Written by:	jupitreas
Published:	July 24, 2008
Event:	Ministry: C U LaTour
Location:	Stodola, Warsaw, Poland
Organizer:	http://www.knockoutprod.net
Galleries:	Ministry: Stodola 2008 by jupitreas (11)

Ministry's show in Stodola in Warsaw on July 15th 2008 was the very first time the band ever played in Poland and also nearly the very last time they ever performed as a band before Al allegedly calls it a day and the Ministry moniker becomes a thing of the past. After Poland's show, the band would only play a double-night special in Dublin and that would be it. Clearly, this made the event very special for Polish fans and indeed, in every foreseeable way - the only occasion to see Ministry live ever.


I am not sure if Al and his band were aware of the responsibility they had to give their Polish fans a great show. Ministry would need to really show some class in order to satisfy and frankly, after their somewhat lackluster (for Ministry standards) performance at Hellfest just a few weeks earlier, I was not sure if the current lineup was even capable of bringing the goods in the way that everybody at the Stodola show was hoping they were.

Well, there is a saying about pessimists like myself. In fact, we always get the best out of every situation. If something good happens - hey, something good happened, can't complain, right? If something bad happens - well, at least we were right. Nevertheless, with regard to the Ministry show in Poland, this pessimist was certainly completely wrong. Even with the controversial setlist of the CU Latour, Al and his band totally destroyed us on July 15th 2008...


I got to the venue a little before 9 PM, which means that I unfortunately missed the supporting bands for this event. Agressiva 69 and Dick4Dick are two bands that I have neither seen live nor heard any records of yet so far. It is therefore difficult for me to say anything about them except that the audience did seem to look warmed up pretty well, so it seems like they did their job fairly well. Hopefully I will get to see these bands at some point in the future.

Anyway, it's not like people came to the show to see the support bands. The Revolting Cocks track signalled that Ministry's show was about to start and very soon, Al appeared on stage as the band stormed through "Let's Go".


Considering Ministry recycled the exact same setlist during both the stateside and European legs of the tour, there is no point really in mentioning what it was. The only surprise was that only one cover was played at the end, instead of three. Last Sucker, on to Rio Grande Blood, followed with some Houses Of The Mole and accented with N.W.O., Thieves and So What = no surprises.

What was a surprise was how energetic and communicative Al was throughout the whole show. I've seen Ministry a few times before this and never did the man run around, taunt the audience and generally be a great frontman as much as at this show. Tommy Victor and Sin were similarly animated on stage. The show was basically heaps and heaps of fun. It all sounded great too and the songs the band played, although not necessarily the ones that old fans wanted to hear, are not exactly bad songs either.


It is a sad thing that Ministry is now a thing of the past. I would certainly like to see more of the band live - without a doubt, Al went out on a high note performance-wise. We should applaud him for this, even if Ministry will be sorely missed. I know that the last Ministry I will ever see was a lot of fun and a god time all around. Let us hope we all say goodbye to the band with similarly positive memories.