The Sisters Of Mercy: Detonation Las Vegas Boulevard

The Sisters of Mercy were part of the Sick New World production and festival taking place in Las Vegas, and along with quite a few other acts, booked a solo show for the weekend as well as their festival slot. TSOM played a full show at LV Brooklyn Bowl, for an epic SOLD OUT show, and a much cooler venue to see them than the prior day's fest. TSOM had nit played Vegas since 2009, and fans came out ready to see the legendary goth band.

The Sisters of Mercy were a bucket list for me: I had never been able to see them live, and after wearing out at least two copies of pretty much every one of their CDs in the 90's I was ecstatic. The crowd was a little tired from the festival the day prior, but packed and ready to go, and for many fans this was to be their first opportunity to catch them in a live setting.

Opening the show was Strange Cities, A SF post punk group (Featuring former members of In Letter Form, Murder of Lillies) that was a great fit for this show, their low dark industrial sound was a great gateway to the TSOM set to come. With members Daniel Nakazo Clark (vocals and guitar), James Levis (guitar), Clayton Vorheis (bass) and Dan Caporale (drums), the band made a proper impact on the fans and most recently released single "Sea to Dust" available HERE

TSOM came out onto a dark and desolate stage to start their show with 'Don't Drive on Ice", with Andrew Eldritch and his deep, dark baritone at the helm, along with Doktor Avalanche (rode by Ravey Davey ) along with British guitarist and vocalist Ben Christo (AKO, Night By Night, Diamond Black) and Aussie guitarist Dylan Smith (I Nation). The crowd was singing and entralled from the start, and the 22 song set was and amazing mix of TSOM greats.

I could not have asked for a better setlist (with exception of the very present missing "Vision Thing", that didn't make the cut at SNW either) the songs were vivid memories of the 80;s and 90's goth heavy hitters. The songs built and built until a frenzied encore of "Lucretia My Reflection", "Temple of Love " and a final fabulous finale of "This Corrosion".

The Sisters of Mercy consider themselves 'first and foremost a rock band', and live, they live up to the rock vibe and well as the goth notion. The show was fast paced and had the crowd surfing of a rock show, with the eerie atmosphere of goth. The Sisters live up to the hype, and put on a phenomenal show in Vegas. We can only hope we get the chance to see them again.

Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl Setlist

Don't Drive on Ice Ribbons Crash and Burn Alice I Will Call You First and Last and Always But Genevieve Dominion / Mother Russia Giving Ground (The Sisterhood ) Show Me Marian More Doctor Jeep / Detonation Boulevard Eyes of Caligula Something Fast I Was Wrong Here Instrumental 86 When I'm on Fire