11/5/95, the Electric Factory, Philadelphia PA.
Cool, very large club - looks like it might've been an old warehouse.
Again very cold outside. We huddled in our jackets. EVB was
interrupted in her proselytizing by a Security Dick who asked for one
of her flyers to clear - sure, she says, ask Frankie about it...
not another squeak from him thereafter. Heh.
High stage and bright lights you have to look up into; hard to see
the band. Clutch fans so rough that I bailed out before Manson's set
and found a vantage point in the balcony - practically the only
one left - which was actually behind the stage. Pretty cool. A unique
never-before-experienced view, which afforded oversight of the dressing
room entrance and a big L-shaped warm-up area where the Mansons
gradually congregated. Saw Ginger first as he was working out on
this nifty little device - a sort of exercise-bike for drummers -
consisting of two bass drum foot pedals and a single flat electronic
drumpad. Ginger hammered away at this with total concentration,
feet and hands pounding, for a good fifteen minutes I could see and
probably had been before I got there. Meanwhile others have their own
ways of warming up for a show...Twiggy came boingying through, sailing
in big, high bounces off his toes as if training for the world hopscotch
tournament, and bounced the whole twenty-foot length of the L (that'll
loosen up those calf muscles, I'd bet) before ending up behind Ginger.
The Rev headed from the dressing room to what I figured was a bathroom
and back again, walking fast in long head-down strides, then climbed the
steps to the back of the stage to have his stilts put on. Madonna emerged
and began jogging in place behind Ginger, trotting very high with knees
picked up as smartly as a harness pony. Ginger got off the "bike" and
climbed a few steps, then stood and started doing big arm circles,
loosening his shoulders and shaking his arms. (As he's doing all this in
just shorts and gloves, one definitely appreciates his overall fitness.
He really looks like a guy who does an intense 70-minute workout every
night.)(Hi, Vegan! ;) Madonna quit jogging; Daisy ambled out and
said something to him and Twiggy which caused general amusement, Twig
laughing so hard he had to lean on the stair railing. (Note for Twig
watchers: the dazed-and-glazed look was nowhere in evidence here; he was
alert, clear-eyed and beaming. Way cute.) Mr. Manson leaned in the
doorframe while Frankie got him into his stilts and looked across the
25 or so feet of space straight at me; he raised his chin and peered,
and I swore he was registering who and where I was in that invisible
mental file...
--Once the Rev was up it was obviously time to roll, and on cue the
foursome lined up and headed up the stairs.
It's fun to watch them from behind the stage; you see things you usually
don't. They check to each other a lot, almost constantly; Twiggy to
Madonna, Madonna to Ginger, Twiggy to Daisy and even the Rev to Daisy
(when he's standing bent double on the cube with his hair hiding his face
from the audience, chances are good he'll shoot Dais a quick upside-down
glance.) But the man in charge of onstage barometrics is always Daisy B.
Every time he ducked behind his speaker for a second it was the same thing -
a quick mop with the towel, a swig of water, and a fast scan of his
bandmates. (I guess he realizes he has to stay alert - he doesn't
get a beer beside his water bottle =); that's consistent throughout
all the shows we've seen. Sometimes a Coke.) --Manson gets thru the
first verse of Wrapped In Plastic and dives behind Daisy's speaker stack,
where Frankie is waiting to de-stilt him. They seem to be quick-release,
like ski boots; two quick snap-and-pulls, and he's back out on the cube
while Frankie checks the stilts and carts them away. (I d'know if he
always does this, but he hovered back here on the right for most of the show.)
Excellent set - but for once I wasn't really paying attention to what
they played. Having too much fun with my cool vantage point and no
hammering from the crowd...
==angelynx==
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