Concert Review: The Sisters of Mercy at ACL Live: Goth icons conjure nostalgia and break new ground with first Austin performance since 2006.
It’s been 17 years since Goth legends The Sisters of Mercy last played Austin, TX. So to say the eager, black clad faithful attending their performance at ACL Live last Saturday were excited is an understatement.
That speaks volumes about the band’s staying power (the sole original member is frontman Andrew Eldritch. He hates being labeled as a goth, so apologies in advance!), given they haven’t released an album since 1990’s Vision Thing, but such is the aural imprint The Sisters have left on multiple generations of fans. It is quality, not quantity, that has kept them such a beloved musical institution.
Eldritch was joined by guitarists Ben Christo and Dylan Smith, who threw rockstar poses throughout the set and blasted out spectral riffs and searing leads, and programmer “Ravey” Dave Creffield, who manned the group’s venerable drum machine (a.k.a., Doktor Avalanche) and provided backing tracks to augment the performance. The lack of a bassist given the prominence of the instrument on past recordings was a curious choice, but it all worked regardless.
When they hit the stage with opening track Don’t Drive On Ice, it was a litmus test of sorts: the song is a new composition, previously (and obviously) unreleased. But the rapturous response of the audience proved it could comfortably coexist alongside vintage material.
In fact, the set consisted of 10 songs that have only been played live, and it speaks to Eldritch’s songwriting quality that they were devoured so empathically, including the John Carpenter’ish Instrumental 86, the haunting, piano flecked Eyes of Caligula and the propulsive When I’m On Fire, all instant earworms that beg the question: will he PLEASE release a new album, like he promised a few years back?
For fans worried about hearing primarily new material, the group also dished out plenty of Sisters classics, including the ominous serrated riffing of Ribbons, early sonic calling card Alice, and the haunting ballads Something Fast and Marian.
Eldritch’s impossibly low-baritone was unfortunately at times buried deep in the mix, but he later emerged potently on the Floodland gem Dominion/Mother Russia, and the Vision Thing single More. He lurked in the shadows like an apparition, strategically emerging at key moments in the spotlight with his trademark sunglasses, content to let Christo and Smith take center stage.
Eldritch offered little in the way of chitchat except for a joking aside (“Hello Texas, this is Texas, isn’t it?”), not that his devoted followers cared. They were here for the music, after all.
The group powered through more classics, including a Doctor Jeep/Detonation Blvd medley that showed them at their rocking best. That said, it would have been nice to hear those songs in their entirety.
The band also omitted two songs heard earlier in the tour (I Was Wrong, off Vision Thing, and Giving Ground by Eldritch’s project The Sisterhood, and ), and it would have been nice to have heard them live as well, but that’s nitpicking.
The group retreated briefly to emerge for an encore triple shot, featuring a slamming take on club anthem Temple Of Love, (with Christo’s guitar leads substituting for the late Ofra Haza’s vocals), and a metallic rendition of Lucretia My Reflection, before closing out with their iconic 80’s hit This Corrosion.
It was on this track that Eldritch became a man possessed, belting out cryptic prose like On heart/Hand of god/Floodland and driven apart/Run cold/Turn Cold, burn like a healing hand!, with Biblical furor.
The band ended their performance with a theatrical bow before disappearing into the night. Austin goths have had a good run of late, between recent stops by Ministry with Gary Numan, The Cure, and an upcoming appearance by Love and Rockets, and the The Sisters of Mercy’s searing set adds another indelible, much-needed musical experience to get us in touch with our dark side.
