So, this unforgettable night in downtown Brooklyn was where the toasty, unmistakable energy set the stage for a killer show featuring Ministry, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and Die Krupps. Yes, the vibes at the Brooklyn Paramount were magnetic. Uncle Al Jourgensen revisited Minisry’s new wave era. He threw a behemoth-sized party for a radioactivity neon audience looking gritty in pink and generally as loony as we could ever want them to be. I arrived at Dekalb Avenue with some time to spare before doors opened at 6:30 for a pre-show meal at a newer restaurant established in 2023, Stack’d Burger. I usually try to eat at a local restaurant, especially if it’s four blocks or closer to the venue. I suggest an original stack with an order of the East Coast fries. With a stomach full of tasty goodness, I coasted back to the venue, with my intuition feeling the gyrating air permeating downtown Brooklyn as others got to be the first in line to have some drinks, purchase some merch, or refresh their makeup before Die Krupps radiated the crowd with their mechanized style of laser-cut industrial metal.
Hailed as one of the prime movers of industrial metal, the multifazing metal machine known as Die Krupps from the Fatherland of some of our ancestors got the blockbuster bash started at 7:30. Die Krupps is a perfect example of both the mash and surge that a third billed band should be known for. Although their set was thirty-five minutes long, Die Krupps delivered a steel rolling set – and made an effort to hammer down a powerful abundance of musical ground with Fatherland, Metal Machine Music, and Jürgen Engler hitting his Steelophone, a xylophone-type instrument like a mad scientist. The heavy press performance from Die Krupps generated a helluva grandiose time for those who dared to keep the dance floor burning with My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult.
Die Krupps
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
Shrouded in chiaroscuro, lit by shades of various color combinations, and unleashing their fiery wrath upon Brooklyn — My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is more than a band for high-tech cyberpunks; they are a sucker punch to the senses. My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult celebrated New York City’s gritty, wild, and noisy past through the aural exploration of Chicago’s dark side of alternative music. From the topsy-turvy keyboard theatricality of Buzz McCoy to the distorted vocal of Groove Mann sporting an excellent New York Dolls shirt that seemed to beckon from the dark, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult captured the rawness of this harsh music that was as snarling as the remorseless gig itself. With forty minutes, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult parted shots with the rivetheads doing the DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE they love to do while they performed A Daisy Chain 4 Satan, Nervious Xians, and more. Just as aggressive as Die Krupps were, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult assured the Brooklyn Paramount of setting the venue ablaze to stroll down memory lane with Ministry.
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
Taking a dip into the 66.5 + Hg mercurial waters of the Hot Tub Time Machine, at 9:30, Ministry sauntered onto the stage like a sparkly-swirled, aromatic bulldozer to take Brooklyn back to a bastardized time in music when synth-pop bounced over the air like a dazzling gleam of exploding stars. The set started pretty rad, with them tackling the audience with Work for Love. Following the charged-up opener, Ministry burned up alongside the cyberpunks, the goths, the ravers, the rivetheads, and American raglan wearing boys like myself for an hour and change for a set consisting of four by four album cuts from With Sympathy and Twitch like Effigy (I’m Not An) and Just Like You, B- Sides, imports, or songs you don’t hear too often from one of the gods of Industrial Metal – this setlist was for the deep divers who love the springtide storm of Ministry’s early period that spawned Al Jourgensen’s career—the squirrely years, if you will.
Al Jourgensen, a man of mystery, decided to apply the concept of a wicked time in New York history with a strong visual characterization to six characters inspired by stories of the grim underbelly, the Mack Daddy (Al Jourgensen), the recruiters (Cesar Soto and Monte Pittman), the backdoor man (Pepe Clarke Magaña), the muscle (Paul D’Amour) the gentleman’s club music man (John Bechdel), and the three dancers of the squirrelettes, Ministry matched the aesthetes with the music that brought such nascent night of dancing to light, from which had some feel it was great to hear those songs again. Others realized there’s more to Ministry than just N.W.O. Ministry went all out with the extra cuts, delivering a torque reminder of their alluring power. Aside from the four of a kind of With Sympathy and Twitch that satiated the ravenous appetites for dark and pulsating music, Al and company channeled the band’s disarming rare trax with revitalized intensity like of I’ll Do Anything for You and (Everyday Is) Halloween, the entire performance was both a nod to Ministry’s early days and a public notification that Al Jourgensen isn’t so reluctant in performing these songs again. We are here for it. Ministry kept the joint jumping with a duo of covers for the afterglow – Ricky’s Hand by Fad Gadget and Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy to fade out seventy minutes of deep-diving seismic shit!
What. A. Show!!! Forty-four years on the godfathers of industrial metal is still full of surprises. From the ten million volts of energy of the crowd and all three bands bringing it with the DOO-DA-DOO-DA-DIDDLE type of metal, it was a night that was not just about shaking what your mama gave ya or practicing the latest Tiktok dance moves; it was about being part of a moment that had the early eighties meet 2025, sparking souls through the electro drift of Ministry, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and Die Krupps. Let’s get one thing straight: the temperature’s just right with the sun setting after 8:00 PM, the birds are broadcasting their songs, and the concerts are buzzing. The pre-summer lineup is filling up fast, and this a gig not to be missed. Concert night is every night if you have the funds. If you’re craving for a truly one-of-a-kind night out, this buzzing night out has you covered as we’re officially halfway through spring, so plan your rave’n outfit, rally your crew, and get ready to get nutter than squirrel shit. Call into work! You’re going to The Squirrely Years Tour instead! Three bands, one night of doing the Renegade with some like-minded dance partners with a drink in hand.
Ministry
Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau
All photos by Mathieu Bredeau.
