I debated heavily about whether or not I wanted to go to this show. Let’s face it: I knew exactly what Ministry was going to play and exactly what they weren’t going to play. No surprises, no challenges. But in the end I did it for RevCo, because Luc Van Acker was going to be with RevCo, and because I hadn’t had the chance to see RevCo before. If any of you were there, I was the guy in the PTP shirt. And I’m confident I can say I was the guy in the PTP shirt.
RevCo was a blast. Luc Van Acker was hilarious: big guy that he is in white RevCo overalls with crazy hair and crazy eyes, leaping around the stage and screaming, occasionally donning some sort of mask or costume. I found myself not being able to help screaming along to “Attack Ships On Fire”… what fun! New singer “Gaydolf Hitler” Phildo totally nailed Chris Connelly’s vocal parts - not an easy task. I had total respect for the guy for that, and told him so when I shook his hand after the concert, whereupon he quipped “It’s always fun until someone loses an eye!” I couldn’t agree more. Except I usually say it’s only fun after someone loses an eye.
The usual Revolting antics went down during the show. The band postured properly with plenty of obscene movements and gestures, Uncle Al made a few faces and generally seemed like a sideliner most of the time, a bunch of local girls (most of them obviously strippers) got on stage to dance for “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” while Luc Van Acker hopped around dressed like a giant penis. A fine night of family entertainment.
Oh, and WTF was up with all the pot smokers in the front during RevCo? Fucking hippies!! Go follow Phish around the country or whatever the fuck it is you do. Now meth, that’s a REAL man’s drug!
So then Ministry came on. They played basically what was on the set lists you’ve already seen, so I won’t say much more about that. I stayed up front for most of their set, but gradually got bored and went to sit in the balcony for the remainder of it. I realized that I’d started yawning, and it was not a voluntary response. It’s not to say that they played a bad show… just that it was, let’s say, uninspired and uninspiring as far as I was concerned. The crowd response was actually pretty good, and it almost looked like they were going to play yet another encore after their final song. But it was not to be, and my hopes of them doing something unscripted were dashed. I found no merchandise I wanted, so I left after congratulating Phildo.
Oh, and I’m really glad I wore earplugs. I learned my lesson the last time I saw Ministry. Even still, my ears rang a little afterwards.
As an afterthought, the show was rather well-attended considering that Ministry played on the SAME night as Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus. What a terrible scheduling conflict.
–SKot