Ministry
The Warfield, San Francisco
February 27th, 2024
Photos by Raymond Ahner
Last year when Ministry announced a relatively short run of dates with fellow industrial icons Front Line Assembly and Gary Numan opening for them, there were a good amount of fans online that were upset that the tour wasn’t stopping anywhere near them. Well this Spring, the three powerhouses are back on the road together for nearly thirty dates, and the first stop of the tour was at The Warfield.
It had been a while since I had seen Ministry, and in the meantime they had released a couple of new albums that I view in a positive light. Their newest album, titled HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, hadn’t yet released when the band took the stage to an enthusiastic response from the crowd. The band, consisting of Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto (guitars), Paul D’Amour (bass), John Bechdel (keyboards), Roy Mayorga (drums), took their places as the Ministry mainstay Al Jourgensen stood behind a lit-up gothic cross in the center of the stage. “This song is from our new album,” Al said. “It’s called ‘Big Dick Energy.'”
And just like that, the band was off, the guitarists chugging, Roy blasting double-kick drum beats, and John triggering samples as Al screamed the chorus, which also just happened to be the name of the song. The crowd was enthusiastic as the show continued, but what really set them off was when Ministry played the lead single from their new album, “Goddamn White Trash.” Suddenly the pit exploded in a fury of shirtless stinky bodies jumping and slamming against each other. It was another song where the chorus just consists of the title of the song, but the crowd this time was screaming it back at Al, the walls of The Warfield reverberating with the cries of “Goddamn white trash!”
One of the things that has set Al Jourgensen apart from many of his contemporaries has been his dreadlocks and extensive facial piercings. For the last decade, Al has had sixteen piercings in his face and the image of his facial jewelry paired with his dreads had become a sort of iconography for the band. Lo and behold, on his 65th birthday Al took out every facial piercings and cut off his dreadlocks. Debuting a new more clean-cut look, complete with a wide-rimmed black hat and black coat, his vocal delivery was still as fierce and potent as ever.
“We’ll play the old bullshit later, but thanks for bearing with us through all of this new stuff,” he told the crowd, as if they hadn’t just been collectively losing their minds during the previous song. “We have a little bit of a San Francisco treat for you.” With that introduction, ex-Dead Kennadys frontman Jello Biafra joined the band onstage, wearing a black shirt with the words “TRUMP HATES ME” emblazoned upon them. Jello and Ministry performed the live debut of a new song called “Aryan Embarrassment,” a song that features Jello on vocals. After it was finished, Al cheekily said, “We could only get him out for one show. We would lose our minds if he went on tour with us.”
The next few songs highlighted their upcoming new album as well as their most recent album, 2021’s Moral Hygiene. After a couple of songs from that album though, Al told the audience, “Alright… this one is called ‘New World Order.'” And over the rest of the band’s main set, Ministry played heavy hitter after heavy hitter from their period of 1988 through 1992, with a particular emphasis on the album Psalm 69. Personally, the highlight for me during this part of the set was “Stigmata,” the lead single from the 1989 album The Land Of Rape And Honey. Al has been vocal about being disappointed with the sampled guitars on the original version, and when the band played it live, Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto took the original guitar part and elevated it to a face-punching level of distortion. After playing “Jesus Built My Hotrod” for the first time in nearly five years, the band took their leave from the stage.
Eventually Ministry returned to the stage for a short encore. “This is a great song from the early 80s,” Al said, before the crowd prematurely began cheering, perhaps hoping for a song from 1983’s With Sympathy or 1986’s Twitch, two albums that Al has famously disowned but the band will be playing material from at this year’s Cruel World Festival in Pasadena in May. “Don’t get too excited, it’s not what you think,” Al said with a smile. The band then played a fantastic cover of Magazine’s “The Light Pours Out Of Me” for the first time in over two decades, the recorded version of which was featured on their 2003 album Animositisomina. The band closed their set with a cover of “Ricky’s Hand” by the influential electronic musician Fad Gadget, a cover that is set to close out their new album. For as great as both covers were, my only complaint about the show is that I wish that Ministry had closed with an original; I want to leave a Ministry show thinking about Ministry, not Magazine and Fad Gadget.
After all was said and done, I left the show with my ears ringing, something that would persist up to when I fell asleep a couple of hours after the band had finished playing. The current line-up of Ministry is operating at a level of tightness and proficiency at delivering blistering live performances that is more than impressive. Despite the fact that their new album hadn’t even come out yet, the fan reaction to all of the songs from it was just as strong as the reactions to tried and true classics like “N.W.O.” and “Thieves.” Supposedly the band will be recording one last album and then calling it quits, and I can only hope to have the opportunity to see them for their swan song before Al hangs up his wide-rimmed black hat for good.
Opening the evening was Front Line Assembly, a band founded by Bill Leeb following his departure from fellow industrial juggernauts Skinny Puppy. Joined by longtime musical collaborator Rhys Fulber on keyboards, Jon Siren on drums, and Matthew Setzer (also ex-Skinny Puppy) on guitar. The band’s first show with Setzer on guitar found them in top form, with both classic songs like “Mindphaser” and newer cuts like “Killing Grounds” sounding pummeling and dance-floor ready. A highlight of their set was at the end of “Plasticity,” when both Leeb and Fulber joined in on the percussion, playing on two floor toms set up on either side of the stage.
Following them was Gary Numan, the synth pop pioneer turned industrial musician. He was given an extended opening set of one hour and played a dozen songs during the sixty allotted minutes. As if inspired by having toured with Minstry last year, his set was comprised almost entirely of the most intense songs from his last few albums, with any older material (like “Metal”) being updated to fit the current sound. After having seen Numan over a dozen times, I can say that this is the most bombastic he’s ever sounded, and you had better show up early to see him if you’re going to any of the remaining shows on this tour. If I had one complaint, it’s that, even with an updated sound, the song “Cars” stuck out like a sore thumb. I understand that it’s the song that he’s mainly known for here in North America, but it just didn’t fit with the rest of the songs in his set.
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