Ministry 2012 "Relapse" Tour

[Pandemonium]

Guess Al needs to pay some bills and is planning ahead a bit:

June 17 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
June 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
June 23 - New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater
June 28 - Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
June 29 - Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre

From what Al Jourgensen has said in recent interviews, he pretty much nearly killed himself last year with his drinking to the point he had 13 bleeding ulcers and at some point one burst and he nearly bled out. So he's so frail he can't tour more than a few weeks at a time. I saw Ministry on their "farewell" tour and it was pretty lousy.

[MYXYLPLYX]

I saw Ministry on their "farewell" tour and it was pretty lousy.

CU LaTour was horrible. I couldn't believe it when Al had that other guy come out for the encore and do his vocals for him...and of course the encore is where they stuck the few hits they played that night.


Al told me straight up he fucking hated touring and was so ready to quit forever. All he wanted to do was studio stuff and stay as far away from the road and performing as possible...

[lollapaloser]

Last I saw them was the Fournicatour I think? Animositisomina album tour. It was when Al got "clean". He stopped doing dope, but he drank like 2 bottles of cheap wine during the set and was Wesley Willis fat. Pretty lame show. That album blew. It was good to hear the old songs, but Ministry used to always play pretty much the same old songs, then fill out the rest of the set with new ones.

[Tyler Durden]

It amazes me when people on this board cut up the likes of Pearl Jam, RHCP, and NIN for not carrying out the exact career moves they would have liked to have seen them do. To me, these groups (though maybe not "perfect" like they once were) are light years ahead of bands like Ministry and Jane's Addiction when it comes to retaining credibility and preserving their original artistic vision...and are still making good albums.

Unfortunately, drugs really killed Ministry and Al as a creative force. The Filth Pig album actually had potential (as it wasn't attempting to duplicate the sound of Psalm 69) but was a complete mess with only a couple of gems (namely "The Fall"). After that, Ministry turned into a giant self parody, aping Psalm 69, and taking their anti-Bush agenda to absurd levels (they sampled the so-called documentary "Loose Change", for fuck's sake).

Very sad considering Al and co. were an absolute powerhouse of creativity and conviction in the late 80s and early 90s. Ministry, RevCo, 1,000 Homo DJs, and Pailhead pretty much wrote the second chapter of the book on industrial rock (after Skinny Puppy) during this very magical time. It's shame they weren't able to sustain things.

[Pandemonium]

It amazes me when people on this board cut up the likes of Pearl Jam, RHCP, and NIN for not carrying out the exact career moves they would have liked to have seen them do. To me, these groups (though maybe not "perfect" like they once were) are light years ahead of bands like Ministry and Jane's Addiction when it comes to retaining credibility and preserving their original artistic vision...and are still making good albums.

Unfortunately, drugs really killed Ministry and Al as a creative force. The Filth Pig album actually had potential (as it wasn't attempting to duplicate the sound of Psalm 69) but was a complete mess with only a couple of gems (namely "The Fall"). After that, Ministry turned into a giant self parody, aping Psalm 69, and taking their anti-Bush agenda to absurd levels (they sampled the so-called documentary "Loose Change", for fuck's sake).

Very sad considering Al and co. were an absolute powerhouse of creativity and conviction in the late 80s and early 90s. Ministry, RevCo, 1,000 Homo DJs, and Pailhead pretty much wrote the second chapter of the book on industrial rock (after Skinny Puppy) during this very magical time. It's shame they weren't able to sustain things.

Yep, a lot of squandered potential with Al over the last nearly 20 years. The '90 Hollywood Palladium show with the two drummer lineup was pretty mind blowing and the two Ministry shows I caught in '92 (San Fransisco Lolla, Universal Ampitheater) were really good. After that, I kinda lost interest (did NOT like "Filth Pig" when it was released and took years to even like a few cuts off it) and bothered only to catch the last 3 tours this decade more or less as something to do that particular night. I think the only show of those 3 I even half-assed enjoyed was the '06 tour with Revco opening, and that was because Revolting Cocks was entertaining in a stupid Animal House-kinda way.

[Pandemonium]

I saw Ministry on their "farewell" tour and it was pretty lousy.

CU LaTour was horrible. I couldn't believe it when Al had that other guy come out for the encore and do his vocals for him...and of course the encore is where they stuck the few hits they played that night.

Yeah, that's the tour I saw them at the Hollywood HOB that not only was really bad from a fan's POV, but the sound was the absolute worst I'd ever heard there which is saying something. It was like the sound man thought "fuck it, this PA sucks so I'm gonna overdrive this bitch to the point even a dropped drumstick will clip."