A lot has been said about The Sisters of Mercy: the performances are sometimes uneven, the band hides in the dark and behind thick clouds of smoke... and they have the particularity of not having released an album since Vision Thing, in 1990 (their new guitarist Kai wasn't even born!). And yet, unlike other monuments in the history of rock, Eldritch have not frozen his band in the past: there are plenty of ‘new’ tracks. You just have to come and see them live, because they've never been recorded. That's already a good reason to dee them again and again. Then, well, once you've made your peace with the obvious (indeed no one is in the same shape at 65 as they were at 25), you can also savour these opportunities to catch up with this legendary band while they're here, and in such an elegant setting as the Olympia. What's more, the feedback from previous French dates has been enthusiastic! We were surprised by the average age of the audience: there were quite a few young people, proof that not only does the aura of the Sisters of Mercy continue to fascinate, but above all that their story continues to be told in the present. Will we leave this evening organised by Forest Sound Production with our eyes full of (black) stars, or with our best ‘Sisters, non merci’?
DIVINE SHADE
Before dancing to their timeless hits, the Olympia's audience had the chance to discover Divine Shade, who we've had the pleasure of following and watching grow over the last few years. Rémi Thonnerieux's industrial rock band is taking its time and, after ten years in existence, has just released its first album (review). Along the way, the band has opened for Gary Numan, New Model Army and The Mission, ‘collecting’ bills alongside cult artists. But even after all that, even after playing at Wembley, the two brothers must still have a slightly higher heart rate than usual when they take to the stage in front of an already packed audience.
In the half-light, the heady refrain of Hate and Oblivion, with its menacing machines and melancholy vocals, quickly takes hold. Divine Shade pulse and overwhelm us with their darkness at the same time, Nicolas Thonnerieux's guitar adding extra punch to the tracks, which take on a more hard-hitting dimension live. Divine Shade make no secret of their influences, from The Young Gods to Nine Inch Nails (right down to Rémi's stage posturing). They cultivate the same taste for the contrast between contemplation and distortion, this science of noise that disturbs the harmony of the surface... but also this sense of song that just sticks in your head. Just listen to Ruines et Cendres and you'll be convinced: there's the beat à la The Hand That Feeds, of course, but above all the French lyrics recited with a depressed groove.
Catchy but rough, the music finds its audience: with a few remnants of shyness, Rémi Thonnerieux drops a cute ‘make some noise’ at the Olympia, which fortunately obeys. Phew: the audience's hooked... which is inavoidable after Oublier, an unstoppable track featuring Steve Fox-Harris, Gary Numan's guitarist. Obsessive, dark, heavy and at the same time irresistible: Divine Shade has a hit on its hands, something with the scent of ruins that is at once rock'n'roll, modern and introspective.
Half an hour goes by fast. Divine Shade conclude their set with Heaven. Here again, there's a contrast between daydreams, a hazy mood and raging explosions. The darkness and cold tones in which we are immersed lend themselves well to the mood. When the duo leave the stage to rapturous applause, we share their relief and happiness: of course, they were great, we had no doubt. We can't wait to see them again, and we leave their set convinced that after opening for our illustrious idols, when those will leave the stage, Divine Shade will be there to take their place!
THE SISTERS OF MERCY
You wouldn't expect Andrew Eldritch to obey something as mundane as time, given that his music is free of it, and it's with a short ten minutes delay that the lights go out. Guitarists Ben Christo and Kai arrive at the edge of the stage to launch Doctor Jeep, played here as a medley with Detonation Boulevard. The two strike their poses with an energy that immediately helps the audience to shake off the pins and needles in their legs. As for Eldritch, he's in his usual role: lurking in the shadows behind his musicians, only coming out to stand in front of a spotlight from time to time. With his ever-present dark glasses, sharpened fingernails and perfectly smooth skull, he's well aware of his image and plays it to perfection, a sort of rock'n'roll Count Orlock, at once menacing, mysterious and facetious. He mumbles in his sepulchral voice, overplaying his character, a true diva of darkness. The uninitiated will surely be annoyed to see the icon refusing contact with his audience and hiding in the shadows, but there's something delightful about his refusal to be fun, friendly or convivial (words that would probably make him shudder with disgust in his vault).
The sometimes painful memories of past concerts are quickly erased (notably that Zénith of Paris in 2006): tonight, the sound is perfect. Eldritch's voice is a little subdued at the start of the concert, but that's not a problem because not only do his musicians deliver the show and make up for it, but in any case, the audience is singing the lyrics as loudly as the Olympia sound system. Here too, the atmosphere was astonishing. Very quickly, as Alice rang out, the floor of the hall began to bounce, and there was even some gentle moshpits. We can't emphasise enough the contribution of Kai and Christo (who've been with the band for 20 years, and is one of its pillars: apart from the Doktor Avalanche drum machine, no-one else has lasted this long!) These two are a veritable rejuvenation cure, whether it's their energy or the new nervousness injected into the tracks.
We're a bit concerned, though: you could almost see something on stage. We've known our Sisters smokier! Blimey, there's a chance we might recognise them... and in this way, not recognize them! Worse still, Eldritch appears to be in a "good moon" and even seems to be having a bit of fun. We're goths here, of course (but don't tell him that or he'll get really angry - which is a typical goth thing to do!), so we have to put on a frown face, we mustn't use too much light, because it would be silly to see too much, and we're not going to bother recording stuff in the studio when we can play it live! But there are signs that can't be mistaken, like his complicity with his musicians, his ironic postures, and a ‘merci’ dropped in French at the end of the concert (oui, oui, The Sisters of Merci!)...
From start to finish, it's a hit machine. Is it the passage of time that has transformed this discography, so puny considering its longevity, into such a collection of unstoppable tracks, deeply rooted in each and every one of us? The Olympia waddled to Dominion / Mother Russia as if the Cold War was still going on, shivered with the gloomy Marian, exploded with More... As for the setlist, we'd still like to give Eldritch his ‘I want more’, especially from their first album! On the Beach, Eyes of Caligula, When I'm on Fire, Don't Drive on Ice, Quantum Baby... these songs might not ring a bell. They're all less than five years old, and a large proportion of the audience were probably new to them this evening. The Sisters of Mercy have a wealth of material accumulated over the years, and their most contemporary music exists only in this form, played live, authentic, lively... and elusive. There's less fidgeting, but we're listening a little more attentively.
After Temple of Love (another triumph), the band leave the stage and play a game of false suspense before an encore. That's it, no more bullshit, no more laughter, we can let loose for good! Unreleased tracks, even when they're nearly thirty like Summer, are nice but the Olympia needed a grand finale. The farewell begins with the icy spleen of Never Land, followed by Lucretia My Reflection and This Corrosion. You can be goth to the point of refusing to be called goth, but there are limits to bad faith and even Eldritch, face impassive, claps his hands! It's also worth noting that during the last part of the concert, his voice was powerful and his roars drowned out those of the audience.
In recent memory (over the last two decades), we can't remember coming away from a Sisters of Mercy concert so happy. The band's gimmicks may be frustrating for some, but they play them to the hilt with a teasing second degree that is, once again, very goth. The performance was solid, and the crowd was on fire. Let's make the most of the fact that our icons are still on stage to pay tribute to them and hear them perform once again, even if it's not ‘as good as it used to be’ (you're not as good as you used to be either!), especially as The Sisters of Mercy offer a rather peculiar temporal paradox by dividing their set between classics frozen in time and other tracks which, having never been recorded, remain eternally young : it's both nostalgic and still very much up to date. Ageless yet still relevant, the aura of this rock myth remains intact: it was dark, it was cool.
