Photos and Review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

It’s unusual when a venue is already full for the first of three opening bands, but a kinetic energy was crackling early at The Warfield on February 27, 2024 in anticipating of Frontline Assembly taking the stage right at 7pm. The big lineup of Frontline, Gary Numan, and Ministry pulled a ready to yell and mosh sold out Bay Area crowd in on a cold night, and after three-plus hours in the theater nobody left disappointed.

Frontline Assembly wasted no time in getting the audience on their feet with their dance-friendly industrial tracks, starting their seven-song set with “Vigilante,” ending with “Millenium,” and hitting “Killing Grounds” and “Mindphaser” in between. Fronted by the talented Bill Leeb, Frontline felt on this night as timeless and relevant as they were when they dominated industrial club dancefloors in the late 1980s.

Gary Numan, new wave pioneer and ultimate influencer of countless bands through the years, followed with set two of the night, mesmerizing the audience with his stage presence and charisma, his moves on stage, and his top tier band and their performance – the set was musically flawless. Somehow Gary Numan is 65 years old, and while that tracks with how much he’s done in his life – the bands he’s been in, the influence he’s had on wide ranging bands over the decades – he looks and moves like a thirty year old on stage. He’s a performer who doesn’t speak in between songs, but man if he did he’d have lots of interesting things to say. (In and amongst being a godfather of new wave, he was also an aerobatic plane pilot!) Gary Numan spends a lot of time touring, and thank goodness because we get to be the beneficiaries of it. On this night he played a 12-song set, kicking off with “Everything Comes Down To This” and moving through “Pure,” “Love Hurt Bleed,” crowd-favorite “Cars,” and wrapping up with “A Prayer for the Unborn.” Lots of folks in the crowd were there for Gary Numan on this night and they were lucky to be a part of the sold-out crowd.

Set pieces were added before Ministry took the stage and when it was time to begin Al Jourgensen and band came out ready to go. The crowd went crazy and yelled lyrics and moshed during the 14-song set, which began with the live debut of “B.D.E,” a great way to start off the opening night of the tour. Other songs including “Just Stop Oil” and “New Religion” were also firsts, plus not often performed favorites “Jesus Built My Hotrod” (first time since 2019) and “The Light Pours Out of Me,” a Magazine cover not performed since 2003, thrilled the fans. A highlight came early on when Jello Biafra, adorned in a “TRUMP HATES ME” t-shirt, joined Jourgensen on stage for “Aryan Embarrassment,” which felt like music history in the making.

Jourgensen is no stranger to touring, having spent many calendar days on the road the past few years with Ministry, and through many decades past with lots of different musical projects. I’m hoping a documentarian will point their lens at Jourgensen sometime soon, because the stories this guy could tell after years with Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Wax Trax! Records, Pailhead, 1000 Homo DJs, Lard, and so many different projects would make for hours of entertainment and record a fascinating segment of music industry history.

This tour will cover an impressive amount of ground through the beginning of April in the US, and new album HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES is out as of March 1^st. Check out www.ministryband.com and @WeAreMinistry for all the latest band info.