1999/10/02, First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Written by Jason Boak (jboak@chorus.net) for The Sisters of Mercy Tours site

After the show in Chicago it was home to Madison and then up early Saturday to head for the twin cities.

I arrived at the venue at about 6:15, about 45 minutes before Tube was supposed to kick off the evening. The good thing about "1st avenue" is that they have like 3 or 4 bars and it was a 21+ show, so most people who bothered to show up early were busy drinking and didn't stake out a spot close to the stage.

I went for the merchandise and bought the hardcover lyric book with AE's autograph inside for my friend since they had sold out the night before and he didn't get one. If you want one of these, buy it BEFORE the show. The Sisters merchandise guy said they don't have many left. I'm guessing from the number on the book I bought for my friend that there's only around 200 or so made and only a handful are available per show. After the merchandise table I grabbed a beer and settled in for the evening up front at the barricade.

The club was much smaller than the Riviera in Chicago which was nice. Tube eventually showed up on stage and pretty much played the same thing from the night before. Tube left the stage with what is evidently his routine farewell of "I am not a dj... peace".

10 minutes later the intro tape fired up and the stage filled with smoke which at times was lit hot pink. After another lengthy intro of "Fly and Collision", Andrew and the boys take the stage and burst into "Train/Detonation Boulevard". As far as the setlist for this show, it was pretty much the same as in Chicago but in a different order. The only difference was that Comfortably Numb/Some Kind of Stranger was not played at all. Although I think we got lucky the night before because it hasn't been played a lot this time around. However, the songs were even stronger at this show and the sound was much better. You could hear Andrew quite well.

But the biggest difference was the crowd, which was very into the show this time. By the initial set closing rendition of "Vision Thing", they were in a frenzy. People were dancing (pushing?) like crazy. And by the time Andrew said goodbye with an especially lively "This Corrosion", it was almost a mosh pit sing along. Throughout the evening Von fed off the excitement of the crowd and left little doubt in anyone's mind as to who the dictator for the evening was! By the end of the set he was yelling and screaming his way through every song. He was all smiles when he saw the crowd singing along and having fun. At one point, after speaking briefly with Adam Pearson on stage, AE actually burst into what looked like uncontrolled laughter. Other memorable events were when Von strolled up to Mike Varjak and said something to him and then turned to the crowd and said "we've decided we like you". And near the end of the show Eldritch answered the audience's thunderous applause with words to the effect of "you guys are the worst hecklers I've ever heard, so now I'm going to do some heckling of my own." He then strolled across the stage staring any number of those lucky enough to be in the front row right in the face. He then walked away with a smile whilst interjecting "but I've got nothing really bad to say right now."

Overall, I can't imagine getting a better show out of the Sisters. All of the band members were having fun and Eldritch was at the top of his performance. Incredible. Absolutely brilliant.

On a side note of personal interest, Andrew decided once again this night to throw one of his bottles of vodka and cranberry juice into the crowd. He had looked at me a number of times but I didn't know if he actually remembered me from the night before when he gave his bottle to me. But to my surprise, as he walked up to the front of the stage to drink some and then give it away, he looked over at me and smiled. I responded by laughing and pointing back at him. In turn he shook his head "yes" at me and shook the bottle in the air in my direction. He then tossed it out in front of him to nobody in particular. Very humorous.

Written by Joachim (dreizehn@angelfire.com) for Dominion mailing list

Back from the First Ave gig. The good news was that the filthy hippies that would swarm in the area turned out to be hitting a "Phish" show at the Target Center. Up to discovering this, serious doubts as to the Sisters current fan-base were raised. Also, a collective sigh of relief was heard when discovered Otis Crenshaw would not be performing. Instead, we were graced with Tube, sounding (and looking) like a Meth-tweaked Aphex Twin. The crowd reacted with non-enthusiasm, but -I- liked it, but as I was wearing white to the gig, I hardly represent a good sampling...

Swell show. Lights perfect, great gig, and didn't even miss the bass player. Not much on chatter during the show. After, we were treated to the humorous mating habits of Mike Varjak, and inciteful music theory of Adam Pearson "So why weren't you doing Comfortably Numb?" 'Cuz I'm too pissed!'" Andrew hid like Salman Rushdie during the Haj, poking his head out only to make a sprint to the bus. Hint to the stalkers - watch the big bald Brit in the Hawaiian shirt: he's blocking for Eldo. You see him make a move torward the exits, you have a clean shot at Von soon after. Also, miraculously managed to score Von's scrawl on More 12" cd5 gatefold, polly because of the above mentioned non-gawf attire. Keen... set list, hat-trick in siggies, not to mention that I hooked up with a taper...

Written by Brian Showers (bshowers@students.wisc.edu) for Dominion mailing list

In Minneapolis I ended up standing next to a REALLY old goth (front row on Mike's side if any of you saw her). She was (ahem) not young looking by any means. Gobs of make-up, tiara, and frilly black funeral dress thingie on. AE and Mike glacned over a few times at her, and eventually started whispering to each other between a song, at which point AE come over to her and said "We've had a discussion and we've decided that we like you".

It was a thrill seeing AE in such a jolly mood, and if I didn't know it before, I know now that The Sisters of Mercy are one of the best live acts in the world.

Written by Melissa.L.Rethlefsen-1@tc.umn.edu for Dominion mailing list

The Minneapolis show was amazing. I was one back from the rail dead center, and it felt like there were only the people surrounding me and me in the audience. I, too, heard the comment about the conference about the old goth chick, and it was one of the only ones I could understand. Not only was the show fabulous, but I also got to see scoreloads of my old friends I haven't seen in years. I'm still reeling with joy. I never thought I'd ever get to see them. I got Mike's signature on my ticket, which was pretty neat, too.

All pictures in this page were scanned by Joachim (dreizehn@angelfire.com) for The Sisters of Mercy Tours site.