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| Front Line Assembly's Bill Leeb @ DNA Lounge (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Industrial-EBM pioneers, Front Line Assembly (FLA), kicked off their 2022 tour with a nearly sold-out show at the DNA Lounge last night in San Francisco. FLA was originally scheduled to tour with KMFDM and Ministry back in 2020 for what was billed at the time as the Industrial Strength tour, but due to ongoing Covid-19 concerns, that original tour was rescheduled multiple times and FLA eventually decided to go out on their own... which brings us to this show last night and a tour they've billed as their 2022 Mechanical Soul tour, after the release of their most recent album with the same name from last year.
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| Front Line Assembly @ DNA Lounge (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Founding members Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber have assembled Jon Siren (drums) and Tim Sköld (guitar) to round out the live band. And as a show opener, they've invited Swedish EBM solo artist Rein to warm-up the crowd. Rein did a great job with 40-minute set. Clad in all-white, to me, Rein channeled the sound of an early Nitzer Ebb, with perhaps a less abrasive Douglas McCarthy vocal style. The crowd was definitely engaged and I'm pretty sure I caught her say that this was her very first tour and visit to the US.
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| Rein @ DNA Lounge (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
After Rein wrapped up, FLA wasted no time getting onto the stage to perform a nearly 90-minute set that spanned 8 of their 17 albums and included some of my personal favorites, "Mindphaser", "Resist", and "Millennium".
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| Front Line Assembly's Rhys Fulber @ DNA Lounge (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The stage set-up was interesting with Siren perched about 5 feet above the rest of the band at the back center of the stage. Rhys commanded over his keyboard rig on the left, and Sköld mainly stayed on the right of the stage for the vast majority of the show. That left Bill front and center and was easily the most active of the band as he traversed the stage and kept the crowd engaged throughout the night. The light show was impressive for the relatively small venue, and as you might expect with a FLA show, they had a video screen hung just behind Siren with trippy industrial visuals in sync with their performance.
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| Front Line Assembly @ DNA Lounge (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Ultimately, it was great to see the band back on tour and both FLA and Rein sounded great. If you're reading this outside the Bay Area, be sure to catch them if they hit your city and you won't be disappointed!
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