April 10, 2024

Ministry, Gary Numan, & Front Line Assembly @ the Rialto Theatre, Tucson, AZ

This night would be the last night of this leg of the Ministry “Hopium For The Masses” Tour. Joining Ministry on this tour was Gary Numan, and Front Line Assembly. With such a solid lineup, it was no surprise that this show sold out early. All three of these bands started in either the latter part of the ’70s or the mid 80’s. To be still going strong about 50 years later has a lot to do with their fans/cult following, and the ability to change and grow, gaining them new fans over the years. All three of these bands have some hardcore dedicated fans. There were fans lined up two hours before the doors opened. Once inside, they either made a mad dash to get the front row on the barricade or jumped into the merch line to pick up the limited remaining merch. That was the one downside to being the last show of the tour, the variety of merch was thinning.

Front Line Assembly was the first to take to the stage. They opened their set with “I.E.D. (Improvised Electronic Device)”. It was obvious from that first song, that FLA would have complete control over the crowd. As they worked their way through the rest of their set, the crowd was either dancing, jumping, and/or singing along with them at the top of their lungs. This crowd had a huge hunger for FLA, and by the end of their set, I can easily say that the crowd was not disappointed. As mentioned before, they opened with “I.E.D.”, followed by “Vigilante”, “Neologic Spasm”, “Plasticity”, “Deadened”, “Killing Grounds”, and “Mindphaser”, before closing out their night with the hard-grooving “Millennium”, off their seventh studio album titled Millennium.

To be honest, I was looking forward to seeing what Gary Numan had to offer. I was one of those people who only really knew him for his couple of hits way back in the day, not realizing he had evolved to a whole new level. I read that in 1994, with his album Sacrifice, he had moved to a grittier / industrial sound. Being a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails, I am surprised that I missed this transformation. After watching Gary’s performance, it seems like there may have been a little influence on each other between Trent Reznor and Gary Numan. Numan’s set opened up with, “Everything Comes Down To This”. I was hooked right away. He continued his assault with “Halo”, “The Chosen”, “Metal”, “Pure”, “Love Hurt Bleed”, and “Is This World Not Enough”, before dropping a heavier / industrial-sounding version of his classic, “Cars”. The final four songs wrapping up his set were, “Haunted”, “Pray For The Pain You Serve”, “My Name Is Ruin”, and “A Prayer For The Unborn”. Numan is a true artist, giving everything he had in that performance. You could also see the love he had for what he was doing while having the fun of a kid in a candy store. This is why I think Uncle Al and King Buzzo were side-stage watching his performance. So it was no surprise that I was impressed and won over.

After two solid sets, it was now up to Ministry to deliver the final blow. They came out swinging with the first three songs coming off their newly released album, Hopiumforthemasses. The opener was “B.D.E.”, followed by “Just Stop Oil”, and “Goddamn White Trash”. I believe “Goddamn White Trash” is an instant classic, with words that need to be not only heard but understood. The next two songs, “Alert Level” and “Broken System”, were off their 2021 release, Moral Hygiene. After those 5 newer songs, Uncle Al was more than excited to get the crowd pumped up for some older classic Ministry songs, starting with “N.W.O.”. From here it was instant overdrive and the front barricade was violently rocking back and forth from the crowd. The energy did not fade at all as they plowed through, “Just One Fix”, “The Missing”, “Deity”, “Stigmata”, “Thieves”, and “Jesus Built My Hotrod”. It was at this point that you would think the show was over, but Uncle Al said that they just needed a “smoke break”, and that if the crowd made enough noise, they might just come back out. Of course, the crowd could not let this final night of the tour end so quickly. As promised Ministry came back out and did two songs for their encore, “Burning Inside” and “So What”. After that, they thanked the crowd and walked off stage. But again, the crowd could not let the night end. Members from all three bands came back out and announced that they had a special birthday boy that night. It was Roy Mayorga’s birthday, actually April 6th was his birthday. With April 6th only being an hour away, they celebrated it. Gary Numan brought out the birthday cake and nearly dropped it before Roy blew out the candles. After the hugs and well wishes, Ministry played one more song, “Ricky’s Hand” (Fad Gadget cover), with Gary Numan joining on vocals. It was great to see all the bands enjoy each other and have a fun time. It looked as if this tour was one they would all remember as a fun and unforgettable tour.

Photo Coverage:

Ministry

Gary Numan

Front Line Assembly