Sisters of Mercy
Fillmore Auditorium
October 8, 2024
Photos by Raymond Ahner
After a couple of weeks of unbearably hot weather, October finally offered San Francisco a cool down with the return to the city of both rolling fog and dark wave pioneers The Sisters of Mercy (TSoM).
While this performance was originally scheduled to take place at the Masonic, it was moved to the legendary Fillmore, which proved to be a stroke of good fortune for the band originally from Leeds, England and headed by 65-year old singer Andrew Eldrich.
Last year TSoM also came to San Francisco to play the Masonic, and the performance (as reported in SFSonic) fell somewhat flat. By moving to the Fillmore, a smaller venue with a condensed stage layout, a dynamic energy was created which was conducive to an active interaction between band and fans.
Also, slightly different this time around was the lineup blasting out the TSoM set list. Stepping in to play guitar alongside Ben Christo was the latest addition to the band, guitarist/vocalist Kai, who added a very apparent jolt of energy to TSoM as compared to last year’s effort.
Kai joined the band in 2023 after former guitarist Dylan Smith was abruptly dismissed and injects a much-needed burst of stage presence to what is otherwise a rather static live presence, jumping and thrashing about the stage as he played.
Kai also added something that was gravely missed last time around, the high-end backing vocals that are a staple of early TSoM sound.
While not touring in support of a new album, TSoM did play newer material. However, unlike the 2023 Masonic performance, this time the setlist this time was better balanced with new songs like the churning groove of ‘Don’t Drive on Ice’ placed after the familiar grind of opening tracks ‘Doctor Jeep’ and ‘Detonation Boulevard.’
Though the result was a much livelier and entertaining show with Kai, Ben Christo, and even Eldritch actively engaging fans up front, the live presentation of TSoM is still somewhat limited by the fact that the trio is playing over a programmed back track better known to fans as Doktor Avalanche.
Tending to Doktor Avalanche for the new incarnation of TSoM was former guitarist Chris Catalyst. Basically he just stood behind the digital workstation that provided the bass, drums, and keyboard tracks, occasionally stepping forward to make some sort of setting adjustments.
The fabricated backdrop of instrumentation held up the structure of the songs well, but as with last year’s performance, the lack of live instrumentation hinders musical dynamics.
TSoM mitigated the stilted nature of the pre-programmed tracks by sustaining guitar notes at the end of songs to give the impression of a fade out after the percussion tracks stopped, but even so, at times there was a feeling that one was watching a karaoke performance rather than live rock.
Regardless, the packed Fillmore crowd of black-clad TSoM fans raucously danced, sang, and cheered on Eldritch and his mates, who reciprocated by tearing through a cohesive and sonic set.
Playing in front of a backdrop of sparkling spiral columns and a foreboding forest of fog, the house went ballistic when Eldritch struck his signature ominous pose as the band swerved into the juggernaut grooves of ‘Dominion / Mother Russia’.
Hovering in a spotlight that lit up just his face, his microphone clutched at the ready to attack at a moment’s notice, Eldritch appeared otherworldly and sounded strong as he prowled across the stage.
While the entire show was well received, there was an obvious charge to the atmosphere when TSoM performed the dark, driving songs that helped define seminal death rock and dark wave music.
This was very evident with ‘Temple of Love’ (the closer of the main set). As the band exited the stage, the shouts and applause grew continuously louder until they re-emerged and immediately launched into their two-song encore.
As soon as the pulsing beat of ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ started it was pandemonium. Though in my opinion it would have been more powerful to have the distinctive bass and drum lines played by actual musicians, by the end of the set closer ‘This Corrosion’ it was obvious that TSoM fans did not care. They were too busy to notice as they celebrated in the revelry of it all.
Those who were fortunate enough to arrive early basically got treated to what can be considered a double headliner bill. Playing a truncated set (4 songs) was Oakland’s own Blaqk Audio, the synth/goth two-piece alter ego of Davey Havok and Jade Puget…more famously of AFI.
Set up with Havok out front and Puget behind a bank of synthesizers, they immediately moved the early crowd as soon as they hit the stage and launched into ‘Stiff Kittens’ a Depeche Mode-esque banger chock full of goth-wave goodness.
By the time they ended by bouncing out the fast-paced thump of ‘OK, Alex,’ there was a kinetic energy sparking throughout the Fillmore. There likely would not have been any objections if Blaqk Audio had played all night, but they left the crowd on a high and ready for The Sisters of Mercy.
