1999/10/13, The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA, USA

Written by Judy Renee Pope (coyote@spookhouse.net) for Dominion mailing list

Finally back from Atlanta, and with a night's sleep in my own bed, I think I can approach the show in a quasi-coherent fashion...

Leave Washington DC via Greyhound bus Tuesday night with EVB (she who took the Washington DC photos). Arrive in Atlanta 10:30 AM Wednesday morning. Quickly find that a) there is nothing to do in downtown Atlanta at 10:30 AM Wednesday morning, and b) the forecast we had both read for 80 degrees and sunny was about as wrong as one could get; try 65 degrees and pouring rain. Wander the streets, get soaked, find the Tabernacle and commence to fret that not only are the Sisters not listed on the upcoming events crawl in lights on the side of the building, they're not even mentioned on the paper flyers in the windows listing all the other shows for October and November. Uh-oh. On the good side, there are equipment trucks parked around back. We retreat for lunch, and wait out the rain.

Arrive back at the venue around 3, to begin the line proper. Still very nervous about any lack of mention that the show really was going on here tonight. About fifteen minutes later, Adam and ubiquitous bald guy (don't know his name, but it seems every tour has one) come rushing out of the front door with a crazed look in their eyes that says they've been penned up far too long. "Do you know where there's a bar? We just got off the bus from Las Vegas, and I need a drink!" says Adam, thereby explaining the 'freedom at last!' look. Not being locals, we can only point them in the general direction of the various eateries and similar establishments that downtown Atlanta has in abundance, babble our sympathies about long hellish bus trips, and wish them well in their quest. Afterward we agreed that we were never so happy to see people with the right laminates in our lives.

Wait. Have an early native show up to keep us company. Wait longer. Short soundcheck about 5 -- Logic halfway through twice, Detonation Boulevard once and a half, and Comfortably Numb. Not the world's most fascinating soundcheck (personally, I think the one they did at Dark Harvest III wins that one hands down; where else does one get to hear Eldritch read the breakfast menu from whatever hotel interspersed with comments about the little black puddles melting outside the front door?), but really welcome.

By door time there are maybe fifteen to twenty people in line; just enough to make up a front row with plenty of room. We grab our customary front and center spots, and wait again. I'm beginning to think this is going to be one of those nights where someone threw a party and no one came... More people trickle in, but it's a good sized venue, and it was not filling up fast. Tube comes on promptly at 8, plays to maybe a hundred people. He's tired, not dancing around as much as earlier, and therefore his set seems about eight times longer than it did in Philly or DC. The audience wants him gone badly--so much that the crew who remove his equipment from the stage get a bigger round of applause than he did. Very demanding, these Atlanta goths. Short setup time for the Sisters; the lights drop at five to nine...

Eldritch walks out, takes the mike, looks down at us, give us that "I know I've seen you before" look (either that, or Adam has warned him about the loonies wearing mirrored/glitter shirts who bused down from DC), and breaks into a huge grin. An honest-to-God Very Cute Moment. Tonight's show opens with Ribbons, an odd opener that sets the night on a somewhat strange edge (they must have been rearranging that DAT again! <grin>). You can tell they're tired after the long haul from Vegas, but determined to make the best of it; it helps that the place has filled up more, and there's a good deal of crowd enthusiasm and singing along to songs they know. I certainly do my best to contribute to the general activity.

The entire crowd to my right wanted to hear Marian; they screamed for it loudly at every opportunity. To which they got the muttered reply (and smile, so we know it wasn't overtly hostile) "Get a life." They didn't; they kept screaming. sigh The girl behind me just want Andrew; agreed, he looks fantastic, but I didn't need my eardrums pierced with "I WANT YOU!!!" every five seconds. She finally caught a lull between songs, and her voice carried clear and true right up to the object of her desire. Who stopped, cocked his head, smiled, and came within millimeters of a laugh--obviously amused and flattered. More evidence of that mysterious good mood that's surrounded the tour....

EVB had an enthusiastic fan to her left who screamed along happily and tunelessly to all his old favorites; he was rewarded with the whole of Giving Ground being sung at him. Hm; don't suppose the Mission 1988 tour shirt he was wearing would have had anything to do with that?

Temple was much closer to the beginning of the set than earlier in the tour, and an amazing rendition of Summer verged into Romeo Down, which is the only one if the new songs that I still don't have any of the words down to; believe me, this omission was noticed from the stage. Since I'd down so well singing all of Bei Mir (hey, before show practice helps!), and was rewarded with the observation "Well, SOME people in the front row aren't dead", I think more was certainly expected..<grin>

Lots of between song commentary, some of it quite long, unfortunately between the acoustics and the mix (the vocal were a bit buried) I caught none of it other than the previously reported lines and some comment about "...our new drummer." Maybe the Doktor had brain transplant somewhere on the road...

Overall, another good show, another appearance of the United Federation of Planets jersey (hit me as really funny at the time; I think it was simply fatigue sillies), and another happy ending. Not as standout as the Philly and DC shows, but I'm happy I went (even if the bus ride home was 18 hours through every little village in three states), and I really and truly believe I've witnessed the best rock band out there. Seriously.