sisters of mercy show SF [goth is dead]

[ragamuffin]

so the night before thanksgiving, i went to see a sisters of mercy show. by sisters of mercy, of course, i mean andrew eldritch, a drum machine, and two 27 year olds with guitars that learned (barely) some sisters songs. just because eldritch kept the rights to the name does NOT make them the same band, by any means. but, i digress. i went to this thing expecting maybe a mediocre show, but hell, it cant hurt to see old eldritch singing for me. i love sisters enough to get a kick out of this.
well, this is san franfuckingcisco and they couldnt even fill (not even halfway) the medium sized venue they had the show in. so bad that they had to actually move the show to a very small venue. this was only sort of sad, im thinking "well, i can see better now, maybe it will be an awesome show".
i wont even talk about the crappy "killers" style band that opened for them, but it just killed me a little bit in the very spookiest parts of my stupid little heart when the two douchey guys came onto the stage, and andrew eldritch, in his weird gas station smack addict outfit and started singing... with the mic on so low no one could hear him. at all. good thing we all already knew the words. oh, but no one really did. actually... people were either dancing to a beat they obviously had in their own head, way out of place with the music playing, or just... chatting. the people here: some really cheap underage overweight goth kids wearing hot topic fully from head to toe, and worse, old ex frat boy types whos drunk wives with no lips were trying to do the belly dancer hand-movey dance goth girls like to do at clubs... :::sigh::: i wish i could give the whole picture. another thing, this very small small venue, was hmmmm maybe a third full. the whole bay area couldnt get more than a couple hundred people to come out and see SOM.
this is the only show i have ever been to where i wished the encore would have not happened. the saddest thing is, if someone thought it was a good show, it means they probably dont really listen to the sisters, or they would have been sad and known it was awful. and then, the people that did know, had to stay and wait and be sad, and watch all the things they liked looking very stupid.
one guitarist was a neo-nazi looking mutton chop punk rock skinhead guy who was pogo-ing up and down the whole time... during songs like "something fast". not really the right band for him, i think. and he was the only one you could hear, singing the backup so... stupidly!

i remember being very young and thinking of someday, when i could go to shows and see all the cool spooky people, and they will all look like johnny slut or robert smith or rozz or something and there will be great music and people who share my likes and dislikes and sense of aesthetics but... i feel like... GOTH IS DEAD. there arent people like that. and how silly of me, when all the music i like is from a good 20 years ago and these guys only tour now to get money for smack. or else not at all.

i get the distinct sinking feeling that everyone on here is in highschool and no one will get it either, why it was sad. because when you live with your parents, and you have this sort of huge unending feeling that SOMEDAY i can go do X Y and Z, and it will be everything i wanted it to be... that gigantic hopefulness is very very good, and/but it keeps you from feeling disappointment in the quantity i am referring to.

im sorry this is so long, and no one has to read it, but i felt it necessary to report it on here, and it made me feel kind of better.

[PinstripesAndPithHelmets]

Goth isn't dead. Rather, goth as you remember it is dead. Whether or not goth as you remember it ever actually existed is immaterial. There's a whole discussion about this going on right now in another thread. You might want to check it out.

[Minyaliel]

Hm, I must say I got a little bit offended at the high school remark. Anyway, I wouldn´t say goth is dead. Perhaps goth died in America, but here in Europe it is still very much alive. (Or is undead the right term?)

[Necrophagist]

Hahaha ' undead '.

Especially in Germany.

[Solumina]

It is still alive and well in the states, at least it is over here on the East Coast, there are just some people/bands that are not what they once were.

[AngelikDemonik]

Hmm...it was kind of nice when I seen them a few weeks ago in Detroit. There was a lot of the club kids there, but there was more of an older crowd. The venue was filled.

I enjoyed the opening band, SuperNova (I think that was their name), as did everyone else I went with.

My only complaint about the Sisters was the massive amount of smoke they had going off during the performance. I couldn't even see them.

