1997/06/11, Manchester Apollo, Manchester, UK

Written by Robin Colman (sisters@pandora.be), German translation was published in Head and Star fanzine

The last night in the UK. Manchester, a dirty dying city in the shadow of industry, famous for their football team. Just like everywhere in England, people are extremely helpful, and the Apollo is found very soon. Large hall with a good backstage, nice balcony and restroom to drink something. Ands lots of parking place.

The little blonde fellow is in early today and around six we can hear the soundcheck, Ribbons / Burn / Anaconda / Logic / Vision Thing (if I remember it correctly). Strange is that it is never Andrew who is doing the soundcheck, it's always Adam. He's been improving, it's not too bad anymore (when I think back on the first time I heard him sing the soundcheck).

Cubanate was better this time, but I still didn't like it, sorry folks. Manchester was not sold out, and we just get the news that Dublin is rescheduled to a smaller hall, because not enough tickets are sold. Bad news for Von E.

Talking to some members of the crew, one of them plays with The Cassandra Complex, and now also with Project Pitchfork. I can't get a ticket for the aftershow, Andy won't be there anyway, so who cares?

Two days in a row starting with Comfortably Numb? Today it sounds a little different. Andrew recognizes the punk in the front row again and shows him his newly washed T-shirt. "An, can see you finally changed yourself, you can see I have a new one here..."

Much more people in here than yesterday, this might be sold out. A much better atmosphere and Cubanate bad as ever. Although a lot of people really enjoyed it. Then it took a real long time before the Sisters got on stage.

Andrew was in good mood, that's for sure, it has been a great week. Is this the same man who doesn't like to play live? He's giving all his old singles new names from Motörhead songs, he's giving old songs to the public that they haven't ever heard before, like On the Wire/Teachers/On the Wire and Blood Money. He picks a few songs out of each album, and today he even plays one completely new songs -- Summer.

Summer is not finished song yet, more like a demo, Andy is not even sure if he will keep the name. I can tell you, this is the best song they've got in years, my first impression was better than the first one I got from Under the Gun, Come Together or War on Drugs. This is the Sisters song to stay. This might be a good sign for new music, let's hope he'll play it again someday.

Almost the same set as yesterday in Brixton, only no Burn, and no Confide in Me, too bad, I liked those two, well, I might like them all.

Andrew returned for a great version of Something Fast and to finish with Vision Thing, but after several minutes he did the same thing as in Brixton and came back on stage for Jolene, a song that wasn't even on the playlist. Go on Andrew.

Tune in... turn on... burn out... England can go home.

Written by Bernard 'Dr C' Corfe (BCORFE@fs1.scg.man.ac.uk) for Dominion mailing list

As ever, I'm left fumbling for words to describe the majesty and power of a Sisters performance. Trivially, the setlist held few surprises bar for another new song, allegedly written just before the band went on stage (hey, the Sisters: they sing, they play, they jam) called "Summer" and workouts once again for the still-unreleased Come Together (which is getting very polished and would make a right danceable single, Andy) and War on Drugs which has benefited from a few more performances and already sounds like vintage Sisters material.

The whole performance displayed a coherence in its sonic sensual template that could be superficially overlooked by skating across the albums. The segue between Train and Detonation Boulevard suggesting a linear inheritance is one example. The whole, awesome, splendid gig is another. The sound is large. They've really sorted the Doktor as far as bass output goes, so much so he had to be caged along with Simon Denbigh. AE appeared to be in terrific mood, telling us to stop bickering and coming on for three encores, finishing with a completely overdriven Jolene.

Andy has said he thinks the Sisters deserve to be huge, which they do, of course, but this scale of venue seems to suit the material, the ambience and the ethic so much better than outdoors. It would be a shame if scale defaced beauty.

This gig mixed memory and desire. Cruel.

Written by Oliver Duke-Williams (oliver@geog.leeds.ac.uk) for Dominion mailing list

Another day, another victory for the boy from the Fens. But you'd all guessed that already.

Swings and roustabouts: I think the sound was slightly clearer at Brixton, but it was an all round better performance in Manchester; they certainly got in to their stride more quickly. Much the same set as before, but sadly no 'Confide In Me'; instead we were treated to a brand new Eldritch work-in-progress, apparently called 'Summer', of which it is difficult to say a great deal: as with 'War On Drugs' without listening to a tape of the show it's hard to say much more than 'It featured Avalanche. And some guitars. And Eldritch burbling on about something'. Still, a mere seven years after 'Vision Thing' the unreleased-song-totalizer if flashing away merrily at '3'; 4 if you count 'New World Order', and rumors suggest that there might be another new composition to be aired on the tour. At this rate we could be looking at a new album as early as 2010.

