Review and photos by Rachel Jablonski
House of Blues in Chicago, IL is the proclaimed “favorite venue in the country to play” by many bands I have interviewed over the years. Mike and I arrived at the venue for the second to last night of C U LaTouR, Ministry’s final touring hurrah after just under 30 years of industrial-rock existence. But, for us, the tour was not about farewells. It was more about welcoming the extraordinary musical endeavors of Sweden’s Meshuggah. On tour with Ministry in support of their new phenomenal release, Obzen, we were very excited to see Meshuggah illustrate their musical complexities live.
Immediately upon entering the main floor, I knew we were in for a treat. The intimacy of the venue, with a capacity of only 1500 people, explained why many bands have deemed House of Blues-Chicago their favorite place to perform. It would soon become one of my favorite big city venues as well.
“Just pick a rhythm and go with it,” I heard Mike say as Meshuggah began to play “Bleed”, the first single from their latest album, Obzen. No better advice could have been given.
Meshuggah's avant-garde style of metal, full of amazing technical work, eight string guitars, and crazy time signatures, is impossible to realize in full. The quintet’s ability to deviate from 4/4 time is incredibly mind blowing and difficult to pull off, particularly in a live setting. Yet the band was impeccable as they played complicated tracks like the over seven minute long song “Bleed.” Intentionally out of synch with one another rhythmically, the band managed to mesh together as well live as they do on record to create one solid, engaging composition.
In my own little world with the rhythms I chose to follow, I was mesmerized the entire set. As Mike looked around the room he smiled as he noticed that everyone seemed to be in their own zone, head bobbing to a different rhythm. It seems to make no difference how many times you've listened to Meshuggah or seen them live; you can fall victim to a different rhythm at any time and it most likely won't be the same rhythm the person next to you is feeling.
Drummer Tomas Haake is simply incredible. His gift for varying beats is unreal and prior to the show I had felt that basically he was the band. Witnessing Meshuggah live, however, I realized that he wouldn’t shine quite so much without his accompaniment. The musical tones of the guitars and vocals are deep and rich and just accentuate his massive talent.
I was also blown away by vocalist Jens Kidman live. He kept it all together, kept the flow going and was a great leader and a great front man, not to mention his vocals work incredibly well with the music. He was not all over the place on stage, kept mainly in one spot, did not talk excessively in between songs, in fact barely talked at all, and let the music and vocal tones tell the whole story. His band mates did the same. They played their complex music and were clearly into it, but they did not show off, they let the sounds speak for themselves. But then again, with how technical the band is the focus HAS to be on the music because one off note or beat could make it very difficult to cover up and recover quickly. But there were no worries of this in Chicago. Meshuggah was flawless.
I finally came out of my trance as the band closed with “Future Breed Machine” off of Destroy Erase Improve (1995). It seemed to be a well-known crowd favorite as a pit began and synched head bobbing finally took place. Though I like the Meshuggah of old with their thrash style and exuberance, the evolution of the band leading them to Obzen is what I prefer and I found even more so live.
Meshuggah translates live extremely well. It was a truly amazing experience, one of the best performances I’ve seen in years.
Back in his hometown, Ministry founder and front man Al Jorgensen took the stage for Ministry’s second to last show ever, the almost completion to their C U Later tour. The finale. El fin. This was it!
Or was it?
After making the audience wait an ungodly amount of time after Meshuggah’s set, finally something happened. On the screen – the backdrop to the stage – came prerecorded advertisements galore: a logo for the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team and Ministry’s theme song “Keys to the City” playing on the PA; a rotating skull visual with a new song from The Revolting Cocks called “I’m Not Gay” to be released on an upcoming album (it’s actually a good song so check it out); a trailer for a gory new movie coming out this summer called Wicked Lake for which Jorgensen wrote the musical score.
When the ads were finally over, the band came out strong, taking the stage behind a chain linked fence. Up front taking pictures, I was actually a little frightened. The strobe lights were blinding and unrelenting making it extremely difficult to see, the floor was unstable and shaking from the
bouncing of the excited crowd and the music was deafening. It was like an attack on all of my senses at once and would have been an epileptic’s nightmare setting.
Ministry pierced the audience right away with their industrial edge and established high hopes for the evening’s set. But the edge quickly became dull. Though I found the first two songs to be incredible live in sound and stage presence, the effect wore off substantially thereafter.
Early in the set I was pleased to hear “Jesus Built My Hotrod” only to confirm to myself mid song that it sounded similar but was not it. A few songs later, the same thing happened. I could have sworn they were playing “Jesus Built My Hotrod”! But they weren’t. Then a third time, for god sakes I had even seen the set list ahead of time and KNEW they wouldn’t be playing “Jesus Built My Hotrod”, I thought they were playing the song! But of course, they weren’t. The sounds of Ministry were engaging, wild, and fun live with all the lights and strobes and images on the screen backdrop, but frankly became old rather quickly.
Ministry setlist