Phoenix, AZ—The Sisters of Mercy (TSOM) came to the Van Buren on October 3, 2024, with Blaqk Audio opening for them. It was the epitome of what a generational goth concert should be, with many Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z in attendance. The younger crowd was in full goth dress and makeup; the Gen Xers wore their favorite black t-shirts and kept it casual and comfortable.
Blaqk Audio, comprised of former A Fire Inside (AFI) band members Davey Havok (vocals) (@daveyhavok) and Jade Puget (keyboards/synthesizer) (@jadepuget), provided a fantastic warmup, playing an 11-song set. Havok is an expressive performer, and it’s obvious he loves to engage with the crowd and have a dynamic energy exchange. Dramatic, full of both subtle and grand gestures, Havok gives all that he has to offer to the crowd, and the crowd reactions I saw rewarded him for his efforts. At times, it felt like the stage at the Van Buren wasn’t large enough to let him expend his energy.
Several songs of the set were very much crowd favorites, such as “Cities of Night” and “Waiting to Be Told.” At one point toward the end of the set, Havok came down from the stage and stood on the barrier, to be closer to the crowd and interact with them more directly. The crowd went absolutely crazy. Just before playing “First to Love,” Havok expressed deep gratitude and told the crowd how much he loved playing for them. “First to Love” was another crowd favorite, and it was a great way to end the opening set, making way for TSOM.
TSOM was next on stage. I have to confess–I came to the show with a bit of trepidation. I saw TSOM last year, and for a band that was critical in my own young adult cultural evolution in the late 80s/early 90s, I came away from the show feeling a bit let down. After seeing this show, I’m happy to say that this year’s tour was a much more rewarding experience. Maybe it was a difference of venues, a difference of sound engineering, maybe it was the lunar eclipse and the stars and heavens aligned, but I was a happier TSOM fan this time around.
Ben Christo (@benchristomusic) and Kai (@espritkai) were at front of the stage the entire time, Chris Catalyst (@chrisalyst) was at back of stage with keyboards and synthesizer, and Andrew Eldritch (@andrew_eldritch), notorious for wanting to hang in the dark, stayed true to his reputation. There were some short moments when Eldritch joined either Cristo or Kai as they played guitar, but Eldritch kept primarily to the dark. Sometimes Eldritch would jump into a sharp beam of light to let the crowd get a glimpse of him before darting back in the dark again.
As I mentioned before, the sound engineering was much improved in this show, and it was a pleasure to hear Eldritch’s dark vocals, joined in by Christo and Kai. “Dominion” sounded fantastic, and “More,” the song that made me a TSOM fan, was spot on. “I Was Wrong” was also another crowd favorite. During the TSOM show, I hung to the back of the venue, to get an objective sensory experience and to observe the crowd, and everyone I saw was deeply immersed in the music. During those crowd favorites, I saw people pushing in to get closer and be washed over with the music. It was a terrific show and I’m so glad I saw this year’s tour.
