In Tulsa Bell just sang NWO and J1F, Al sang Thieves and So What.
It’s weird to me that Burton Bell did that Burning Inside cover with Static X, and also sang vocals on End of Days pt. 2, those songs weren’t part of the culatour.
Immediately upon hearing that Bell was joining the tour, I thought they were going to close the show (before an encore) with End of Days pt1 & 2 with the long speech at the end and Al would be off stage the whole time to come back.
I also thought they’d do Burning Inside with Bell singing, at least his line on the cover.
[reply]Yeah Mike, I got sick of hearing songs about W. If a tour does come around I hope this means Al will become a jukebox and play some classics outside of NWO, Just 1 Fix and Theives
As if that weren’t enough, he felt like pissing on our wounds at the San Diego show . . .
When it came time for NWO, Just 1 Fix, and Thieves, he had Burton C. Bell sing them all. He just stood off to the side playing guitar.[/reply]
I actually thought that was kinda neat. Burton was way more into them than Al would’ve been.
What sucks is that they put out a live album of the tour WITHOUT those songs. The only thing they did differently for the show, and they didn’t release a recording of it?
I thought that Al doing that was lame and a bit of an F-You to the fans, but I’ve no marks against Burton for his performance. As someone else noted, it was actually a bit of refreshment for the rest of the performance that was just being phoned in . . .
Burton was a very passionate and exciting front man. Extremely engaging physically, jumping all around, grabbing lights off the stage, and so forth. He knew the songs dead on and never missed a beat. And to boot . . . he is a really cool guy.
I caught him on the street after the show and told him, “Hey, Burton, good show. I was pissed when I heard you were going to sing the classics and I was ready to heckle you and give you crap for it, but you really shined!” He was SUPER appreciative of the compliment and told me about how it was a dream for him to perform onstage with Ministry and that he had been a longtime hardcore fan.
It was just really refreshing to see someone as passionate about the old songs as we are actually performing them.
That being said . . . as a long time Ministry fan and one who remembers the hey day of Al Jourgensen, it is hard not to have mixed emotions about this. I mean, 15 years ago Al just could not be beat as a front man. He was wildly entertaining, unpredictable, and passionate about his performances. The subject matter was dark and edgy and there was a taste of nervousness and fear at the shows that is hard to describe to the uninitiated. How that evolved into 15 songs about Bush and some ZZ Top covers is just hard to stomach.
I never liked Fear Factory, but after the San Diego show I became a fan of Burton regardless.
One thing you kind of have to respect though is that they did what they wanted in barely playing old songs on their last tour.
Ministry has always been uncompromising and I would bet the ‘With Sympathy’ fans felt equally short-changed going to a ‘Land of Rape and Honey’-era show.
I mean obviously in this case it was a move for the worse, but he did stay true to what he wanted to do in true Ministry fashion.
The main issue I have is that the tour was billed as having material from all eras or whatever horse shit…
That being said . . . as a long time Ministry fan and one who remembers the hey day of Al Jourgensen, it is hard not to have mixed emotions about this. I mean, 15 years ago Al just could not be beat as a front man. He was wildly entertaining, unpredictable, and passionate about his performances. The subject matter was dark and edgy and there was a taste of nervousness and fear at the shows that is hard to describe to the uninitiated. How that evolved into 15 songs about Bush and some ZZ Top covers is just hard to stomach.
There’s a phase you’re skipping - when he was so strung out he mumbled his way through the songs and then leaned on an amp for the rest of the time.
Like when I saw him on the Sphinctour.
There’s a phase you’re skipping - when he was so strung out he mumbled his way through the songs and then leaned on an amp for the rest of the time.
Like when I saw him on the Sphinctour.
I saw him on that tour (in Sacramento, CA) and it was obvious that he was smacked out, but it actually made for a really dark and cool vibe to everything. It certainly didn’t hurt the performance and it just made him seem that much more terrifying. I’m sure it could easily have turned into a garbling, stumbling pile of mush and him sitting on the ground Sid Vicious style trying to remember why he was even up there. But from what I witnessed ( and the video documentation that I’ve seen) I’m guessing such performances as the on that plagued your show were the exception and not the norm.
Well, glad you got a better experience on that tour than I did.
I think he was at some sort of emotional low point. Before “The Fall” he rambled for a minute or two about how the song was “from the heart”. At least I think that’s what he was saying. He was totally incomprehensible.
Paul looked like he was having a ball, though.
as good as al’s rockstar tour stories are, it’d be the perfect ending to his life if he started shooting h again came back with a badass album with a new dark sound not heard in ministry in a long time, and a crazy self-destructive fuck it tour attitude to go out eventually in a blaze of glory.
i’m not saying what he should do with his personal life but that would be cooler to watch than an old man embarrasingly singing zz top covers hammered at his ranch.
There’s a phase you’re skipping - when he was so strung out he mumbled his way through the songs and then leaned on an amp for the rest of the time.
Like when I saw him on the Sphinctour.
The difference with then was the band was probably the deadliest on the planet at the time in the live department regardless of Al’s competence.
Well he is a real human being unfortunately and he does not exist solely to entertain us.
Maybe that’s not his sole purpose in life, but it is his chosen career path.
He’s a singer, songwriter, musician, performer, whatever . . . they produce entertainment. They should entertain us. Give 100% or go sell shirts at Nordstroms instead.
IN RE So What? There was a video(link) on here circ '92 i think with Chris walking on stage and doing a shot with Al. They also did Missing and Deity as well. Fucking great video. Now, Anyone have a link to this?
Al knew what he signed up for when he became a musician. Shit, or get off the pot. His drug use is well documented, and everything else he does. That’s the sacrifice you make when you want to play on stage and make a living doing it. You can’t have it any other way.
