Difference between revisions of "National Treasure Tour 2019"

Revision as of 04:54, 19 March 2020

A new two-fold tour logo was introduced for this tour

After the European Summer Festival Tour with six concerts between June
and August 2019, where The Sisters of Mercy introduced their new guitarist
Dylan Smith to the curious and excited crowds, the band prepared for a
worldwide club tour in autumn. This so-named National Treasure Tour
started with two double-gigs in London and Brussels mid-September and
a further 16 concerts in Western and Northern Europe seeing The Sisters
of Mercy return to Denmark, Norway, Sweden (3), Poland (2), Germany (6),
Luxembourg, France and The Netherlands - 20 concerts in total of which
only three did not sell out.

The new tour logo as on front of the tour-shirts

While most of the tourdates had been confirmed already at the beginning
of the year, two pre-tour concerts in Greece were added in April. And what
surely was more exciting for the majority of the fanbase: on the day before
the first of these Greek events, a mysterious hint at a so far unknown of
performance at some strangely unavailable  venue in Antwerp appeared
on The Sisters' Live News Page. Apparently, one of the rare and exciting
Near Meth Experience trials that regularly occur before larger tours when
new members join the band. In addition, the folllowing words were mentioned
below the tour schedule like:

KICKLINE (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
ARE WE GOING TO BE BAD? (Christo/Eldritch/Smith/Varjak)
BETTER REPTILE (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
SHOW ME (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
JUST ACHING (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
etc

apparently indicating song titles and immediately raising hopes that to the pleasure of everyone a whole range
of new songs was to be presented during this tour. And so it was. Although not all of these new tracks did see
the light of day, Show Me and Better Reptile became a regular part of this tour's setlists, just like the new and
to-day untitled instrumental track that was introduced to the audience in Greece.

The last concert in Europe for this round part took place in Utrecht, NL on October 20th, 2019. Five days later,
The Sisters of Mercy embarked to Australia and Auckland, New Zealand for another six gigs. There the concerts
in Melbourne and Brisbane sold out.

This years Latin America trip came with a few re-arrangements and cancellations. So that of initially six gigs only four in Brazil and the finishing concert in Mexico
remained. Another visit of Chile had to be given up upon the political situation and a first envisaged concert in Uruguay could not draw enough interest to pay organisers'
expenses. The final concert in Mexico City at Circo Volador was fully recorded in audio and video formats from the audience. All in all, it was a great tour of a refreshed
band with a new guitarist, new songs, a new tour logo, new merch ( including eventually a First And Last And Always motive mug and lots of new old tees). The only slight
drawback was the cold that singer Andrew Eldritch had caught at the Wrocław gig, which made the rest of the European leg for him not as much a pleasure as it should have.
But hell, that couldn't damage the general feel of fresh air and change and inspiration in The Sisters, and by the time the band had reached Australia, the cold was gone.

Anything else? Oh yes, the person seen with a keytar in the scaffolding opposite the stage ... was the light technician.

Btw, apparently a reissue of Gift is in planning, as flyers for this release were spread at all the concerts of this tour. Relatively soon, though, first doubts about the credibility
of such announcements emerged, see the thread Gift reissue plus extras at the Heartland Forums.

2019 Gift Reissue Flyer as handed out at all the 2019 National Treasure Tour gigs

Band/Line-Up

• Andrew Eldritch - vocals

• Ben Christo - guitars, backing vocals

• Dylan Smith - guitars, backing vocals

• Doktor Avalanche - drums, bass, keyboared

• Ravey Davey - The Nurse

Support Acts

• A.A.WILLIAMS - Greece and all other European gigs, except:

• 20/21 September 2019, England, London, Roundhouse: Amenra

• 23/24 September 2019, Belgium, Brussels, Ancienne Belgique: My Diligence

• For the support acts during the Australian/NZ and Latin American legs of this tour

please check the according sections.

Pre-tour gigs in Greece

 After The Sisters' last concert in Thessaloniki 10 years ago had ended in a glorious
 but not all that orderly way, and the one in Athens that year had to be postponed,
 some years were to pass before The Sisters of Mercy would make it to Greece again.

 But in the wake of their summer festival activities, two concerts perfectly fitted in and
 The Sisters of Mercy presented the Greek crowds with their new guitarist Dylan Smith
 and the introduction of a new instrumental. To open both concerts they brought with
 them the remarkable London-based A.A.WILLIAMS, who would accompany almost
 all of the following European tour gigs.

 For extended details and more information about both concerts see:

   ●  Thursday, 12 September 2019 - Fix Factory Of Sound - Thessaloniki

   ●  Friday, 13 September 2019 - Gazi Music Hall - Athens


Full-show audience video recordings from both performances by The Sisters of Mercy as well as of A.A.WILLIAMS are available under the links above.

Antwerp Secret Show Announcement

Near Meth Experience, Belgium

One day before the concert in Thessaloniki in Greece took place, The Sisters of Mercy announced
a further performance in the city of Antwerp on the Belgian coast. Below the tour schedule of the
official Live News page the titles of some new songs appeared like:

KICKLINE (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
ARE WE GOING TO BE BAD? (Christo/Eldritch/Smith/Varjak)
BETTER REPTILE (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
SHOW ME (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
JUST ACHING (Christo/Eldritch/Smith)
etc

• Monday, 16 September 2019 - TRIX Club - Antwerp - Belgium
  

This turned out to be one of the rare, free and famous Near Meth Experience shows in preparation for the oncoming tour. As the concert was announced on relatively short
notice, the TRIX was nicely filled but not overcrowed, and there were many locals from the area in the audience, who had never heard of The Sisters before. But of course
also plenty others ... ;-))) ...

And indeed, Kickline, Better Reptile and Show Me were performed during this free concert for the first time in their then still rawer versions. Thankfully, some high-quality video
recordings of these three songs are available here below, and a few more on the page for this event. Check also this thread @The Heartland Forums to follow developments
as they evolved. The concert was obviously recorded, but none of these recordings has surfaced so far. Très dommage.

Tour Schedule

Europe

Australia / New Zealand

Latin America

This year, The Sisters' South America travels reached further than ever been .... or could have ...

Shirts and Merchandise

Merchandise stall (London)	Lot of new merchandise was presented in London.	2019 National Treasure Tour-shirt 2019 (front)	2019 National Treasure Tour-shirt 2019 (front)

- Thanks to the uploaders and contributors of these photos. For larger views, please click into the files. -

Some Statistics