[also in Dominion]
Lisbon, Coliseu, April 5th 2006, The Sisters of Mercy, review
Last saw the Sisters in Porto, Portugal, 2001. This was a much better gig. I’ve been told the venue is smaller than Porto’s Coliseu and I don’t know if it was close to selling out but it was very, very packed. I had been warned by some posts on Dominion about the excess of smoke so I tried to be at front for a while but it was unbearable. I moved to the back. The floor has an inclination so I could still see the stage, perhaps more comfortably, but I still couldn’t move my arms without hurting anybody. It was that packed.
The smoke was never too much, even from the balconies. Band could be seen through the entire show.
The sound was excellent!!!
Eldritch’s voice was in better shape than usual. I liked particularly Crash & Burn (opening), Will I Dream, Giving Ground and Romeo Down.
Mr. Eldritch was dressed in a long leather jacket (or it looked like leather but these days some of us don’t wear leather anymore so we never know), black pants, a black mail short sleeve over another shirt of undefined light colour. Very charming.
Audience only sang along once, through “Lucretia�. I find it strange. Not even Vision Thing (closing) or Temple of Love was that popular. Weird. Or maybe not that weird. “Floodland� was their best selling album, was it not?
So, overall, the gig was very much what I was expecting. No confusion, no surprise.
Sorry, I lie. One surprise. The guitar players are excellent and their rendering of Snub Nose was superb (playing and jumping on stage, wow, that wasn’t expected in a traditional Sisters of Mercy gig). Congratulations on both of them.
Ben Christo is hot. It is the first time in the story of the Sisters of Mercy there’s a guy on stage hotter than Mr. Eldritch. Ben Christo is too young for me so I guess I’m stuck up with Mr. Eldritch all the same but just for the record… Ben Christo is hot!
What else? Oh, yes, the audience. It was mostly people in their 30s or more. Many faces I hadn’t seen in years. The kind of people that don’t go out anymore because they are married, got fat, have kids, that type of people. No idea how they knew about the gig. There was no promotion except perhaps this or that newspaper. No posters either. While I was alone in the back, trying to find that place to lose oneself/find oneself, listened to some of what they were saying, and this is what. They know there is new material, they listened very carefully to the new songs, and they know it has not been recorded, but they don’t know the songs. They don’t have bootlegs. But they knew a lot about the Sisters current state of line up and setlist, so I can conclude the Portuguese fans are loyal and keep track of things. I’m sure an official release would be a success if people are wiling to pay to listen to new songs they know are not recorded yet. But they were there mostly for the golden oldies.
It was also a week night and people have to work in the morning so it is only natural people were tired after a full day’s work. Actually, the gig was set to start at 9pm. So far, in Portugal, the Sisters have always been punctual and people knew that so they started to show up at 9pm and it was a long wait till 10pm. 10pm is more adequate for a gig in Portugal, no doubt, but it was kind of a blunder to announce it for 9pm.
When I was leaving I noticed there were people disappointed outside and asking for their money back. Now, I find it extremely unfair. Maybe people expect Eldritch to be in his twenties forever. Or maybe they have all sorts of wrong ideas about the band. Goth band, hard rock band, I don’t know what they were expecting. The Goths, however, had a clear idea what to expect. And, of course, more information. But some people really didn’t know what they were going to see, if either the First and Last and Always era, or the Floodland era, or the Vision Thing era. It is unfair people don’t understand things change, bands change, and bands don’t have to look like the videoclip they remember. I think it was mostly it. Some people were expecting the videoclip in *their* particular mind. If some disappointment aroused, that’s the cause, no more.
Maybe the crowd could get more excited if we had more room to move, but we didn’t.
In the end I think Eldritch said “obrigado� instead of the usual “thank you� - (“Obrigado� is “thank you� in Portuguese) – but that was so shy I can’t be certain. Surely sounded like “obrigado�. And that’s all Eldritch said.
I only regret it was so packed and we couldn’t move so everybody had to stand still and hold their view point. Maybe it lacked a bit of mutual involvement because of that. Apart from that, all was great. Till the next time.
Meanwhile,
PUBLISH THE NEW MATERIAL!
Thanks,
DI
@Heartland: nice to meet everyone I haven't met before.
) time they gave to me. I miss you all already. 
All the dates on the back side?? Hope it comes with a magnifying glass then