As my friend and I arrived at the ominous Tabernacle (which was once a huge, beautiful church, but now has been transformed into a gothic-ish concert venue), we stood in a long wrapping line for about 30 minutes or so. There were a few quiet protesters facing the line of people, which unfortunately at a Manson concert, means that the fans will be the presicutors, screaming such bull shit as "God can Suck my Dick," or the common "Manson can put on a better show than Jesus Christ" (some people just need to be smacked on occasion). When we had finally reached the open doors, there were security guards patting down all of the fans (lucky for me, they didn't find the camera). We entered the preformance area and stood waiting and talking for a good 30 minutes or so, while the speakers quietly played some odd techno beats. Twelve Rounds began promptly at 8:00.

12 ROUNDS...
I've been a fan of this band for a few months now, so I knew pretty much every song they played (which by the way, there were eight). Unfortunately, it didn't sound as if they put very much effort into the soundcheck, because although the music wasn't too bad, the lead singer's errie voice could hardly be heard exept for when she shrieked or yelled (incredible bass asnd sound-FX though). The keyboardist/bassist, who looked like Manson with short black hair, seemed to put a lot of energy into what he was doing, wheras the rest of the band seemed a bit slow. Not at all a BAD preformance, but I would have picked a band with a little more expierence (same thing I said about Rasputina last year; they just didn't seem to fit in).

INTERMISSION...
As the lights went up and the band exited the stage, Pink Floyd's "The Wall," played relaxingly from the speakers. Good Choice on Manson behalf. It seemed as if the whole crowd knew the words and chanted along with the infamous "We don't need no education/We don't thoughts controlled/No dark sarcasam in the classroom/HEY! TEACHER! LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!" After what had seemed like an eternity (We had to have listened to the entire damn album by this time!), The light went down and the giant white backdrop laced with white sequins lit up.

MARILYN MANSON...
A noise of some sorts could be heard while out came John5 and Twiggy from behind the curtian. A giant shadow of Manson with the Omega symbol/hat could bee seen making strange movements from behind. All of a sudden, the curtians opened and there stood Manson, looking, in my opinion, a bit silly with that big blue thing around his head, however, his outfit, which as many know is the baby blue sequined penisless suit (he was wearing a blue sequined G-String), was stunning. "Your World is an ashtray..." Oh Boy! Here we go!...

THE REFLECTING GOD
Very good song to start off with, although I am still a bit souprised that they didn't begin with something new. It sounded ALLRIGHT, but I've never seen a band that was it's best in their first song. Nothing much else to tell exept for the fact that Marilyn kept trying to grab onto the back of his his hair and fling it foward like he used to, but thats a bit hard to accomplish since he cut most of it off!

GREAT BIG WHITE WORLD
Good song, although the sound could have been a bit clearer at times. Very intresting and loud.

***NOTE: From this point on, I get the listing a bit out of order. I think most of them are correct though.

CAKE AND SODOMY
Wow. As plainly as I con put it, this song kicked ass. While Manson sang "I am the God of Fuck," he inserted his hand into the crotch of his G-String and ultimately stimulated himself, rubbing hard and giving a new meaning to the word "heavy petting." This was only the fist time in the concert in which he exposed his pubes; it happened 2-3 more times later that night!

I WANT TO DISAPPEAR
EXTREMELY muffeled sound. I could hardly tell what the song was untill about half-way though, and even then, the beat seem very off. I'm not sure why.

DISASSOCIATIVE
Great. Sounded almost as good as it does on the album.

SWEET DREAMS
I was very suprised that he played this song so early in the evening, as I had heard that he usually uses it for encores only. Very good. John5 almost looked "Mechanical" by the way he was playing the Guitar. Unfortunately, the coal miner's light never appeared. The ending went on very hard and for a long time so as to give Manson time to get into the stilts...

MECHANICAL ANIMALS
The guitar seemed louder in this song than it did in many of the others. Be prepared to welcome back the infamous stilts and crutches. Manson definately stole the show from the rest of the band with his costume.

