Ministry, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult & Die Krupps Re-Define History at History in Toronto [Photos]

After decades of ignoring his dance club roots, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen relented on his early material at the Vegas Cruel World festival last year and delivered a set of music celebrating his earliest cuts in what was described by attendees as one of the highlights of the festival. In the wake of that performance, Uncle Al took some of those early Ministry tracks back into the studio and reworked them into a compilation called The Squirrely Years (recently released on Cleopatra Records) and then booked a run of live dates.

The Toronto show at History (along with the Vancouver show a week later) was the first show on this tour to sell out. This evening’s performance fell on the at-home final playoff night of the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Florida Panthers, and a few phones streaming the game could be seen throughout the crowd as the show went on. Germany’s Die Krupps and Chicago’s My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult (TKK) performed sets of music celebrating their storied careers as the venue filled to capacity. Hearing TKK perform “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan” live was pretty damn epic. It is of note that Ministry sold out of almost all of their merchandise before TKK hit the stage. If you hit any of these shows, everything is for sale on their website if you missed out at the venue.

At 9:30 pm, the six musicians in Ministry strolled out onto the History stage along with two lovely backup singers (the Squirrelettes: Dez and Badpenny) to a hail of cheers from the crowd. Al Jorgensen, Cesar Soto, Monte Pittman, John Bechdel, and Paul D’Amour glimmered most of the evening courtesy of their matching snazzy metallic sequined jackets. Al stepped in behind his signature mic stand (a large metal cross filled with stage lights), cleverly adorned with red roses for this run of dates, grabbed his microphone, and asked the crowd if they were ready for some Hot Tub Time Machine action before launching into “Work For Love.”

What followed for the next 80 minutes was a musical miracle; a set of Ministry music containing only old material! Songs that Jourgensen went on record numerous times saying he’d never perform again. Tracks from With Sympathy and Twitch got played on this evening, along with Wax Trax singles that were dance club staples in the early 1980s. I hope people weren’t in the venue this evening looking to hear the more abrasive Ministry songs. They would have gone home disappointed.

Even with the lighter fare this evening, fans were crowd-surfing during “We Believe.” Based on the number of people in the crowd smiling and singing along to most of what was played tonight, it’s safe to say the tour was advertised appropriately. Ministry encored with the Fad Gadget cover of “Ricky’s Hand” (recently released on their Hopium For The Masses album) and a cover of Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” covered by Jourgensen’s Revolting Cocks side project in ’93.

The final word? Ministry is alive and well in the hearts and minds of Toronto, Canada. Any trepidations Mr. Jourgensen has ever had about the relevance of his early material were easily quashed this evening. This tour is a total gift; get out and see it.

Ministry’s Setlist:

1. Work for Love
2. Here We Go
3. All Day
4. I’ll Do Anything for You
5. Same Old Madness
6. Just Like You
7. Over the Shoulder
8. We Believe
9. I’m Falling
10. Effigy (I’m Not An)
11. Revenge
12 Every Day Is Halloween
Encore:
13. Ricky’s Hand (Fad Gadget cover)
14. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? (Rod Stewart cover)

TKK’s Setlist:

1. Shock of Point 6
2. A Daisy Chain 4 Satan
3. The Days of Swine and Roses
4. Nervous Xians
5. On This Rack
6. A Girl Doesn’t Get Killed by a Make-Believe Lover… ’Cuz It’s Hot
7. A Continental Touch
8. Sex on Wheelz
9. Do You Fear (For Your Child)?
10. And This Is What the Devil Does

Die Krupps’ Setlist:

1. Nazis auf Speed
2. Der Amboss (Visage cover)
3. Fatherland
4. Metal Machine Music
5. Robo Sapien
6. To the Hilt
7. Bloodsuckers

Ministry (w/ Die Krupps & My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult) @ History (Toronto, ON) on May 18th, 2025

36 photos