1999/09/27, Avalon, Boston, MA, USA

Written by Luiz Felipe Perrone (perrone@cs.dartmouth.edu) for Dominion mailing list

The last night was fabulous indeed!!! I haven't been able to shake off the impression that last night I went to the best concert in my almost 34 years. I'd seen them in Rio in 1991: Von didn't seem to be enjoying himself then; last night, it looked like he had a blast. Is he off the drugs now? He looks, I daresay, much healthier. And much better, too. I couldn't have picked a cooler outfit. The man has a lot of charisma. There was someone with a camcorder up close to the stage. I saw Andy smiling for the camera.

Von left us begging for more. He was a bit hesitant, at first, like people said about other shows in this tour. A few songs down the road and he was screaming like we love to hear. Fierce is the word, but wasn't he Mr. Charming, too? Smiles and looks thrown at random people close to the stage; it drew the crowd in, it made them feel welcome and connected, loved perhaps? I did hear people scream "I love you" and it wasn't a Backstreet Boys show... and Eldritch replied positively, off the mike, discreetly. A true gentleman.

There were two encores, and great ones too. Ok, he may have done the [counting down for crowd to sing along to] This Corrosion thing several times before, but it was amazing to see him go from hesitant, almost shy, to absolute sovereign of the crowd. Seeing how much control he can attain with his music was unbelievable. The people around me, 4 bodies away from the edge of the stage, were all in ecstasy and so was I. During Vision Thing, he caught me pointing at him, smiling like an idiot and singing along: he pointed at me, nodded, lifted his eyebrows and smiled back. I've always been against the cult of personality, this time I found myself ridiculously happy to have received a sign of acknowledgment from a man I consider a genius. Ridiculous. Happy.

'Dominion' was pretty impressive to me, as well. Alright, maybe I read too much into it, but to me the way the crowd reacted meant that his dream of world conquest, of reigning absolute in the rock'n'roll kingdom, would not be totally impossible. It sounded, very appropriately, like an anthem. I do wish his dream comes true, but it's too much to hope for. Average Joe cannot appreciate the kind of music/lyrics Eldritch writes. Average Joe can't begin to comprehend.

I do hope that this tour will attract enough attention to make the putrid music industry in the US realize the Sisters more than deserve a good distribution contract NOW. Any news of the tour in the media yet ? Empty-Vee should give it at least a few seconds... venues are getting pretty filled up, people are loving what they see...

About new fans, I saw -a lot- of young faces in the Boston show. Actually, I didn't see THAT many 30-somethings (the type of fan who's been following the band since it started; uh... dinos like me). I kept asking myself how on Earth TSoM can have made so many new fans when they're not on top 40 radio, hardly ever get a mention in the music press in the US, haven't released official new material in years, etc, etc, etc.

Written by Ken Springhetti (kz1000@hotmail.com) for The Sisters of Mercy Tours site

I will precede this review with this: the show was so good, that we (Erin and I) are flying to Florida to see them again on the 15th at the House of Blues in Orlando.

The Sisters of Mercy played the Avalon Ballroom on Monday night, September 27. Though longtime favorite of mine, I was totally surprised (must learn to find time to keep up with these important events) when I found that they were playing my home city only that morning. It appears that despite a few mentions in "goings on about the town" rundowns, there was no promotion for the show. Frantically I left my job and ran to the local ticket agent (head spinning, eyes popping out) and got my ticket fix.

Avalon was renovated this summer, and was in far better shape than when I had seen Ministry there a few months ago, so the atmosphere before the show was very exciting. The opening DJ did not get the attention I felt he deserved, but did a wonderful job. The usual Goth/Industrial types filled the venue, and techno-house is not really their bag I guess.

Ok, to the point... After a long intro with spaced out sounds, trademark smoke and ambient lighting, Andrew and co. emerged, starting the show off with "Detonation Boulevard and Ribbons", (I was so very starstruck that I forget which one came first :-) ) the crowd was elated. The band were all dressed very stylishly, (a young looking) Andrew sporting a coat, scarf, and turtleneck, cigarette in hand.

