Ministry & Anthrax Live in Philly
By
Tokemaster General,
Contributor
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 @ 4:49 PM
| Ministry and Anthrax Live at t
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REVIEW BY: Joseph Brigandi
It was a four band bill at the almightiest of warehouses turned concert halls -- Philly's very own Electric Factory. I intentionally missed the first two bands (Lollipop Lust Kill & Motograter). I have heard lollipop before and I wasn't impressed and whatever to the other band. Not trying to to disrespect them, but whatever.
The main support for this show came from Anthrax. I guess this is the only show of the tour like this, and it was cool for me because I have never seen either Anthrax or Ministry before. By the time Anthrax took the stage there was a pretty decent crowd on-hand, about 85% or so, which grew as the set went on. Apparently this was the day that "We Have Come For You All" finally hit the shelves and they definitely made you aware of that fact. I guess that’s alright if it was 5 years since their last release. They started off by playing "What doesn't die" from the new one, which sounded pretty good to my ear. I think they then played another one from their new one but I can't remember the name. All of their songs sounded pretty tight and in tune. I was surprised at how well John Bush could perform live, not mind-blowing but pretty decent. The highlight I thought was when they played "Safe Home" from the new one as well. Pretty sick song with some serious melodic overtunes. I think just about everyone in the band except Charlie contributed to the live vocals, it was a good mix and they all pulled it off pretty well. The other songs they played (bout' 8 total) that I remember were Inside Out, Anti-Social, Only, a couple from Stomp 442 and then the new ones. Oh yeah, they did Bring the Noise, it was the shit, place was hopping. The pit was pretty lively with crowd surfing and moshing but I had a broken thumb so I stayed the hell out. Speaking of surfing, Al Jourgensen did a stage dive straight into the crowd after making a cameo for Only. Lets just say Al isn't in tip-top physical shape anymore, so it probably sucked for the people he dove on. A satisfying performance I would say, the had a decent stage presence, talking to the audience and shit.
Then it was time for the main course, Ministry. The place was pretty full by this time but probably not sold out, which is fine with me cause I like elbow room. They had the big screen blaring images for all their songs and Al still has that platform-skeleton microphone. I didn't recognize any other members except for Barker, but I heard the names of the other guys and they were all pretty killer musicians. They started off with the first three tracks from "Animositisomina." I got the new album and while I don't think it is their best work it is pretty damn good, and all three songs kicked ass. It kind of sucked because they were trying to get the sound right and at times they had it then they started fucking with it. But it was still insanely heavy and really god-damn loud. And it was pretty clear considering the volume they were playing at. Then they played Dead Guy and Filth Pig, both were pretty bad-ass. Filth Pig might have had the best production all night, pit looked intense.
Al never really addressed the crowd, except when he came on and said, "What’s up Philadelphia," and to introduce songs. He dedicated New World Order to George W Bush and they changed the structure of the song up a bit. No harm done though, if anything they made it better. They played just about every one you would expect. Reload, So What (which had a sick-ass instrumental), Bad Blood, Supermanic Soul, Just One Fix, Psalm 69, Crumbs, Stigmata, another one from LORAH, Jesus Built My Hotrod, The light pours out of me, Supernaut, and the other ones I said above (might have missed a couple). Ogre of Skinny Puppy sang for Supernaut and Pours out of Me. Guy has to be a drug addict, kept running around stage making the "shoot-up" motion into his right arm. Scott Ian played on Stigmata and they didn't have a drummer for Jesus Built my Hotrod, but they did have 4 guitars so that has to count for something. And on Thieves they kept looping tape of George Bush and Colin Powell saying the same thing over and over again. I guess the only thing that really could have been improved upon was that they played some samples for some stuff that I thought they should have had a live guitar for and Al's voice isn't what it used to be (still pretty good though). Those fuckers played for 2.5 hours, kept my bitch ass up until 1 am on a Tuesday. They did have 4 encores so don't blaze after they leave the first time or you will miss about half of the show. Finally, after about 2 hours of some fierce performing and a pretty frantic crowd Jourgensen says, "you guys are alright with me," Thanks Al, we deserved it, and you know what, you pretty fucking alright too. Killer show, if you can attend do that shit. I'm out
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