Tonight, Ministry are playing from behind a cage, which surrounds the stage. As this is apparently their 'final' tour, it could perhaps be a throwback to their early gigs - it's well documented in the movies that if the crowd doesn't like the band, the bottles start flying, and there's always a cage to take the brunt of the assault. Maybe it's to give the band a more feral stylistic, likening themselves to caged animals as they play. Maybe there's no reason other than to look cool, which it does, so let's assume the latter for argument's sake.
The adjectives that spring to mind when considering the sound seem slightly generic, but fast, heavy and very, very loud sum up what Ministry do best, and tonight they push all the right buttons.
Even if you're not in the pit, there are times you feel like you're taking a beating, the music pummelling you along with audio assaults like No W and "Very, very, very Bad Blood!" to quote Mr Jourgensen himself, who is performing from behind a crucifix shaped mobile altar.
They blister (there's a better adjective!) through the set, with well known classics like New World Order and Lieslieslies providing the perfect accompaniment to the videos playing behind them; marches, war, beatings, clenched fists... and lots and lots of images of George W Bush Jr.
They inevitably go away and come back for a fun encore of covers, taken from their new album, aptly named 'Cover Up'. They make The Doors' Roadhouse Blues and ZZ Top's Just Got Paid their own, twisting them into something the original artists could never have imagined had they lived for a thousand lifetimes.
The quietness during the beginning of their version of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World is a somewhat odd contrast to the hellish sounds we've been subjected to for a good hour and a half, but then its finale is a Ministry-patented orgy of snarls, machine gun drums and screaming, pained guitars.
The one teeny, tiny thing I would moan about (but this really didn't detract from the night at all) is that, given the life he's had and his passion for the politics he subscribes to, you'd think Al Jourgensen might have had a bit more to say on stage.
But let's face it - he's the frontman and founder of an industrial thrash metal band that used to be a synth-pop outfit, a former heroin addict who had his home raided by the FBI who has spent time in prison as a result, and who narrowly escaped losing an arm to a venomous spider bite. Not a fucking comedian.
What next?More by Ministry? More gig reviews? More rock?