The Sisters of Mercy, Live at The Roundhouse, London 23 September 2023

Words: TG / Pictures: MM (C)

I am ashamed to admit but at the lovely age of 50 and many years of listening to Sisters of Mercy, I have never seen them perform live. Have I left it too late? Should I have seen them in their prime? Who knows but as I am about to find out with my ever shortening list of ‘Must See While I Still Can Bounce’, I apologise now for writing this from a very non-journalist point of view.

The Virginmarys

First up we had The Virginmarys. Now this is a weird one for me. I love harsh vocals. I love the mix of harsh and clean vocals but I am not sure what to make of Ally Dickaty’s vocals. As they sang, I could hear people around me mentioning what they sounded like which ranged from a little bit Motörhead, a little bit Royal Blood now they are a duo, a little bit Stray Cats though it turned into ‘stepped on a stray cat’ on some of the high notes. Overall they were very energetic and I found my self bouncing about and I think I might go see them again.

The Sisters of Mercy

Now on to the main act. A little bit of a heads up here that at their performance on Friday, their guitarist, Dylan Smith, did not return at the encore – turns out he was fired before the end of the show. How do I feel about this? Not sure as beforehand it was all about Andrew Eldritch. It did mean, though, that on Saturday, Ben Christo played his heart out and in my mind, made the whole night for me. Andrew Eldritch added a spooky and Nosferatu element to this and to be honest, I don’t think he meant to. He seemed to prowl the stage and skulk in the shadows and with his very unique rasp at certain points (more to be added later), he can’t help being as Goth as they come (sorry Andrew as you are definitely rock royalty). I am, what I call, an alt-hybrid-elder-goth with a love of heavy industrial, metal-core and southern rock (yes I said southern) but I will always gravitate to any form of dark wave/pop/rock. Andrew fulfilled that with his little rock heart.

Ben Christo however is the star of the show for me. Andrew’s vocals suffered a lot during the show and I struggled to hear his voice at times and missed hearing that low, deep and gravelly voice on some of their biggest hits such as Dominion. Ben though seemed to grow through the evening and his voice sang out more and more until this wonderful mix, almost a harmony of Ben’s voice supported by Andrew’s at exactly the right time, became by the end of the night, perfection and the encore was particularly fantastic. I bounced A LOT and at my age, the fact that I managed to still be able to walk (apart from a tumble on the stairs as I left), was a miracle.

Put it this way, if you asked me if I wanted to go see them again it would be a resounding yes. The whole performance was every bit what I would imagine a Sisters of Mercy show would be like and yes, Andrew’s voice is struggling a little but he still brought his magic and made it maybe something unique? Sisters of Mercy are not staying stuck in a rut from the 80’s and brought something fresh with Ben’s input and even with more recent and possibly unreleased tracks playing at the start such as Don’t Drive on Ice and But Genevieve, I felt the songs flow through me.

The classics started appearing midway when they played Dominion / Mother Russia and later More, a firm favourite of mine, and their encore tonight made my night and brought back memories of watching the Chart Show in Rock week. Hearing Lucretia My Reflection, and This Corrosion which is such a big singalong track was fab! I don’t have anything to compare this to so I don’t know but on my first Sisters of Mercy gig, I felt myself soaring into my happy place by hearing my absolute favourite tracks ever so that is always a win.

Oh and next time I need to remember it is Temple of Love and not Temple of Doom…