1998/01/17, Mala Sportovni Hala, Prague, Czech Republic

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

There is a phrase to describe this gig and that phrase is 'fucking insane'. Arriving mid-afternoon at the venue - an ice rink built in austere Soviet style - the rumor mill is working overtime. The scumbag promoter has informed the band that he might not be able to pay. The band response is clear - no money, no show. The soundcheck progresses, but it is clear that if money is not handed over then the band will be off. The promoter then mysteriously "finds" the dosh. Not only that but it transpires he's sold 4500 tickets for the 3000 capacity venue.

All hell breaks loose at this point. There are sightings of massed Plod armed with Pepper gas. As we arrive at the venue in the evening, several people are being carried out in distressed states by what appears to be the International Red Cross. There is a sign above the door saying "No Guns". It is not exactly reassuring that this has to be stipulated. Worse still, Robbo's printer is playing up and after some expert hacking from a certain highly-trained software consultant, the damn thing packs up completely. Ooops, mea culpa.

Inside, the joint is absolutely rammed to bursting point and then some. The rink floor is wooden and littered with burning fag ends - there are about two little exit doors and I'd say a 50% chance of a fire. We're beginning to get nervous. A significant proportion of the locals are very weird indeed and looked well primed for a major rumble. Veteran moshpit guru, Speedy D, takes one look at the situation and retires to the VIP guest area for the remainder of the evening. We are now extremely nervous.

Logic dictates that the gig would end in a bloody riot of smashed guitars, CS gas and riot police with a ripped-to-the-tits Eldritch wading into the front rows with a mike stand and broken Vodka bottle. In reality, though it's certainly a wired atmosphere, the gig is trouble free, though Von did his best to spark a riot by appearing in a T-Shirt bearing the logo "Bastard" for the encore, and waving the mike stand wildly around his head during the "steel in hand" line of Logic. A muffled sound drowned out The Voice and the guitars lack definition, so it wasn't as good as Vienna. Suzanne began to make more sense, and Romeo Down again came across as a devious, nasty piece of work. The crowd went berserk for Corrosion and Temple. Food for thought was the presence of Mother Russia in an ex-Eastern Bloc country. The distinctly pro-Soviet, anti-US theme of the song sounded a little dubious in Prague.

So to conclude, the band appear to be in fine shape with bastard promoters and boring audiences preventing real monster shows this weekend. I expect these will be ironed out in Germany, the States and UK, so it's looking good. The Best Is Yet To Come.

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

>several people are being carried out in distressed states by

The people were being carried out during the TAM set; as Chris mentioned it looked at this point like things might take a distinctly Altamont turn, and the crowd were getting very excitable prior to the Sisters' arrival on stage. However, during the SOM set itself, the crowd seemed fairly subdued except for the Floodland numbers.

The chorus from Suzanne had about three or four rhymes along the lines of: 'It's only a name: Suzanne / We are the same, Suzanne/ <blah> <blah> [word rhyming with 'same'], Suzanne'. I'd completely agree with Chris' assessment about Romeo being the best of the new songs, a glowering malevolent epic in the making.

An incidental note in addition to the review: a noticeable difference between Vienna and Prague was the local advertising - we didn't see any posters for the gig in Vienna, whereas Prague was festooned with the things, jostling for position with - oh the joy of cutting edge music - Judas Priest and Plant & Page. Now this would be neither here nor there (apart from the fact that the comparison is explicitly a here and there one), were it not for the entertaining fact that one of the posters in Prague (there were two designs) featured a picture of the Hussey / Marx / Adams / Eldritch line up, and thus must surely be a contender for the world's most out of date publicity poster.

Written by Smola (smola@mtl.pl) for Dominion mailing list

Most of my friends said it was not a not concert but a shit -- because of waiting about 3 hours for Sisters gig.

Scoda Blush was the first support. Nothing special, but sounds good. The other support Think About Mutation could be good as a support for... hmmm... Front Line Assembly or Front 242 or Project Pitchfork.

People got nervous. Sisters played short about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Too short. Compared to Dour Festival Gig it was just... ahhh, no comments.

Ticket, flyer and backstage pass scanned by David Hlavacek (dr.komisar@post.cz).