Sunday night saw Ministry, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Die Krupps take to the stage at History for Ministry’s current tour in support of their latest release, The Squirrely Years Revisited. That album sees Al Jourgensen and co. revisiting tracks from the band’s earliest days, when they leaned more towards gothy synth pop sounds, and reimagining those tracks so that they align a little bit better with the industrial metal sound that Ministry would go on to be known for over much of their career.
As such, the goths and the goth-adjacent crowd were out in full force, which meant that a quick scan of the crowd would find a sea of mostly black clothing in the packed house. There were a few outliers that dressed a touch more colorfully though, including a handful wearing Leafs merch to support the home team during what would end up being their final game of the season. Special shout out to the guy who had PSALM 69 on the back of his jersey in place of a player’s name and number. You, sir, win shirt of the night.
Also memorably dressed was Thrill Kill Kult vocalist Groovie Mann, who wore a shirt with the word “WHORE” emblazoned on the front in big white block letters. A commentary on his feelings on being a part of the music industry? Perhaps, but regardless, the band put on a very fun show with songs like “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan” and “Sex on Wheelz” standing out as a few of the highlights.
Easily the best dressed of the evening were the headliners, with the members of Ministry all decked out in matching spangly disco ball jackets. Jourgensen started things off by asking the crowd if they were ready to jump in the hot tub time machine with them and took it away from there. The band ran through a set of old school tunes including “Work For Love” and “Over The Shoulder,” with Jourgensen often making it a point to mention the year each song was released, drawing attention to the fact that a good chunk of them were well over 40 years old.
“Are your minds blown yet?” asked Jourgensen as they neared the end of their set. “I know ours are,” he added, before going on to introduce a song many had been waiting for and which he referred to as a song you generally hear in October – “(Every Day Is) Halloween.” He then thanked the audience for being a great crowd, emphasizing his point with a “Fuckin’ A, Toronto!”
The band returned to the stage with a pair of covers for the encore, kicking things off off with Fad Gadget’s “Ricky’s Hand” before ending with a cover of the oldest song they would play on this occasion – Rod Stewart’s 1978 hit “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”, a song Jourgensen had previously recorded in 1993 with Revolting Cocks.
Having seen Ministry a couple of times over the years, this show was a bit of a revelation as even though I’d seen them before, I’d never really heard Jourgensen truly sing before. And though they’ve reworked all these old songs to be more in line with where the band’s been at for most of their career, Jourgensen’s usual gruff bark often took a backseat for much of the set, making room for him to practically croon his way through tunes like “I’ll Do Anything For You” and “Same Old Madness.” And I liked it. Would I also have liked to hear tunes like “Filth Pig” or “Just One Fix?” Sure, but I knew going in that it was going to be all early stuff and appreciated the fact that this show was so much different than the previous times I’d seen them.
Fuckin’ A, Ministry.
