2003/04/22, Academy, Bristol, UK

Written by Matthew North (alllivingfear@yahoo.com) for Dominion mailing list

Well I'm of those, I consider myself to be a hardcore Sisters fan but I really don't make the effort to travel all over the place for Sisters gigs. Why? Because I have been to far to many disappointments.

Last night though wasn't the case. Firstly was interesting to see Chris Starling (our local boy), Adam and Simon Denbigh in the pub beforehand.

The gig itself well the lights were better than usual but not as good as what you would see at an event like the Whitby Gothic weekend. Sound quality was very good everything was clear and solid.

As for peformance, the band seamed a little drained to start but they did gove it some too. How Eldritch can say he's anything else other than a goth band though is beyond me. Some of the newer songs were more dull than usual, Slept is plane boring as is Will I Dream?, Crash and Burn had more perk than usual, Dominion was great, Lucretia was the definite highlight for me, I Was Wrong was dissapointing, Vision Thing was perfect.

There was a very enthusiastic lady near me who could scream louder than my two parrots and my friend's macaw in unison!

Anyway, during Romeo Down I've decided to be a rebel and heckle 'boring' on the face that Von didn't sing the first verse and just wailed.

The some old bloke in a dodgy cordory jacket came up to me and said 'well there not as boring as your band' and walked off. Cheeky f**ker I thought. Then thought who the hell knows me that would wear such a didgy jacket, then it dawned on me it was me old mate Eric (or James Ray to the rest of you). Anyway collered Mr Ray afterwards for a chat. Looks like he IS putting a new band together and doing another album, as well as his on going book writing, and it's funny seeing him wouthout his goatie, he must have kepted off the Newcastle brown cause he looks no different now as he did when he was on Top of the Pops in 1987!

Rev Rev!

If I wasn't doing a gig in London on Saturday I'd of probably made the effort to go to Leeds, so have fun those that do.

And the People Rebublic of North Yorkshire shirt is Fab!

Written by Alexander Ord (alexander.ord@btinternet.com) for Dominion mailing list

Just got back from the Bristol gig, thought it was an absolute stormer, much better than Wolverhampton. The venue was a bit like Rock City, i.e. wide but not deep and with a high balcony. The crowd were up for it and it was really lively at the front, although a few people were a bit precious about where they were standing.

No surprises in the setlist (apologies for not remembering), but there was no Marian this time. I really like the new working of When You Don't See Me complete with metal intro, which I think works really well and it went down really well too. Lucretia on this tour sounds much better than it did at last year's festivals - the drums really punch it along with an almost disco-esque beat (I know nothing about drums so have no idea which of the many sounds would be made by what part of a real drum) and Adam's reworked guitar part sounds great. I appreciate a lot of this won't make sense if you haven't been to the gig or heard mp3 of it. Chris Starling was just plain vague before the gig.

One thing I have noticed from this tour is that fans who go regularly have a quite different perspective on the gigs than those who have gone less frequently. I've spoken to quite a few people who have only done one show and who found the gig disappointing. I don't know what the show is like from the back - maybe not the best place to fully appreciate the industrial sonic smoke machine in action. I've really enjoyed the six so far.

Right, off to bed and then to Manchester.

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

Another ace show from the Sisters. This really is turning out to be a class tour.

Auspices were not good for this one when the rumour spread pre-gig that the band had spent the day off after Wolverhampton on a 10 hour drinking binge. And indeed when I arrived, Chris Starling was propping up the bar at the boozer over the road from the Academy. A great chance, you'd have thought for him to buy me that drink he owes me from Bex last year, but no.

Anyway the show was fine. Temple as a starter and then the usual setlist. The guitars were a bit too quiet, but in general it was better than Wolverhampton. Lively crowd, including James Ray, in a small venue. Von was waving the mic stand in the direction of the photographer's pit early on, but no major incidents.

Written by Michael Parker (mparker@samhain.freeserve.co.uk) for The Sisters of Mercy Tours webzine

Much better sound quality in a smaller venue made this my second favorite gig of the UK dates. Best so far has been the second Forum show.