Live – Ministry, Revolting Cocks, NIN, Bauhaus, Peaches
July 6th, 2006Over the weekend prior to July 4th, I saw two industrial shows with my friend Brandon. On Saturday, we saw Ministry at the House of Blues with Revolting Cocks and Pitbull Daycare as openers. On Sunday, we saw Nine Inch Nails at Milwaukee Summerfest, with Bauhaus and Peaches as openers. On Monday, I listened to Eno all day to let my ears heal.
For Saturday’s show, I have to say I was a little disappointed in Ministry’s performance at House of Blues. This was my sixth Ministry show, and of them all it was the lesser show. Many things conspired against this being one of their better performances – first of all being that House of Blues just isn’t an appropriate venue for an act like Ministry. I’ve seen Ministry at the Aragon and The Vic, and both were a lot more comfortable shows. The House of Blues was uncomfortably packed. Also, the decor of the House of Blues doesn’t really lend itself to dark industrial music. The other thing working against them for this show was their new material and their setlist. I’ve read multiple places that “Houses of the Mole” and “Rio Grande Blood” are a return to form for Ministry, but I’m not buying it. The two albums following “Psalm 69″, “Dark Side of the Spoon” and “Filth Pig”, are easily better than their two most recent albums. Their new material is so focused on integrating samples of George Bush in an effort to recapture the former glory of their song “N.W.O” that the music suffers for it. Even worse, the entire first half of the show was exclusively songs from their last two albums. By the time they got to a short set of older songs, I felt my interest in the show was gone. After the older songs, they launched into the long and monotonous song “Khyber Pass” from the new album before finishing out the evening with a few older songs.
However, Revolting Cocks redeemed the show for me. While Ministry is starting to seem a bit like a parody of their earlier selves, Revolting Cocks is an obvious parody. The lead singer alternated between a tuxedo and a black evening dress. Vocals weren’t sung into a mic, but instead shouted through a police megaphone. During their industrial cover of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” the band brought up a group of goth girls from the crowd to dance behind the band. In short, RevCo was bizarre, full of energy, and a great time to watch. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the first opening band, Pitbull Daycare. While they performed with energy, their songs were deeply derivative of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, and thoroughly uninspiring.
However, Sunday’s Nine Inch Nails show redeemed the weekend. While Ministry has slipped with their past two releases, NIN is once again at the top of their game with their new album “With Teeth”. Unlike Ministry’s barrage of new and uninspiring material, NIN played a varied setlist throughout the evening with songs from all their albums. I particularly enjoying hearing “You Know Who You Are?” from the new album as well as “Wish”, “March of the Pigs”, and “Somewhat Damaged” from earlier albums. Peter Murphy of Bauhaus also came out to sing with the band on a cover of Pere Ubu’s “Final Solution”.
Incidentally, I’ve never been much of a Bauhaus fan, but they put on a great show. I particularly enjoyed the songs “Double Dare” and “In the Flat Field”, demonstrating where Reznor no doubt found a lot of his initial inspiration. If Bauhaus continues to tour, I’ll certainly see them again. I kick myself now for skipping their Coachella set last year to see Bloc Party instead.
Starting off Sunday’s show was “Peaches” with her blend of porn/rock/hip-hop. I don’t particularly enjoy her music, but it’s hard to not be entertained with a woman running around the crowd in a bikini, boots, and a cape singing “Fuck the Pain Away”. While her music seems to be more of a shock novelty than anything else, you can’t argue with it’s catchy danceability.