I really did not know what to expect from them, having many live recordings, I knew they sounded good live, but they were really amazing. The sound system at Avalon is new, and their sound people are very good. Andrew ran about the stage, throwing the mic stand back and forth, prompting the crowd for participation.

The show was very intense, Andrew did not say much, just a few witty comments. The band was very tight, and made no mistakes. It was everything a die hard could have asked for. The show progressed at a steady pace, new songs mixed with older stuff, building toward the inevitable fury of Corrosion and Vision Thing, where everything that wasn't nailed down was kicked or thrown about.

Go, see, be there, "rise and reverberate", who knows when they'll be back.

Written by Jason E. Macierowski (tintern@javanet.com) for Dominion mailing list

The Boston show was incredible. I've never seen them before but somehow, even early in their set, I got a feeling it would be a great show; and it was. I think a lot of it had to do with the crowd. There seemed to be a lot of energy going (ok, I was up front, who knows about the back 2/3 of the place but you can't see that from stage anyways) on. People got into Tube a bit - particularly the crowd next to me who kept yelling "that's great beer" or something every time he took a sip - to which he saluted several times. He was definitely fun and a bit silly but definitely danceable - good if you like bleepy techno.

If you need a reason to see the show... heck, the lights alone are great. The lighting changes were great and could tell more of a story than half the movies out nowadays.

And Mr E. sure looked like he was having a great time. Alternating between full-on grinning and challenging the crowd he seemed at a definite pinnacle of sorts. Not much banter - except thank you's and "see you again soon" except for some statement saying how we (the crowd) had to know all the details of what they've been doing on their holiday.

And the sound was great. The venue was great. The smoke was great. The crowd was really great. I saw less annoying people there than at any concert in recent memory: 2 drunk women at end of show (forgivable), some guy producing george-of-the-jungle type screams when cheering (ow!) and some euro/boyzone looking guy who looked liked he was tripping at the wrong place (got pulled out by the guards).

Written by Olive Drab (olivesdrab@yahoo.com) for Dominion mailing list

Wow! The Boston show last night was fabulous.

I had seen them 2.5 years ago in Brixton and 2 years ago in NYC. I was disappointed (to say it mildly) with the Brixton show, quite happy about the NYC show, but last night blew it (and me) away.

The sound was fantastic, Von was all over the stage, sounding fierce. He assaulted us.

The crowd was great - there were a few goth children, but most of the crowd was not. Best dressed award goes to my husband, who wore blue jeans, sneakers and a Heinz tomato ketchup shirt.

There was a ton of cheering and clapping (I lost my voice). Two encores.

I don't have a setlist, but was disappointed that there was no CN/SKOS. Got to hear Flood I and II, This Corrosion (with encouragement to join in on the "Hey now, hey now now" (he held his hand up and counted down for us, extending the mic out towards us with his other hand)), First and Last and Always, Vision Thing and more stuff that someone else will surely provide for us.

Varjak stayed mostly in fog, but Pearson come forward in the spots a few times.

The venue (Avalon) was great (beer took me back a few bucks, though).

Bought a head & star classic T - and they even had sizes other than "swimming in it" - I grabbed a small for $25!

I wish we all could have been there. This show really rocked. Absolutely Fabulous!

Written by Stephen Cox (mish01@flash.net) for Dominion mailing list

I had the pleasure of seeing both the NYC and Boston shows, and I must repeat what has already been said: the Boston show was incredible. Hands down the best Sisters show I have seen, and among the best concerts I have seen period. And better than NY. Except for the encores the set list was the same, but the Boston crowd was much more responsive (helped by a better venue), and about 4-5 songs in Eldritch started to feed off it. From there on out it never stopped. Vision Thing was put in the first encore to allow This Corrosion to be played in a second (NY only had 1 encore), and at the very end he seemed genuinely appreciative of the crowd's response in a way I have never seen. They lingered on the stage, Eldritch was all smiles and thanked the crowd. His last words: "see you soon."

There were at least two cameras filming the show, one up front and one on an upper VIP level. Wonder where we could get ahold of that footage...)

Picture on this page were taken by Patrick Mullen (with thanks to Ken Springhetti)