And by the way, I've been out of High School for six years now (I'm 23). The people I went with were between the ages of 32-39, and they all enjoyed the show very much, as well.

[Maggoty Anne]

Of course goth isn't dead. We're all still here on this forum, aren't we? There are still bands that don't suck if you can stand to listen to anything that isn't from the 80's. Just because there are less of us than there used to be doesn't mean we don't exist.

And look on the bright side, at least we've got a better lot than punk.

[honeythorn]

Originally Posted by AngelikDemonik

My only complaint about the Sisters was the massive amount of smoke they had going off during the performance. I couldn't even see them.

Eldritch cannot survive in a smokeless environment. He'd keel over and die

I'm hoping to go to the Amsterdam show. I hope it's a good one...

And I tell you this. Goth isn't dead. Oh fucking no. Specimen for one, are alive and well and AMAZING. Ollie doesn't seem to have aged!

[ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by honeythorn

Eldritch cannot survive in a smokeless environment. He'd keel over and die

hahaha thanks for that. eldritch was quoted as saying once (something like) "we couldnt have done it without a lot of smoke" thats CLASSIC sisters, they never did a show without a stage full of smoke. thats what i am talking about. theyre even famous for it, and people are going to complain, cause they dont know or care.

[ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by Minyaliel

Hm, I must say I got a little bit offended at the high school remark. Anyway, I wouldn´t say goth is dead. Perhaps goth died in America, but here in Europe it is still very much alive. (Or is undead the right term?)

to ANYONE in highschool/still living with their parents: i dont think for a second that it is bad or that youre lame or anything of the sort. im on here with you, in any case! life is just different when your a cute spooky hardcore goth kid in school, and when you go out in the world and try to still do it. and besides, i was referring to how when theres a largish number of things you havent gotten to do yet, you have lots of hope for the things, and what they will be like, and when finally youve done them and done them, and they arent that cool, youre disappointed. like youre 16 or so and you picture someday going to an awesome dark pub full of really super cool spooky people and you all will listen to sex gang children and dance and smoke cloves... but then you realize there isnt that. and its sad. thats all.

[ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by Maggoty Anne

Of course goth isn't dead. We're all still here on this forum, aren't we? There are still bands that don't suck if you can stand to listen to anything that isn't from the 80's. Just because there are less of us than there used to be doesn't mean we don't exist.

And look on the bright side, at least we've got a better lot than punk.

okay okay... youre right... you made me feel a little better. for a second. help me out here? what are these "bands" you speak of?

[honeythorn]

To be fair also, it isn't as though you were ever going to get anything like a "back in the day" gig. Von's known for being tetchy and he's hardly going to put on a "goth" show. The G word is banned in the house of Eldritch . I'm not going to expect anything outstanding, but seeing videos of the Suikkerock show make me hopeful of a reasonable time at least despite the guitarists seeming rather heavy handed . Perhaps you were unlucky and ended up at one of the few crap shows you inevitably get on any bands tour.

[Minyaliel]

Ragamuffin - um. Yeah, I guess. I wouldn´t know, I wasn´t really hanging with the gothic crowd in high school. (Wow, that seems such a long time ago now...)

[AngelikDemonik]

Originally Posted by ragamuffin

hahaha thanks for that. eldritch was quoted as saying once (something like) "we couldnt have done it without a lot of smoke" thats CLASSIC sisters, they never did a show without a stage full of smoke. thats what i am talking about. theyre even famous for it, and people are going to complain, cause they dont know or care.

No, I'm going to complain because I have asthma and because the whole venue was filled with smoke...not just the stage.

[ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by honeythorn

To be fair also, it isn't as though you were ever going to get anything like a "back in the day" gig. Von's known for being tetchy and he's hardly going to put on a "goth" show. The G word is banned in the house of Eldritch . I'm not going to expect anything outstanding, but seeing videos of the Suikkerock show make me hopeful of a reasonable time at least despite the guitarists seeming rather heavy handed . Perhaps you were unlucky and ended up at one of the few crap shows you inevitably get on any bands tour.

i think youre right. im going to stop moping. i suppose at LEAST if the mic would have been turned up (even a little!) it would have been something... to see. stupid heavy handed guitarists. thanks for the up-spirit.

[ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by AngelikDemonik

No, I'm going to complain because I have asthma and because the whole venue was filled with smoke...not just the stage.

im sorry... that DOES suck. and i know it sucks to be weakened in some way by an annoying physical thing thats not your fault and then you always feel like the weiner in the room all "wahhh i cant take things, i have health problems" and people are all "youre a bummer" and youre like "fuck you its not my fault my lungs dont work right!" well... im glad your show was fun, despite all that.

[ragamuffin]

minyaliel;

maybe its true... me living in california presently has something to do with my feeling about all the spooky stuff i love and everyone else here is all not into in any way... i AM in san francisco though, not LA or anything. i mean, everything is victorian and its always foggy! but people complain, and no one likes any good music. but im a couple months away from moving to a very medieval dark and pointy european city... so thanks for the hope from norway.

[KontanKarite]

Goth is NOT dead and Pinstripes is a bit wrong. The goth you know or loved DIDN'T change, but the performers aren't exactly the same either.

Sure, we don't have Specimen and SoM in their prime anymore, but we DO have Cinema Strange, Scarlet Remains, The Cold, ect.

The ONLY thing that's different is that the goth you remembered and love is in YOUR hands and those that share your musical tastes. You can't depend on SoM and Bauhaus to put on a good show. Honestly, they're OLD. Not that they're bad, they're just OLD.

I mean, look up Drop Dead Festival for example. Look at even newer bands such as Address Unknown. There are SEVERAL goth acts out there that haven't forgot that though goth rock may be it's own thing, it still harbors plenty of the underground and DIY antics of its punk brethren.

Goth doesn't HAVE to be spooky lame ass techno music if you do something about it.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by KontanKarite

The ONLY thing that's different is that the goth you remembered and love is in YOUR hands and those that share your musical tastes. You can't depend on SoM and Bauhaus to put on a good show. Honestly, they're OLD. Not that they're bad, they're just OLD.

For the record: when they toured in 2006 Bauhaus kicked ass

[Steppenwolf]

I'll never go to a Sisters show , or a Pink Floyd show , because I know already I'll feel sick and lost my faith on them . Same about knowing in person your favs . God , even going to have my book signed ...
Why on earth should I destroy my own apreciation of the work (or taking this risk somehow) because they are not the same as I expected?
It doesn't make any sense to me , why you do this to yourself when you know you were taking this kind of risk ...

Goth is dead? Sure : Goth will be always dying and changing and evolving . Your goth is dead , but let the others decide for themselves .

[Beneath the Shadows]

Originally Posted by ragamuffin

goth is dead

That's the way it likes it.

[Raptor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4nXOyDqt6U&fmt=18

[ZyklonB]

Sure, plenty of bands arn't in their prime anymore, and won't put a show on like they used to. But some still do an OK job. When i saw skinny puppy about a year and a half ago, it was all right and I couldn't complain. People were saying how Ogre sucks now and he can't put on a good show etc. Well of course he isn't as good as he used to be, age gets to you at some point or another. The crowd was mixed, some lil hot topic brats, some old school guys, hell one guy saw SP way more times than i would have though, heh.

Sometimes concerts can be bad experiences, sometimes they go very well and you make a few friends. I wouldn't call the scene dead over one concert though.

[Draconysius]

Originally Posted by KontanKarite

Look at even newer bands such as Address Unknown. There are SEVERAL goth acts out there that haven't forgot that though goth rock may be it's own thing, it still harbors plenty of the underground and DIY antics of its punk brethren.
Goth doesn't HAVE to be spooky lame ass techno music if you do something about it.

Thanks, man.