al jourgenson could learn a lot from watching his side projects play...
i had made plans with a girl at work to catch a ride with her because she was definately going.
at 6 pm, she called...she had caught the plague and sold her ticket and was definatly not going.
i had done some research earlier in the day and found that the last best chance of getting there on time was a 6.30 bus to new paltz and then a cab across the river. i bolted to the bus terminal, literally! i made the hike in 15 minutes!
billh and i made it to the venue just in time for the opening act, pitbull daycare to end their set. that was fine with me... i always thought of them as a wanna be version of the clay people (i'm not even sure the C.P. wanna be the clay people anymore!)... the "crowd" was very thin, maybe 300 people including road crew and venue staff! that is actually a very generous estimate. 200+ may be more accurate...
the revolting cocks put on one of the best shows i have seen in a long time! it was pure punk rock camp -- brilliant! they opened with "beers, steers and queers" and slowly made their way through a good selection of "big sexy land" and "linger fickin' good..." while not neglecting to promote the good songs from the new album. "fire engine" (a tune written by jourgenson and iggy pop about trying to score smack but not having a car to get to the dealer's house, so they steal a fire truck) was a particular standout.
not much is left of the original revco line up, only al and luc van acker, but the new band filled in perfectly! luc sang songs from the older albums with a bullhorn and a white devo-esque haz-mat suit (occasionally wearing a 'marv' from "sin city" rubber mask). in place of chris connelly was a canadian guy (who's name was hopelessly mangled through the bullhorn) who carried the band! he appeared on stage during the 3rd song sporting a tux and martini and stole the show! while the rest of the band went for the rivet head/bondage gear tough guy look, he went for the nerdy/cheeky route, a perfect foil. mid way through the set they covered bauhaus' "dark entries" perfectly! (that was the only revco song al contributed any vox to!) at the close of the song, tux guy stated "even bauhaus can't sound that good when they're opening for trent!" during "do ya think i'm sexy?" tux, recited a 2 minute monologue from "american psycho" which seemed to have been lost on the crowd...
the encore was some noise fest which seemed to break into a bad cover of "purple haze"... tux humped jourgenson while wearing only a bath towel screaming "'scuse me while i fuck this guy!"
given such a powerful second act, i had high hopes for ministry. i have lost count of how many ministry shows i have seen, at least 7. and despite their horrible albums (EVERYTHING after "psalm 69"), i have never been disappointed. until this show! "rio grande blood" is probably the best record they have produced since "psalm" (not saying much), but this concert was a stillbirth.
the first 45 minutes of the show was all ear shattering sludge. songs i vaguely knew from my roommate's copies of "rio..." and "houses of the molé" with the same boring vocal effect on each one. "NWO", "just one fix", "thieves" and "stigmata" made an apperance which finally got the crowd dancing but it was too late. they took a break and left the stage... they did not chant for more. in fact a lot of people used this time to go out for a cigarette or to text message their parents to come pick them up. a roadie came out and said that we needed to make noise so the band would return... someone shouted "remember when you were an industrial band?"
bill and i left. it was like watching the last scene of "old yeller", someone had to put that dog down...
i always remembered al as a skinny wraith-like creature that looked like a feral animal. last night he looked bloated and comical. he had the stage presence of junior high school leper doing karaoke at the VFW. it was really sad. he looked like the typical aging rock star, keith richards without the grace or character to know when to let go....