The Sisters of Mercy at the Palladium Worcester, Massachusetts

Saturday November 1, 2008 at the Palladium in Worcester, MA The Sisters Of Mercy played a nostalgic show. The smoke machines and flowing blue and red lighting gave the band a holy appearance and set the mood for the dark rock that filled the club. An intimate show of fans who while trying to enjoy the music found ourselves constantly irritated by the over zealous security. In such a small club and with a more than congenial crown I found myself puzzled as to why the Palladium thought such thug-like security would be necessary. In all honesty it took away from the pleasure that would have otherwise been flawless.

The Sisters played a wonderful set ranging from their first album First and Last and Always, BSide singles and even one of the lead singer Andrew Eldritch's side projects The Sisterhood's Giving Ground, which sent chills up my spine as the security continued to make my flesh crawl. Andrew Eldritch used the word "Shyt" to describe the town in which he and his band were playing and it was more than appropriate, but never once let their fans down. The drive of the band would have been represented better had the sound man known how to balance the bass along with the rest of the instruments and not using it to drown everything else out.

A beautiful encore and a cold beer closed the night out for me and The Sister of Mercy, and as the song ended and before the house lights even came on a security guard approached me and the 7 other people I was with to make sure we knew that it was soon time to leave. I have to admit I have never had any sort of security come up to me before a show even ended and let me and others in the club know that it was time to leave. I was appalled at the unprofessionalism of the hired security and the ineptitude of the sound people. This quite certainly could have been a once in a lifetime experience that was without a doubt ruined by nothing more than sheer bad business.

Fans who trail on the darker side should check the Sisters out if they get the chance. Hypnotic songs, great beats and just some straight up dark rock and roll compliments any evening and the Sisters always do it right . So if you have the chance check them out live, and do your self a favor pick up a cd or two, but avoid the Palladium in Worcester, MA if you can.