Heartland

From the reviews so far,this tour appears to be totally drab & lacking invention.
No sell outs,instead,empty venues.
It sounds as though the fights have been the most interesting spectacles.
Although the set lists have seen some variation between venues,they largely replicate the Smoke & Mirrors Tour.
No sign of any rekindling of old material,new covers or anything remotely innovative.
In fact Von appears to even be wearing the same clothes as he did on the last trip.Go shopping Von.
I never thought I'd hear myself saying this but they are beginning to look tired.
At this rate,We'll all be standing round the bar at the Leeds gig!

DoKtor Spiggy wrote: At this rate,We'll all be standing round the bar at the Leeds gig!

Fair enough, more room down the front for raving.

It's hardly ground breaking, I agree.

Perhaps it has something to do with them having a very
new guitarist, and they'd prefer to be able to play
one set of songs right, then bodge their way
through the back catalogue.

Perhaps they are saving some variations for Europe, I dunno.
I like to think we'll get *afew* suprises, or I will
be abit disappointed.

I think Floodland and Vision Thing
are pretty well represented these days.

I acknowledge that they try to keep up
appearances of the singles to keep the
'visiting' fans happy
(temple of love, alice, dominion etc)
and they are also trying to keep things
fresh with 5 or so new songs, but
personally I would just like the odd
old stomper thrown in
(Kiss the carpet, floorshow,
posession, marian, body electric etc)

I desagree

I like the set list that they´re doing and I can´t wait to see the new gutar player sound. the only song that I can miss is THIS CORROSION,

And I think that they´ve got some songs news that we´ll have later(no enoought time whit the the chris´ apendix)
this tour will improve in the european leg

Well,if they've got some new material,I sincerely hope that you weren't involved in writing them

I'd have to agree with Ocean Moves.
New guitarist (not to mention Chris who's not exactly been playing the stuff for ages either), first few dates of a humungous tour etc etc. They'll be the glittering groove machine we know & love in no time IMO.

DoKtor Spiggy wrote:From the reviews so far,this tour appears to be totally drab & lacking invention.
............
At this rate,We'll all be standing round the bar at the Leeds gig!

Why not? I was standing round the bar for the last Leeds gigs...

This tour is already showing a bit more promise than the 2003 outing, if only for the 2 new (for me anway) guitarists. The lack of variety in the setlist is a bit disappointing tho..

DoKtor Spiggy wrote:Well,if they've got some new material,I sincerely hope that you weren't involved in writing them

what's your problem?

DoKtor Spiggy wrote:From the reviews so far,this tour appears to be totally drab & lacking invention.
No sell outs,instead,empty venues.
It sounds as though the fights have been the most interesting spectacles.
Although the set lists have seen some variation between venues,they largely replicate the Smoke & Mirrors Tour.
No sign of any rekindling of old material,new covers or anything remotely innovative.
In fact Von appears to even be wearing the same clothes as he did on the last trip.Go shopping Von.
I never thought I'd hear myself saying this but they are beginning to look tired.
At this rate,We'll all be standing round the bar at the Leeds gig!

Have to agree with you so far, I'm afraid. I'm reserving final judgement until I see them, but I find it surprising that the sound / setlist / whole shebang really haven't moved on in the last couple of years. I know there are various 80s bands out there feel no shame in continually touring whilst trotting out the same old classics year in year out, but we also like to believe that Von has more individuality and integrity than that (and he certainly claims to...). So here's hoping...

Ocean Moves wrote:

DoKtor Spiggy wrote:Well,if they've got some new material,I sincerely hope that you weren't involved in writing them

what's your problem?

Yes...same question....

Besides all the stuff mentioned....

I am just happy that they are on tour again. And I'm gonna watch them.
People who think it's boring have a choice to stay at home or go and enjoy (or not).

So what do you prefer: No tour at all during their 25th birthday or a tour with no new songs etc. I prefer the last option which is the case. New songs might show up. The Americans never heard Slept or Top Nite Out or Crash and Burn. So that's new material for them. Or is it Andrews fault that so may Americans have live recordings of European gigs? I think not!

I wonder who would be complaining if there would be no new tour at all because they were writing on new material....

the difference between the sisters and the various other reformed bands "doing the circuit" is that the sisters never went away, and are pitcing themselves as a going concern, rather than a nostalgia act like bauhaus seem to be.

as such, i'd agree its a little disappointing that things havent really moved on since i saw them in 2000 - same songs, same sound, same moves, same everything apart from the guitarists.

i'd agree with czuczu though - i cant quite put my finger on why, but there's a vibe about it - this one shows a bit more promise than 2003, and feels a bit more dynamic.

*fingers crossed*

Crossed indeed!

It's sad to see so many people that haven't seen the tour yet put it down.

