Sisters 2017
The Sisters' touring activities in 2017 began with two warm-up festival gigs, the first one in Switzerland at Rock Oz'Arènes Festival, Avenches and the second one at The Leveller's Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, UK. The following club tour started with two double-gigs at London Roundhouse and Brussel's Anciennce Belgiue, followed by DOCKS in Hamburg, Germany.
Opening acts were Therapy? for the London and Brussels concerts, and The Membranes for all other European gigs.
Next on the schedule came three long-awaited and accordingly sold-out concerts in Sweden at Trädgår'n, Gothenburg,
Fryshuset Arenan, Stockholm and KM (Kulturbolaget) in Malmö, another stop in Berlin and two in gigs in Poland.
On that occasion The Sisters of Mercy played the city of Gdańsk (Danzig) for the first time at Klub B90.
The second Polish concert took place at Progresja, Warsaw and was also sold out.
From there, The Sisters machine rocked over Dresden and Stuttgart to Budapest, Hungary with its lovely A38 Ship
and then to another gig at Gasometer, Vienna. After a last stopover in Germany with performances in Wiesbaden
and Dortmund, the band visited Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg and finally, as the last gig in Europe of this
tour, the Paradiso in Amsterdam, NL.
More than two thirds of the 21 concerts all over Europe sold out. An additional concert @Barby Club in Tel Aviv, Israel
early in October completed The Sisters' travels for the year. Venue capacities ranged from over 3,000 to around 300.
A few changes to the setlist were made, though the basic standards and order widely remained. For details see
the information and statistics down below. As a surprise guest Lisa Cuthbert appeared on additional vocals during
the encores in Dresden, Stuttgart and Amsterdam.
With regard to merchandise and shirts, a new logo design appeared and some new items were offered.
Detailed information on these as well as some pictures are here down below under Shirts and Merchandise.
Band/Line-Up
- Andrew Eldritch - vocals
- Chris Catalyst - guitars, backing vocals
- Ben Christo - guitars, backing vocals, bass (2x)
- Doktor Avalanche - drums, bass, keyboared
- Ravey Davey - The Nurse
Tour Schedule
*** with Lisa Cuthbert on additional vocals during encores
For further information about the individual gigs and recordings, please see the according links and/or check the Sisters 2017 Section @The Heartland Forums.
Shirts and Merchandise
Apart from the current standard t-shirts with the new logo and the old 1985 one, as well as the work shirt and some Reptile House EP, Utterly Bastard Groovy, and recent No Cause t-shirts and hoodies, a new design was created for this tour showing the new logo half-down framed with rectangularly limited orange rays. The according design was used for the t-shirt and a new mug, the latter without a print underneath and in a slightly slimmer more elegant form. A hoodie with that new design has a mixture of the former "sisters" script cut off by half and the according logo on the front, while the back has the new design in, however, white print. A new "Leeds England Enamel Badge" and a "Merciful Release Cast Badge" were introduced as well, both 2.5 centimetre in diameter. Please check the pictures below for further details. All of these items are currently still available at The Sisters Online Merchandise Service.
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- Click into the pictures for larger views -
Some Statistics and Stuff
The touring year begann with two festival gigs of therefore shorter slots. Accordingly, the setlists there were basically the same as in 2016. This changed step by step
with the concerts taking place indoors. The first London concert started unexpectedly with Lucretia, My Reflection followed by Walk Away, which had last been played
in 1985 at the Royal Albert Hall !!!
In addition, The Sisters of Mercy introduced the regular new cover for this tour, which turned out to be That's When I Reach For My Revolver from Mission Of Burma.
When You Don't See Me also made a short return to the setlist, but was soon abolished again after a second appearance in Brussels, together, by the way, with A Rock
And A Hard Place and Jihad, both of which were also not heard again afterwards. Jihad had been replaced already for the second Roundhouse gig with the new and groovy
instrumental cover Rumble of Link Wray & His Ray Men. Romeo Down was played only during the second London gig and the first one in Brussels.
While the now almost traditional opening set of More, Ribbons, Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard and Crash And Burn was reinstated already for the second Roundhouse
gig and remained intact for the rest of the tour, Body Electric got two further performances before it was replaced with Body And Soul, another 1984 hit that had not been
played for more than 25 years !!!
Another nice surprise was the performance of Wichita Lineman by Chris Catalyst and Andrew Eldritch as the final encore of the first concert at Ancienne Belgigue, Brussels.
After the second gig in Brussels, Amphetamine Logic was sorted out from the setlist, just as much Kiss The Carpet. Both had been played extensively over the last tours.
With the following concert at Hamburg DOCKS, the above-mentioned opening quartett was added with the bulk of Walk Away, No Time To Cry, Body And Soul, Marian, Alice
and Arms for the rest of the tour, with only Walk Away and No Time To Cry changing positions towards the second half.
The longer the tour went on, the more the setlist consolidated. After the second Poland-gig at Progresja in Warsaw even Vision Thing was sent on hiatus and the intial two
encores of 2x3 songs were merged into one encore consisting of mostly the five tracks Something Fast, That's When I Reach For My Revolver, Lucretia, My Reflection,
Temple Of Love and This Corrosion.
However, The Sisters of Mercy had yet another surprise underway for some of their audiences. Lisa Cuthbert joined the band again on stage during the encores in Dresden,
Stuttgart and Amsterdam. On these occacsions, Lucretia had to swap positions with Dominion further up in the setlist.
| Song | Total (Encore) |
Song | Total (Encore) |
Song | Total (Encore) | ||
| More | 22 (--) | Ribbons | 21 (--) | Doctor Jeep / Detonation Boulevard | 22 (--) | ||
| Crash And Burn | 22 (--) | Walk Away | 20 (--) | No Time To Cry | 18 (--) | ||
| Body And Soul | 18 (--) | Alice | 20 (--) | Marian | 19 (--) | ||
| Body Electric | 2 (--) | When You Don't See Me | 2 (--) | We Are The Same, Susanne | 1 (--) | ||
| Arms | 20 (--) | Dominion / Mother Russia | 22 (3) | Summer | 22 (--) | ||
| Amphetamine Logic | 6 (--) | A Rock And A Hard Place | 2 (--) | Jihad | 3 (1) | ||
| Rumble | 18 (--) | First And Last And Always | 21 (1) | Flood II | 22 (--) | ||
| Romeo Down | 2 (1) | Kiss The Carpet | 2 (2) | Vision Thing | 13 (11) | ||
| Something Fast | 18 (10) | That's When I Reach For My Revolver | 20 (20) | Lucretia, My Reflection | 22 (17) | ||
| Temple Of Love | 22 (21) | This Corrosion | 22 (21) | Wichita Lineman | 1 (1) |
