Anniversary, Tour Dates, Vinyl — October 15, 2010 at 10:28 am

The Sisters of Mercy set 30th anniversary concerts in U.K., Europe in early 2011

Sisters of Mercy's Andrew Eldritch / Photo by Flickr user Spiggycat, 2008

The enigmatic Andrew Eldritch will take Doktor Avalanche and the rest of the current incarnation of The Sisters of Mercy back out on the road early next year for what’s being billed as a 30th anniversary tour, with dates announced so far in the U.K. and Europe in February and early March.

The Sisters’ little-used website recently was updated to list eight new tour dates under the SISTERS XXX heading, with two concerts apiece in Leeds, U.K.; Brussels, Belgium; and Budapest, Hungary, beginning Feb. 16, followed by single shows in Berlin, Germany; and Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg, in early March (see full dates below).

Because Eldritch rarely communicates, it’s not known whether this is the beginning of a longer trek, or the entirety of the tour. The blog The Sisters of Mercy 2011, set up to chronicle the concerts, does note that tickets for the opening night in Leeds list the gig as “The Sisters of Mercy 30th Birthday Party.” The Leeds shows also are being held at the venue where the band played one of its 10th anniversary gigs in 1991.

Although the Sisters haven’t released a new album since 1990’s Vision Thing, Eldritch does regularly tour; most recently, the group played a handful of European shows this past August. The summer shows saw the Sisters dig out some rarities, too, with “Rain From Heaven,” off The Sisterhood’s 1986 album The Gift, and “No Time To Cry,” off 1985’s First and Last and Always, getting exceedingly rare live airings (see video below).

See Sisters of Mercy tour dates and live video after the jump…

The Sisters of Mercy tour dates:

Feb. 16: Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Feb. 17: Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Feb. 21: Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Feb. 22: Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Feb. 25: A38, Budapest, Hungary
Feb. 26: A38, Budapest, Hungary
March 1: Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany
March 4: Rockhal, Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg

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4 Comments

  1. The last two times I saw the SOM were absolutely dreadful, and SO so expensive. Does Andrew have some sort of contract obligation to fulfill? I don’t get it. never again!

  2. To be fair, the guy is in his fifties now and the two guitarists were barely born when the original band were formed.

    That said, it’s actually quite awesome how they keep the sound of songs like No Time To Cry. I would LOVE to go to Leeds on 16th February.

    • Mark Farley

      So? The Church are in their fifties and making amazing music. contracural obligations be damned. If eldritch had any feeling, or respect for the music he’d do a decent job. If not give it up, i’d rather remember him from when he was making good music with good musicians.

  3. harold richards

    age has nothing to do with a poorly performed concert. leonard cohen, tom waits, bauhaus: all are still amazing live. eldritch has a great stage presence and the light show is fantastic. the problem with sisters concerts is that his beautiful vocals are drowned out by the drums and bass. it’s just a lot of inaudible deep sounds. sometimes a song would be half way through before i could even distinguigsh what it was. don’t waste your time on a sister show.

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