CONCERT REVIEW + PHOTOS

Ministry Launches 2024 Tour w/ Gary Numan, Front Line Assembly

The Warfield – February 27, 2024 – San Francisco, CA

Review + Photos © M’Lou Elkins | Skip2Photography.com

Ministry kicked off their latest tour with a stellar line-up, a frenzied fanbase, and a few surprises at The Warfield Theater on Tuesday, February 27. The tour comes just as their 16th studio album, HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, drops Friday, March 1 via Nuclear Blast Records. The North American tour re-teams Ministry with Gary Numan and Front Line Assembly. The impressive line-up packed the near-capacity Warfield with all ages – from youthful, latter-day disciples to seasoned zealots.

Frontman Bill Leeb, the Skinny Puppy expat formerly known as Wilhelm Schroeder, scored his catchy lamentations with charged industrial rhythms. Amid a cascade of fog, lights, and apocalyptic images of industry and destruction, Front Line Assembly opened the show with the scolding, pulsating beats of “Vigilante.”

The band’s new guitarist, Matthew Setzer, was all smiles and flying dreads, and seemed to be living his best life. Highlighting their short but impelling set were closers “Killing Grounds,” “Mindphaser,” and “Millennium.”

 

FLA’s Setlist:

1. Vigilante

2. I.E.D.

3. Plasticity

4. Deadened

5. Killing Grounds

6. Mindphaser

7. Millennium

From his aggressive opening chords, Gary Numan delivered familiar vocals and a bit of nostalgia to a welcoming sea of black. Aside from a crowd-rattling delivery of “Cars,” Numan offered up some solid tracks, including “Metal,” “Pray for the Pain You Serve,” and “My Name is Ruin.” Even among hardcore fans, “Cars” set the crowd afire – perhaps both evergreen and ever nostalgic of a bygone moment.

Gary Numan’s Setlist:

1.Everything Comes Down to This

2. Halo

3. The Chosen

4. Metal

5. Pure

6. Love Hurt Bleed

7. Is This World Not Enough

8. Cars

9. Haunted

10. Pray for the Pain You Serve

11. My Name Is Ruin

12. A Prayer for the Unborn

Ministry shortly followed crowd warmers Numan and FLA, hitting the stage with some “B.D.E.” (Big Dick Energy), followed by “Just Stop Oil.” In a surprise appearance, SF son Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) emerged on stage for “Aryan Embarrassment,” a track he’d contributed to on the new album. In fact, Ministry’s new LP features guest vocals from Biafra and Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity).

As Ministry’s set continued, Al and Company delivered the hits, starting with “N.W.O.,” “Just One Fix,” and “Stigmata,” then driving into “Thieves” and “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” After a “brief fentanyl break” (referring to the city’s current drug crisis), the band delivered covers of “The Light Pours Out of Me,” (Magazine) and “Ricky’s Hand” (Fad Gadget).

With a full 28-stop tour ahead, Ministry will cross paths with some other must-see tours (catch them with Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie on the Freaks on Parade Tour). Don’t miss them!

Be sure to scope out our complete photo galleries from the show below.

Ministry’s Setlist:

1.B.D.E. (Live debut)

2. Just Stop Oil (Live debut)

3. Goddamn White Trash

4. Aryan Embarrassment (with Jello Biafra) (Live debut; Biafra’s first )

5. New Religion (Live debut)

6. Alert Level

7. Broken System

8. N.W.O.

9. Just One Fix

10. Stigmata

11. Thieves

12. Jesus Built My Hotrod (first time since 2019)

Encore:

13. The Light Pours Out of Me (Magazine cover) (First known performance by Ministry since 2003)

14. Ricky’s Hand (Fad Gadget cover)

 

Check out our Ministry concert photo gallery below.

View Gallery 25 images

Check out our Gary Numan concert photo gallery below.

View Gallery 19 images

Check out our Front Line Assembly concert photo gallery below.

View Gallery 24 images