued on bootleg Superrock double CD, but that release misses three first songs.

All other gigs miss some songs: 1998/07/05 Rothenburg ob der Tauber didn't have Comfortably Numb/Some Kind of Stranger, 1998/07/11 Arvika skipped Vision Thing and Sister Ray, 1998/08/29 Gelsenkirchen did without Ribbons, Comfortably Numb/Some Kind of Stranger and Sister Ray.

1998/06/27 Roskilde, with third tour songs missing, is best avoided.