At The Roseland Theater March 28th

- advertisement -

Photos By Mike Lewis Photography

MINISTRY issued their 14th studio album AmeriKKKant on March 9 via Nuclear Blast Records. Al Jourgensen and Co immediately hit the road to promote THE BEST effort since their 2007 record The Last Sucker. The tour launched on March 22nd in Anaheim, CA made it to the Pacific Northwest by March 28th, where they’ve done relatively good business. Joining Al Jourgensen [vocals and guitar] are guitarists Sin Quirin and Cesar Soto, bassist Tony Campos [FEAR FACTORY/ASSESINO/STATIC-X], John Bechdel on keyboards, DJ Swamp [Beck] featuring some guest [vocal] appearances from Burton C. Bell [FEAR FACTORY] and Derek Abrams [who was on the 2016 fall tour] on drums who was a last minute addition as Joey Jordison dropped out to pursue his solo interests. For a show on a ‘hump day’ the attendance was relatively good the house was full, well past ¾ capacity. The fact that it was the area’s spring break probably enticed some of the kids to take in the show.

As you headed up the stairs into the Roseland Theater the first thing you saw was the repurposed ‘Trump Chickies’ which Jourgensen used on last fall’s tour. They’re cool but it’s like watching the same magic trick the second time around---it’s not as impressive. People witnessing the giant inflatable ‘chickies’ absolutely lost it. As with previous MINISTRY tours the use of visuals have been a huge part of the experience and this tour is no exception; once again MINISTRY utilized a gigantic LED screen which was book ended by the ‘chickies’. As with the fall tour the punching bag was one Donald J. Trump. If you lean ‘extremely right’ at best your blood would boil, at worst you’d wind-up with an aneurysm. If you’re a liberal you’d be tickled by what transpired during the performance on the LED backdrop.

KNAC.COM caught up with Jourgensen in February who said, “I'm playing the entire fucking album, man. I really believe in this album. We’ll play some old stuff on the upcoming tour, [but] it's going to be heavily focused on this record.” Jourgensen was true to his word as he nearly performed the entire AmeriKKKant record with the inclusion of the tracks “Twilight Zone”, “Victims Of A Clown” [featuring Burton C. Bell], “We’re Tired Of It" [featuring Burton C. Bell], “Wargasm” [featuring Burton C. Bell], and “Antifa”. The latter received an overwhelming response with the ‘ultra liberal’ Portland audience. Also included were the ambience pieces “I Know Words”, which sampled words from 45 and “TV5/4Chan”. The highlights of the show were “Punch In The Face”, “Just One Fix”, “N.W.O.”, “Thieves” and “So What” There’s no question that people show up to hear the classics, but the new material has a ferocity that MINISTRY hasn’t had in over a decade. If you get a chance to see this show, don’t pass up the opportunity, Jourgensen is in top form and is just as angry as ever--though in a fun Wile E. Coyote kind of way.

Check out some more photos from the show!
Photos By Mike Lewis Photography