Reading 91 thirty years ago today.

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
Post Reply
User avatar
Dr. Moody
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 886
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:04
Location: off the shoulder of Orion

Thirty years, where did the time go? Seemed they were on the tip of something huge at that point, pity there wasn't another album around this time, they'd gotten very good together, full of potential.
Traveled to Reading for the day, paid a fiver for a ticket near the gates from a guy selling spares. Thought the merch was crap, drank my first ever snakebite from the bar and spent the rest of the day tripping (took quite a lot, did some damage). The Sisters were on fire really, it was my second time seeing them, the lights and smoke were amazing. TJ in the cowboy hat and :von: in the dinner jacket seemed appropriate. John peel comparing and playing the Pixies "River Euphrates" just before Afterhours started and the smoke hiss began, nearly got crushed down the front of the enormous crowd. Fond memories. Anyone got an pics? Recollections?
Top
User avatar
czuczu
Overbomber
Posts: 2191
Joined: 24 Oct 2005, 14:11
Location: UK

Had been there since Thurs. Still the best all round Reading I've been to. On the Sunday I was going to watch Gang Starr anyway but they actually cleared the crowd ('kin heathens...) which meant I had a barrier spot, just 3 bands too early. Godfathers were solid, Neds were ace. Sisters were incredible, obvs.
I'm remember wandering around in a daze while Wicked Game played when it was over. I've posted some snaps before, only had a few left on the film by that point of the weekend.
Next year, I ended up next to the same person on the barrier at Loreley.
Top
User avatar
czuczu
Overbomber
Posts: 2191
Joined: 24 Oct 2005, 14:11
Location: UK

https://www.gettyimages.dk/search/2/ima ... mercy+1991

Looks like 3 separate gigs, Reading ones are pretty obvious ;)
Top
User avatar
Dr. Moody
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 886
Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 12:04
Location: off the shoulder of Orion

Nice pics, yeah "Wicked Game" has been a memory trigger ever since.
Top
User avatar
Wilkstein
Road Kill
Posts: 82
Joined: 09 May 2006, 00:22
Location: 30 Seconds Over Reeperbahn

Monster gig all around with a particularly vicious version of Ribbons. Eldritch really had the whole world in his hands that day.
Top
User avatar
Electrochrome
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 471
Joined: 12 Sep 2002, 01:00
Location: FL

Wilkstein wrote: ↑29 Aug 2021, 20:56 Monster gig all around with a particularly vicious version of Ribbons. Eldritch really had the whole world in his hands that day.
Only know it through the bootlegs, the feel of which is awesome. Love it. Now 20 years since I got into the Sisters, a full 10 years from Reading. So it goes...
"Consistency is the sign of a decaying brain"
Top
paint it black
Black, black, black & even blacker
Posts: 4966
Joined: 11 Jul 2002, 01:00

As might be expected I was totally smashed very little history beyond the girl in the full wedding dress and a very uneven fight to get to the front very late in the day. The fact I had my then g/f on my shoulders and I was pregnant probably swung it
Goths have feelings too
Top
User avatar
Bonksi
Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 125
Joined: 28 Mar 2008, 13:01
Location: Neverland

It was the first time I saw them, I'd been there since thursday too, saw lots of great groups, and PWEI!. Sisters finished off a perfect weekend for me. I laughed when Eldo fell over the monitor speaker, danced to the rest of it all...It did feel like big things were going to happen, its a shame they never really did. I was 16 then....fuuuuuck
Top
User avatar
Wilkstein
Road Kill
Posts: 82
Joined: 09 May 2006, 00:22
Location: 30 Seconds Over Reeperbahn

Electrochrome wrote: ↑29 Aug 2021, 23:55
Wilkstein wrote: ↑29 Aug 2021, 20:56 Monster gig all around with a particularly vicious version of Ribbons. Eldritch really had the whole world in his hands that day.
Only know it through the bootlegs, the feel of which is awesome. Love it. Now 20 years since I got into the Sisters, a full 10 years from Reading. So it goes...
Don't feel too bad about it, I wasn't there either. That said, the recordings make it clear that this was an awesome show.
Top
User avatar
Electrochrome
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 471
Joined: 12 Sep 2002, 01:00
Location: FL

The only bootleg I have is The Neon Dream from Kiss The Stone label...are the others worth it? I know there's one called Brothers and Sisters which has a couple of songs omitted from the former.

The speed on The Neon Dream is also a bit off, but I still love the show. Supposedly five different audience recordings exist?

https://sisterswiki.org/Sun,_25-Aug-1991
"Consistency is the sign of a decaying brain"
Top
User avatar
Memphis Rich
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 360
Joined: 17 Jul 2010, 23:45

Reading '91 was superb. We'd gone to see The Sisters, but many other performances were worth the ticket price too. Iggy stood out for me. I'd not have seen the likes of him, or Nirvana etc. had I not been there to see Eldritch and crew. It remains the only music festival I've ever stayed overnight at (in a semi-burned tent after one of my colleagues lit a candle in there). Great memories, but scary to think it's been 30 years.
Words are just turds
In sewers of sound
Top
User avatar
Planet Dave
Underneath the Rock
Posts: 6744
Joined: 22 Apr 2003, 23:51
Location: Where the streets fold round

Wish I'd made it, but for some reason the notion of travelling from Leeds to Reading (or Wembley the year previous) was unthinkable at the time. Got my act together thankfully for the following year's NEC gig, no doubt spurred on by the realisation that I'd missed a classic.
'What a heavy load Einstein must have had. Morons everywhere.'
Top
paint it black
Black, black, black & even blacker
Posts: 4966
Joined: 11 Jul 2002, 01:00

Electrochrome wrote: ↑30 Aug 2021, 18:08 The only bootleg I have is The Neon Dream from Kiss The Stone label...are the others worth it? I know there's one called Brothers and Sisters which has a couple of songs omitted from the former.