SPEED OF PAIN
If there has ever been a song that drove me to tears in public, it is this one. Manson came out, dressed to kill in a stunning Black buttoned-up overcoat with black boa cuffs, wearing a sleek black dress hat to top it off (a costume that reeked of David Bowie). A look of being lost in a world that he once knew overtook his demenor, as he stood very still and a white spotlight shown down upon him. As the chorus approached and Ginger's tripple drum set kicked in, snow poured down from the ceiling and out onto both Manson and the crowd. I sang every word to the song and actully expierenced what he must have gone though to enable him to write this song. I have absolutely no complaints about this song, as I wish that I could expierence it again one day.

ROCK IS DEAD
This song drew the crowd out of it's hushed slumber and got the pit going again. Manson came out, strutting his stuff, wearing his red sequined dress and Red sequined party gloves that had scarlet feathers attached. He also had on that red G-String (Geez! I wonder how many of these things he owns?!!).The sound again was not what it could have been, but other than that, it was a very good song.

LUNCHBOX
"Next Motherfuckers gonna get my metal..." he softly chanted, making me remember last year's preformance. Very good song. John5 did a great job on the tricky guitar work.

USER FRIENDLY
This was a great preformance! One of the best songs of the night. Marilyn Manson (the band) gave their all. Marilyn seemed to have been rather horny though, dry humping everything from John5 and the scantly clad back-up singer, to the microphone, the amplifiers and the mic stand. He asked the audience before the song "How many of you came here tonight with your parents?" and then proceeded to ask "How many of you came here tonight to get fucked?!!" And of course he changed the line "I'm gonna' fuck you 'till somebody better comes along," to "I'm gonna' fuck in front of your mom and dad!" He accidentally exposed himself during this song when he was rubbing his black-rubber enclosed dick.

****The funniest thing that happend that night was what went on towards the end of "User Friendly." As Manson was singing, a technican was crawling across the stage, attempting to switch microphones, when Manson turned around and tripped over the guy. Manson immideately got up, regained his pride, and punched him upside the face. The man was stunned for a moment and then scampered offstage as quickly as possible. In outrage, Manson glared to where the techncian had run away to and was yelling "Mother Fucker!! Fuck You! Fuck You! YOUR FIRED! YOUR FIRED!!" Manson, throughout the remainder of the song and into the next, was giving the guy his middle finger salute. (I saw this guy after the show loading up equipment and cursing lound enough for the entire city to hear.) I wonder if that had anything to do with the next song...

ROCK'N ROLL NIGGER
It took me few seconds to realize what song it was. Although the sound was pitiful, it stayed on beat and he let the less-than-entusiastic crowd sing the lines "Jimi Hendrix... Jesus Christ and Grandma too... etc."

DOPE SHOW
Four giant sheets of reflective silver, the size of the shock symbol backdrops from the last tour, unrolled and a big glowing Omega/Marilyn Manson symbol came down from the ceiling. This song got the crowd going and a giant glitter explosion created a bit 'o chaos.

I DONT LIKE THE DRUGS (BUT THE DRUGS LIKE ME)
John5 had a lot of fun with this song. Manson accidentally dropped the microphone during this one but quickly grabbed it back up. MADONNA IS NOW OFFICIALLY INSANE! He had been muttering stuff to himself the entire night but by the time this song was half over, he had given up the keyboards and sat down, screaming and twitching his head this way and that, while keeping a derranged smile glued to his face the entire time. I wonder how many drugs he was on at the time?

ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR
Although the song, in my book, is a classic, he just didn't look right wearing the red and black "uniform" with bright red hair. Great preformance, as always.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
VERY distorted. Could hardly tell what it was (thankfully I recognized the drum beat) Final song of the night.

AFTERWARDS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, this was the best Manson show I have ever been to. The energy was amazing and Manson seemed refreshed and renewed. We witnessed Manson and Twiggy getting on the bus about 50 minutes after the show had ended; he flipped everyone the devil-horns and leaped on his bus with out a word. I reccomend this show to EVERYONE!!! I'm still giddy about it and it's over 24 hours later!

~~FIREWORM~~