Sisters of Mercy toured North America last year, which was their first visit here in a decade and a half. While their Brooklyn show at Kings Theatre was fun (and quite the attendee fashion show), it was not frontman Andrew Eldrich’s finest showing and left a lot of fans disappointed to say the least.
What a difference a year makes, though. At Friday’s show at Brooklyn Paramount (moved from Radio City Music Hall), Eldritch seemed like a new man, rejuvenated, with a markedly improved vocal performance, engaging in banter with the audience and in general having a blast. So was everybody else, including a very enthusiastic crowd.
From what I could tell, no small part of this was due to new guitarist Kai, who seems to have changed the dynamic of the band, not to mention a welcome vocal element to the mix which really helps out on classics like “Temple of Love,” “Detonation Boulevard,” and “This Corrosion.” You could also tell as Eldritch enthusiastically introduced him before launching into “Marian”: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is KAI!”
Whatever the cause, Brooklyn Paramount was a super fun show, and everything about it was better than last year, from the sound to the performances to the stage design, which featured a vaguely Egyptian backdrop with stone walls and columns of glowing runes. The new songs, which just slightly outnumbered the vintage material, were all pretty good too. The night closed out with three of their biggest songs: “Temple of Love,” which was the last song of the main set, and then an encore of “Lucretia My Reflection” and “This Corrosion.” The whole band took a bow to thunderous applause and Eldritch thanked the crowd. I almost didn’t go this year but I’m very glad I did.
My one big quibble remains: no bass player. The Sisters of Mercy have favored a more metallic sound since 1990’s Vision Thing but “Lucretia My Reflection” features one of the most iconic rock basslines of the ’80s. Even if you don’t want a live bass player the whole night, I wish Kai or Ben Christo would pull out a bass just for that one song.
Openers on this tour are Blaqk Audio, the gothy synthy AFI offshoot who I only caught a couple songs of. Photos of the whole night by Mathieu Bredeau, plus the setlist and full video of the show, are below.
