THE SISTERS OF MERCY (Live)

at NX Newcastle, U.K., November 18, 2023

THE SISTERS OF MERCY (Live at NX, Newcastle, U.K., November 18, 2023)
Photo: Mick Burgess

It’s been almost 40 years since Goth legends The Sisters of Mercy graced a Newcastle stage when they last played and the now sadly defunct, Tiffany’s, so it was no surprise to see the recently refurbished NX Newcastle, packed to the rafters full of Goths new and old, to see the return of their heroes and for an hour and a half they were transported back into a world of melancholic darkness, shadows and swirling blankets of smoke.

Fronted by the mysterious, sole original member, Andrew Eldritch who was joined by long time guitarist Ben Christo and new boy Kai also on guitar along with Chris Catalyst, whose job it was to manage the fearsome Doktor Avalanche drum machine, The Sisters of Mercy brewed up quite a storm of morose darkness.

Hitting the stage to “Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard” the Sisters opened up with a bang followed swiftly by “Don’t Drive On Ice” and “Ribbons” as Eldritch, bedecked in shades, prowled the stage with a determined menace as Christo and Kai provided some flamboyance to the flanks.

With a simple yet stunningly effective stage set based around a number of oscillating fluorescent columns and huge searchlights across the back of the stage piercing through the cloaks of fog created the perfect ambience to deliver the wonderfully dark melancholia of “Marian” and “Alice”, from their first E.P. released way back in 1982.

With the classics coming thick and fast from “Eyes Of Caligula”, “More” and “But Genevieve” there was still room for “Giving Ground” from the Sisters offshoot The Sisterhood to keep the long term fans more than happy.

With a closing run of titanic Gothic masterpieces in “Temple Of Love”, “Dominion/Mother Russia”, “Lucretia My Reflection” and a monumental “This Corrosion” it was left to Eldritch to say a simple “thank you” to bring a 40 year wait to an end.

Author

  • Mick Burgess

    Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell!   Over the ensuing years, he's enjoyed the Classic Rock music of Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Deep Purple; the AOR of Journey and Foreigner; the Pomp of Styx and Kansas; the Progressive Metal of Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Symphony X; the Goth Metal of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica, and a whole host of other great bands that are too numerous to mention. When he's not listening to music, he watches Sunderland lose more football (soccer) matches than they win, and occasionally, if he has to, he goes to work as a property lawyer.

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1 Comment

  1. The Sisters of Mercy was, is, and always will be my most beloved ??ARTFORM ? It is the clearest, deepest expression of my Shadow self ?? My sincerest gratitude to the writer ?

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