Al Jourgensen of Ministry @ the Warfield (Photo: Kevin Keating)
San Francisco was lucky enough to welcome Uncle Al Jourgensen back to the Bay Area to kick off Ministry's 2018 AmeriKKKant Fall tour on Thanksgiving eve at the Warfield the other night. The godfather of industrial-metal once again assembled a backing powerhouse team that included Derek Abrams on drums, John Bechdel on keyboards, Cesar Soto on guitar, Tony Campus on bass, Sin Quirin on lead guitar, and of course, Al Jourgensen who took center stage behind a massive new cross-shaped mic stand. Gone were the collection of skulls and bones that have adorned his previous stands. Clearly, the revitalized Jourgensen has found religion and was well prepared to deliver his sermon to the gathered congregation.
Sin Quirin of Ministry @ the Warfield (Photo: Kevin Keating)
The show was originally billed with two show openers, the French industrial EDM Carpenter Brut, and New Zealand’s Alien Weaponry. However, upon arrival, it was noted that due to Visa issues, 3 members of Carpenter Brut were unfortunately unable to enter the US, so that gave the 3-piece from down under extra time to warm-up the crowd and deliver what turned out to be an impressive hour-long metal set that featured a mix of songs in their native Māori language along with English.
Ministry's Al Jourgensen @ the Warfield (Photo: Kevin Keating)
A twenty minute set change allowed Alien Weaponry's minimal gear to be shuffled off-stage before the opening track off AmeriKKKant(iTunes), "I Know Words," began to ring out at 9:30pm. The stage consisted of about a dozen tube TVs with UHF color bars stacked in the background, with a giant projection screen in back. Gone were the Trump-esque inflatable chickens that graced either side of the stage from their tour last year (review here). And whereas that tour was more of a teaser for the pending release of AmeriKKKant, which released in March of this year, this time round, Al dedicated the first half of the show to the entirety of the new album which was played straight through from start to finish. Like his albums during the Bush years, AmeriKKKant again rails against the social and political climate that we've found ourselves in over the past 2 years. It's a tour de force that long-time Ministry fans will find familiar and has been in my personal rotation since its release. Standing behind his cross-shaped lectern, Al delivered the gospel of Ministry in similar fashion to a modern day political rally... Complete with plenty of imagery of Trump including this gem below that was spliced into the video for "Victims of a Clown" (I think).
The band took a short break after playing through the album and returned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their landmark 1988 release, The Land of Rape and Honey(iTunes). The title track of which I don't believe I've ever seen live -- and I've seen just about every Ministry tour since the mid-90s. The crowd erupted and the classics kept coming... "The Missing", "Deity", and "Stigmata" were fantastic to hear live as you can see from the fan-shot video below.
These are some of my all-time Ministry favorites, and it didn't end there, with Al & co. hitting "Just One Fix" and "NWO", before closing on "Thieves" and "So What" -- two of my faves from the Mind album which celebrates its 30th anniversary *next* year! Would I be too greedy to ask for another tour next year?
Al Jourgensen of Ministry @ the Warfield (Photo: Kevin Keating)
Considering this was the first night of the tour, there were bound to be a few glitches, but overall, it's amazing to see Al (at 60 years old!?!) still as angstful as ever. The tour will wind it's way around the US before concluding with two nights at the Fonda Theater in LA, which I've heard will be taped for a DVD release later next year. Dave Navarro will supposedly join the band at one or both shows, and there may even be a return of Buck Satan with an acoustic set in the planning? I've also heard rumors that Chris Connelly may join the band for a replay of his Chicago appearance on "So What" earlier this year. And if the stars align, maybe even Trent Reznor, who will have just wrapped up a 6-night(!!!) residency of sold out shows at the Palladium. No matter what, the closing LA shows may justify a trip south as an early Christmas present to myself because this show will only get better over the next 21 dates!
