M'Lou Elkins 
Photos ©M’Lou Elkins/skip2photography
For industrial music fiends, Emo’s in Austin, TX was the place to be on Wednesday, April 26 as three of the genre’s juggernauts took the stage to slap the crowd in their collective faces with their own brands of that genre.
It was an early show, starting at 7pm, when EBM/industrial giants Front Line Assembly sauntered on stage to take the first punch. With Austrian-born Bill Leeb (originally of Skinny Puppy) at the helm, the band successfully whipped the crowd into a frenzy and primed them for the musical assault that was next in line to strike.
Synth-rock legend Gary Numan took the stage to thunderous applause and cheers. Having sold over 10 million records throughout his impressive career, Numan had a lot of fan favorites to choose from and did not disappoint.
Decked out in war paint and dancing around like a goth vagabond, he pummeled the crowd with newer hits from his 2021 release, Intruder, and 2000’s Pure. But the real onslaught came when he launched into tracks from 1979’s The Pleasure Principle. Hitting the audience with “Metal” and “Cars” was a nice move and prepared everyone in attendance to receive the final death blow.
One by one, beginning with John Bechdel on keys and ending with the godfather of industrial himself, Al Jourgensen, Ministry materialized onstage and kicked off their set with “Alert Level,” “Good Trouble,” “Disinformation,” “Believe Me,” and “Broken System,” all off of 2021’s Moral Hygiene.
The industrial heavy hitters followed up those punches with new track “Goddamn White Trash” off of their upcoming new release, Hopium for the Masses, which is slated to drop this August.
But it was the next six songs that drove the crowd to near delirium. Ministry decked the crowd with their most treasured tunes, played back-to-back, starting with “N.W.O.” off of 1992’s Cool World, followed by other classic hits “Just One Fix,” “The Missing,” “Deity,” “ Stigmata,” and “Thieves.”
The mortal blow of the evening was delivered during the 2-song encore of “So What” and a delicious cover of Fad Gadget’s “Ricky’s Hand.”
If tonight wasn’t enough and you’re still craving more, be sure to catch Ministry this summer on Rob Zombie’s Freaks on Parade 2023 tour, which kicks off August 24th in Dallas, TX and runs through September 24th in Phoenix, AZ.
Be sure to scope out our Ministry, Gary Numan, and Front Line Assembly photo galleries from tonight’s gig.
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