I can kind of understand that fans that have several hundred live recordings would get bored hearing the same songs over and over again. Considering the band hasn't played the States since 1999, I'd say the set list is appropriate. We have all of the popular songs that most people want to hear (Ribbons, ToL, FaLaA, Lucretia, etc), new songs that have only been played on one tour in the US (Susanne, Romeo, etc), plus songs that fans of the more "album" tracks want to hear (On the Wire, Neverland, etc). Yes, quite a few songs that I would like to hear weren't played, but they can't be playing a 45 song set. Plus, as we're seeing, the set list has been slowly changing over the course of the tour.

The Phoenix show that I saw was far from empty, and people at the show said that San Diego was pretty packed. Albuquerque is kind of out in the middle of no where, so I wouldn't expect a good turn out for that gig, you'd have to drive about 500 miles if you didn't live in Sante Fe. Combine this with the fact that there is zero promotion in the States for the tour, and I'd say we're seeing respectable turnouts.

Maybe we'll see a more varied set list when the tour gets to Europe, it would make sense. At the same time, if you go to see The Cult live, your going to hear She Sells Sanctuary and Fire Woman. If you see Spear of Destiny live, your going to hear Never Take Me Alive and Liberator. If you go to see the Sisters, don't expect a 45 minute version of Sister Ray when they're playing Dallas for the first time in 7 years.

The show I saw was tight, packed with energy, and had enough variation in how the songs were played. If I get the chance, I'll make sure to catch the tour in Denver or another town.

all fair points

Luckily the discussion seems to be going in the ways I like to see it going

Alright, no new songs (yet - still a whola lotta gigs to come), same clothes, ...

But you've got to admire the guitarists for being so new to the Sisters and apparently controlling all the songs so well already.

Just wait and see what happens by the time they hit the continent

Obviousman wrote:Just wait and see what happens by the time they hit the continent

That's my hope, I must say... seeing as I'm planning on going to the most recently announced dates of all (Amsterdam - Glasgow and all in between), I hope this is a tour that pickes up momentum as it goes on, rather than the other way round.

The main problem with the Smoke and Mirrors tour was the same setlist nearly every night. If you had been following the tour, then you knew exactly which song was coming next. I guess this would not have been an issue before the internet.

I'm just really pleased that they are touring again. Lets hope as the tour continues we get some new songs.

"the same setlist nearly every night"

twas ever thus...

"I guess this would not have been an issue before the internet"

yep, exactly.

just a point about the 'new' guitarists:
if they had to learn the songs for this tour, wouldn't that make them new songs, to them, if you see what I mean?
So why no new 'new' songs?

James Blast wrote:just a point about the 'new' guitarists:
if they had to learn the songs for this tour, wouldn't that make them new songs, to them, if you see what I mean?
So why no new 'new' songs?

I see your point, but I guess with the old songs, von more or less knows how he wants them to sound, if the rumour about the new 'new' songs is true, he might have to figure out how exactly he wants them to sound himself?

Just a thought, obviously...

Obviousman wrote: I see your point, but I guess with the old songs, von more or less knows how he wants them to sound, if the rumour about the new 'new' songs is true, he might have to figure out how exactly he wants them to sound himself?

Just a thought, obviously...

Ben allegedly talked about "bits and pieces of new songs" which would would suggest he IS talking about new -new- songs

euphoria wrote:

Obviousman wrote: I see your point, but I guess with the old songs, von more or less knows how he wants them to sound, if the rumour about the new 'new' songs is true, he might have to figure out how exactly he wants them to sound himself?

Just a thought, obviously...

Ben allegedly talked about "bits and pieces of new songs" which would would suggest he IS talking about new -new- songs

That's what I was refering to with 'the rumour', Some five songs, IIRC?

Yeah, I realised that now should go to bed

Yes 5 I think it was...but what I wonder is...WHEN will they have time to finish them on this intense tour? The Jet-lag days between Vancouver and athens? Hmm...

euphoria wrote:Yeah, I realised that now should go to bed

Yes 5 I think it was...but what I wonder is...WHEN will they have time to finish them on this intense tour? The Jet-lag days between Vancouver and athens? Hmm...

Good question

I hope it's just about adding finishing touches, so they might be able training during eg. soundchecks, or even on the tour-bus (though I don't know if that's a realistic assumption). I seem to remember the person who chatted with Ben & Chris said the songs would have been ready if Chris wouldn't have had to go to the hospital?

DoKtor Spiggy wrote:From the reviews so far,this tour appears to be totally drab & lacking invention.
No sell outs,instead,empty venues.

Phoenix did sell out - there was a woman in front of us queueing to try to buy tickets only to be told there were none. Las Vegas and San Diego were close to sold out and very far from empty.

The first three gigs were Ben's first so it's understandable there were no suprises. Instead, they were very solid sets and Ben improved with every show. The setlist was the usual "best of" and I'm sure after 40 or so dates they'll be extremely tight when they hit the UK and wanting to make changes.

Alexander