It was a 5 pm and I dashed from my office after my last work call to head out to the L train and make my way to Brooklyn. For what? To stand in line for the chance to see Ministry play an Early 90’s throwback set. It didn’t disappoint. I made great time and was in line in about 25 minutes from when I exited the office. There were 2 queues, one for VIP ticket holders that scored Record Store Day invites for the Documentary Screening plus Q&A session thereafter. I had only just secured a GA ticket earlier in the morning when spots seemingly opened up again for a chance to attend the concert portion of this FREE event. FREE.

The line looked a little daunting, but I was confident enough that I’d get in. Waiting in line was pretty tame, mainly I think because the temperature was a bit cool and seemed to drop a little as winds picked up. I only had a light jacket on (dumb ass move on my part), the old Every Day Is Halloween Cover Ministry T and requisite black jeans. The VIP line was accommodated first as expected and those folks were able to fairly quickly escape the cold. The rest of us…. toughed it out. At two points, there was a short burst of rain for a few minutes, but with it, a Rainbow appeared behind facing east from the venue along N. 6th St. I refused to take a picture of something ‘happy’ when I’m standing in line for a Ministry concert. Others took in the moment and had their phones out taking snaps and I’m sure posted to their social media accounts. As the rain hit, a few folks seem to ditch the line. The cold not letting up, a few others had bailed and couldn’t hack the conditions.

I was determined. I stuck it out. My legs, arms, body were shivering. Not a type of crowd where you’d ask a stranger for a hug just to keep warm. Sort of felt like Al needed some of us to suffer a little. Norte Dame is burning. A person was hit by an L train car at the 1st Avenue stop shutting that line down. Needed to get inside to escape. Door folk were saying the GA audience would not be allowed in until 7:45! We waited and crept forward a bit more… getting closer. The door staff made rounds checking us in with our event tickets then handing us raffle type tickets to show we had been checked in. Thought that was a nice move.

Then, around 7 pm, they began letting the GA line folks inside, ahead of schedule. I probably got in around 7:15 or so, hit the bathroom and warmed up my hand in what felt like boiling water. I think frostbite may have started to settle in. Grabbed a beer and proceed to explore the venue to see where I should observe. I headed up to the mezzanine level where there seemed to be a bit of space and not filled to the gills with people yet. The documentary was still playing and probably caught the last 25 minutes of it which was nice since I missed the previous November screening. The doc finished and out came the Q&A panel. Was a bit hard to hear. Not too many questions were asked by audience members. I chatted with a few fans nearby.

The Q&A bit finished up around 8:20 or so and then it was stage reset time for Cold Cave. I’m not familiar with this band at all. I scored another beer and chilled out until the band was about to go on. I made my way down the main floor and got a raised view on the right side of the stage. Cold Cave did their thang. I enjoyed their tunes quite a bit. Decent synth pop type stuff with a ‘cold wave’ vibe. I may need to source their studio recordings for homework. After about a 45 minute set, stage was reset again.

I wasn’t feeling the need to MOSH it out tonite, so I headed back upstairs to where I was for the documentary portion. Found a great spot pretty much centered and only had 1 person in front of me until he bailed towards the end. Ministry comes out and started playing. As soon as ‘The Missing’ came on I felt a rush of endorphins run through my body and it put a big ol’ smile on my face hearing these tracks loud and live again. It was bliss. Here’s some videos from the Ministry Set. Some partial and some Full songs. Apologize for some shaky phone video. But.. you can get a sense of the lights, pit and sound of these classic Ministry Tracks.

Once I got inside, the previous 2 hours of freezing faded away with warm and tingleys. Thanks Uncle Al and Co, Cold Cave, WaxTrax! Family and Vans for a wonderful evening of throwback sights & sounds.

Stage Setup

The Missing (video)

Deity (video)

Stigmata (video)

Thieves (video)

Revolting Cocks – No Devotion (intro only – video)

1000 Homo DJ’s – Supernaut (video)

The Land of Rape and Honey (video)

Everyday Is Halloween – Acoustic Sing Along (video)