What to make of the tour? Eldritch laughing all the way to an exclusive financial establishment on the Strand, or a precursor to a release of some sorts. If I was going to record a live album I'd probably play more of a Greatest Hits set. Unless I was trying to piss off the paymasters who'd told me to go and record one. Btw, there was someone at the front (in front of the crash barrier) with a video camera.

Written by I.J.Palmer (i.j.palmer@Bradford.ac.uk) for Dominion mailing list

As for the somewhat interspersed references to the actual gig: Come Together is faster and much improved over previous incarnations; War on Drugs is tending towards industrial and is an interesting departure; the Palmer jury is out on Summer until further liaisons; older material was performed better than before (in some cases, e.g. Anaconda, Blood Money, much better).

I will agree that this was not the best performance of the four that I saw. It was on a par with Brixton I. In both cases I suspect many of the audience hadn't seen AE do his thing for some time/ever and were not sure what to expect (Will he regurgitate the old stuff verbatim? Will he do something new?) That's why BII was a stormer, they knew what to expect and were up for it.

Written by Pete Fenelon (pete.fenelon@info-com.com) for Dominion mailing list

Was very skeptical about Manchester, given the rather patchy (ok, ok, bits of it were very manky indeed and my throat has only just recovered from the excesses of the smoke machine!) nature of the Joseph's Well gig.

However, I think it was one of the best Sisters performances I've seen for a long time -- up there with the Leeds Uni. 10th Anniversary gig. Good venue, cracking PA, pretty good lights, and the band looking and sounding much more at ease than they did in Leeds. Crowd was just a little subdued, I think, but there was a nice atmosphere.

I'll save the blow-by-blow analysis of the setlist for the anoraks, but it was wonderful to hear Jolene again.

Great gig, shame about the beer.

Written by Gianfranco Sciacca (g.sciacca@ic.ac.uk) for Dominion mailing list

Good show but nothing compared to Glauchau. Crap venue, silly security. Come Together now seems to fit better the show. I thought I heard more old Pink Floyd bits in the intro to Comfortably Numb. The intro, funny, Eldritch timidly tries to go electro. Absolute lowdown was Temple of Love, time to drop this tired song from the set? War on Drugs sounds better, then speeds up and loses impact. For those wondering, there was also a massive video camera by the mixing desk.

Written by Dave Whelan (a.danby@virgin.net) for Dominion mailing list

Tom M. (possession_be@hotmail.com):
> Can anyone confirm this quote from the Manchester Apollo gig (11/6/1997):
> "...we are also from the land of God, but of course we are from the better part of it..."
> (in between 'Mother Russia' and 'Under the Gun') I'm not sure if I
> heard God or anything else on the recording.

I always thought he'd said 'We are also from the land apart (i.e. the north of England), but of course, we are from the better part of it (meaning Leeds, Yorkshire as opposed to Manchester, Lancashire). This little gem was followed, I think, by one of Eldo's 'erms' that indicate he's trying to be funny. He is of course wrong. Better part my arse, to paraphrase Mr Royle.

I don't think many of the crowd picked up on the comment, there wasn't any violent response, though of course Andy DID still feel moved to put in a special request for their tour buses windows later in the show.

As for the bootleg, it's an excellent recording of an average show.

Written by Chris Sampson (Chris@cgs123.demon.co.uk) for Dominion mailing list

I was talking to The Hippy what does the Sisters lighting about this new song. It was listed as "(Summer)" on the set list, but this is only a working title. The chorus has been around for a while ("Another shade of winter"??), but he was frantically scribbling down lyrics for the verses just before they went on stage.

Dave Whelan:
> I don't think many of the crowd picked up on the comment, there wasn't
> any violent response, though of course Andy DID still feel moved to put
> in a special request for their tour buses windows later in the show.

"Can we get back to West Yorkshire with our windows intact this time, please?"

Apparently the F-Club used to organize regular coach outings to gigs in Manchester and invariably came back with a few windows smashed; the locals not taking too kindly to a load of stoned freaks in a bus with "Leeds" markings.

My favorite Eldritch comment about the wrong side of the Pennines is the classic "Really, Lancashire's just a penal colony".

Written by Sven Togni (togni@pandora.be) for Dominion mailing list

This new song was on the playlist for 10th of June, but was skipped.