THE FILLMORE, Minneapolis
March 9, 2024
Photos by Brett
Review by Nick
MINISTRY bought the second leg of their tour with GARY NUMAN and FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY to The Fillmore in Minneapolis in celebration of the release of MINISTRY’s new album “hopiumforthemasses”. While I was quite shocked we got missed on the first leg, MINISTRY made up for it and then some!
GARY NUMAN was in the direct support slot and I will admit, I don’t know much of Gary’s music besides “Cars” and “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”. Gary’s band came out and completely surprised me. They opened with “Everything Comes Down to This” which is extremely heavy live. Gary has a ton of energy and his backing band did a great job at keeping the energy level at 11 for the entire hour set. “Halo” and “The Chosen” were other standouts from the set. While it was cool to hear “Cars” live, it was far from the highlight of the set. I’ve been going back and checking back out the songs from Gary’s set streaming and most of them are heavy on record as well, but there’s something about the energy radiating from the stage on Saturday night that took it to a whole ‘nother level. If you dig, Nine Inch Nails … definitely go see Gary Numan live and check out his catalog.
During the soundcheck, as soon as Roy Mayorga’s drum tech hit the snare the first time, the volume was considerably louder. MINISTRY is the loudest show I’ve been to in years. You think you’ve heard loud and then there’s MINISTRY loud. The loudness from the PA did not distort the sound as it was very crisp the entire show. Al has a absolutely stellar backing band behind him that makes the music shine and has elevated Ministry’s live show.
MINISTRY opened the show with 5 songs from the brand new album and definitely the standouts from the new album. “B.D.E.” was a perfect opener and the band was pulling no punches. Al engaged with the audience the entire show, standing at the front of the stage along side his two guitarists and bassist for the entire show and only used his podium for one song. They created an insanely strong front line for the sonic assault happening on not only our ears but also our eyes. This is why you go to a live show, you felt every note.
The new songs sound fantastic in the live set, “Just Stop Oil” and “GD White Trash” sound just like they could have came off Psalm 69. The crowd ate it up and was completely in to the new songs. Al made a comment after playing “Alert Level” and “Broken System” from their previous record Moral Hygiene, that after being patient with the new material he was now going to give out some doggy treats launching straight in to “N.W.O.” and the crowd came unglued.
Roy Mayorga keeps the band in line with insanely tight pounding of his drum kit while Cesar Soto and Monte Pittman create a wall of guitar sound for Paul D’Amour to lay down the bass groove amongst these industrial classics. Fiery performances of “Just One Fix”, “Thieves” and “Jesus Built My Hot Rod” came raging as they closed out the main set.
“Burning Inside” and “So What” from The Mind is a Terrible Things to Taste kicked off the encore with a bang before closing the show with a cover of “Ricky’s Hand”. This was a perfect showing of who’s having more fun, the packed crowd or the band? Young bands take note, MINISTRY and GARY NUMAN both got up on stage and created a masterclass showing everyone how a live show is done. I left the show invigorated and appreciated every minute of both bands sets. Bands on tour in 2024, the bar has been raised .. it’s your move.
MINISTRY will be back this time at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul with the Freaks on Parade tour co-headlined by ROB ZOMBIE and ALICE COOPER with FILTER opening on Aug 25. Do not miss it as Al and co will give Alice and Zombie a run for their money to up their live game for a show that you won’t forget.
SEE MORE OF BRETT's PICTURES FROM MINISTRY and GARY NUMAN HERE!
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