The speed on The Neon Dream is also a bit off, but I still love the show. Supposedly five different audience recordings exist?

https://sisterswiki.org/Sun,_25-Aug-1991
And at least two video sources
Goths have feelings too
Top
User avatar
Silver_Owl
The Don
Posts: 7498
Joined: 27 Sep 2003, 18:52

Was my second Reading festival. This was probably slightly better than '89.
The Sisters were incredible to my 21 year old mind. I wasn't even that drunk. Probably hung over from the Saturday.
The other highlights were Kurt Cobain doing himself a mischief when he jumped into the drums.
Nirvana were on fire that afternoon.
I seem to recall Edwyn Collins was the other highlight of the weekend - after over running his set he refused to leave and got into a brawl with security.
Happy memories. :D
We forgive as we forget
As the day is long.
Top
User avatar
eastmidswhizzkid
Faster Than The Light Of Speed
Posts: 9876
Joined: 24 Mar 2005, 00:01
Location: WhizzWorld
Contact:
Contact eastmidswhizzkid

it was the best line-up ever at reading IMO. iggy, sonic youth, PWEI,Nirvana, babes in toyland, carter USM, the fall, blur, bongwater, nietzer ebbb, senseless things and the godfathers....topped off by some dodgy darklings playing happy-clappy god songs. awesome. ive still got a cassette boot i bought the next morning outside the festival if anyone wants to do a transfer.
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
:bat:
Top
User avatar
bananacamel
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 319
Joined: 12 Feb 2005, 11:05
Location: Between the North & South Downs

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at college, and my new alternative music loving college buddies had threatened to tie me up and leave me in my tent during the Sisters set, so had to spend the whole day avoiding them (just in case). I had a super cheap walkman that would record, so i held it in my hand while bouncing up and down in the mosh pit, so the poor tape machine got bashed around and the recording is very ropey. And then I have this weird image of Eldritch in purple American Football protective pads singing he's got the whole world in his hands. Such a great festival, such a long time ago. Happy days :D
I've got a mind like a poisonous fish...
Top
copper
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 255
Joined: 28 Jan 2009, 14:33

That nifty belt :von: wore still gets around, as evidenced by the recent Roundhouse shows. It was probably a good idea to pass on the football pads this time around, tho.
Top
User avatar
Phantasmagoria
Road Kill
Posts: 70
Joined: 28 Nov 2005, 17:46
Location: Sunny South Wales

Reading 91 was the first time I saw the Sisters live (saw them again at the NEC the following year, and god knows how many times since). I still rewatch the old bootleg VHS I have on occasion (or, more honestly, I watch it on YouTube these days) just to see the mental encore. It was a beautiful night - bonfires, smoke, cool-as-f**k lady walking through festival mud in a wedding dress, booze, Sisters, freedom. My first festival. 19 years old. What could possibly have gone wrong! :notworthy:

Still have the t-shirt, and unbelievably it still fits me (unlike most of the shirts I've bought much more recently). It remains my all-time favourite. Just as a souvenir from a really special night, rather than the mediocre design. Probably the only t-shirt from that era that I didn't cut the sleeves off, as I had too much respect for it!

Image
Image
Top
User avatar
eastmidswhizzkid
Faster Than The Light Of Speed
Posts: 9876
Joined: 24 Mar 2005, 00:01
Location: WhizzWorld
Contact:
Contact eastmidswhizzkid

almost 31 years since Wembley FFs....
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
:bat:
Top
vince
Road Kill
Posts: 74
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 20:37
Location: Surrey

Phantasmagoria wrote: ↑04 Nov 2021, 17:40 Reading 91 was the first time I saw the Sisters live (saw them again at the NEC the following year, and god knows how many times since). I still rewatch the old bootleg VHS I have on occasion (or, more honestly, I watch it on YouTube these days) just to see the mental encore. It was a beautiful night - bonfires, smoke, cool-as-f**k lady walking through festival mud in a wedding dress, booze, Sisters, freedom. My first festival. 19 years old. What could possibly have gone wrong! :notworthy:

Still have the t-shirt, and unbelievably it still fits me (unlike most of the shirts I've bought much more recently). It remains my all-time favourite. Just as a souvenir from a really special night, rather than the mediocre design. Probably the only t-shirt from that era that I didn't cut the sleeves off, as I had too much respect for it!

Image
Image
This was also my favourite tee shirt. I say was as it somehow got lost a few years ago and I've been looking out for a replacement in XL ever since..
Top
aido7777777
Road Kill
Posts: 11
Joined: 16 Apr 2022, 23:11

It was a wonderful show hard to believe its so long ago it would be wonderful to see them play at Reading again but its very unlikely sadly
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Sisters Chat”