Ministry
April 24, 2008
Tremont Music Hall
The Deal: Industrial rock legends say C U LaTour for final Charlotte show.
The Good: The fences were back up in front of the stage and Al Jourgensen seemed to have as much energy as ever. You could tell he was happiest when singing the new songs and bored with the old classics. It was three favorites that finally got the crowd moving for the encore — "N.W.O.", "Just One Fix" and "Theives." The band sounded great — and loud — all night for the roughly two-hour set which was focused on the last three, anti-Bush Ministry albums.
The Bad: Let's face it, the material from the last three albums isn't the band's strongest and most people in the crowd weren't that into it. Jourgensen constantly tried to get the crowd moving before yelling, "I feel like I'm at a golf tournament. Get naked, get rowdy, get something!" This prompted fans to start climbing the metal fences at the front of the stage, which soon-after fell on the audience. Jourgensen said, "Finally!" He threatened to end the show early a couple of times and eventually berated fans in the crowd, telling them he'd beat them up. A second encore that was planned — with songs from their latest album, "Cover Up" — never happened.
The Verdict: If you happened to see the band for the Animositisomina tour a few years back, it was a much better go around — Paul Barker was still in the band, and a bunch of the old songs were mixed in with the new. This time around, it was heavily anti-Bush with three crowd pleasers thrown in. You could tell that Jourgensen was "over it" as he said in an interview. Not the farewell show that most fans were looking for.
Setlist
Let's Go
The Dick Song
Watch Yourself
Life Is Good
The Last Sucker
No W
Waiting
Worthless
Wrong
Rio Grande Blood
Senor Peligro
LiesLiesLies
Khyber Pass
Encore
N.W.O.
Just One Fix
Theives
Encore 2 - scheduled by not played
Just Got Paid
Under My Thumb