Marilyn Manson
Aragon Ballroom--Chicago, IL
10/30/98

Part I--pre-Manson

Get to the venue, spot my bud Ryan from the psych list and our fellow spook Hagen!! :) Ryan gave me glitter, so that made me happy (i have glitter on my ticket stub now :) We talked outside til they let us in. The venue has a T-shaped barricade (to deter moshers and the like, but I STILL want a spiked helmet ;), so we grapped on to that in the center, but towards the back. It was a good view, except when people's heads were in my way.

12 Rounds comes on, and I'm just thinking...WHY?? (besides they're on Nothing). This band is musically incompatible with Manson...MUCH too mellow. On the plus side, they didn't irritate me, just didn't do anything for me.

And now for the moment you've been waiting for....

Part II--Manson

(disclaimer: i've only skimmed the other reviews posted to the list, so if i mention something everyone and their mother already knows, forgive me)

They open with "Reflecting God"..now, for the most part, the set list flowed OK for me, but WHY open with this song? If anything, open with "The Great Big White World" and play "Reflecting God" second...other first impressions? I think John is the perfect guitarist for the Mechanical Animals..he's much more animated than Zim, hands in the air, singing "she wants me to be perfect like Kennedy"..Twiggy is looking less like a guy wearing a dress and more like a chick..and Pogo's still got the Beetlejuice look going.. :) On to "Cake and Sodomy"...i'm sorry, this song just does NOT fit the current show..if you're going to do something from Portrait, play "Dope Hat" or "Get Your Gunn" or SOMETHING...then "Posthuman" which I was glad to hear, but I think they need to work this song live...

It sounds like I'm complaining, but I did have a good time..after those songs, I don't remember the order. "The Speed of Pain" was lovely..and the confetti dropping from the rafters was perfect timing!! For the "Omega" part of the show, the lights went down and a voice announced "Ladies and gentleman, from Hollywood, (something something I don't remember), Omega and the Mechanical Animals" and that was great! :) Then Manson came out wearing the pink sparkly outfit. They had backup singers/dancers on "Rock Is Dead","Dope Show" and "I Don't Like The Drugs" like on the MTV awards..nice touch! and for "I Don't Like the Drugs" they had the word "DRUGS" in lights flashing behind them...wheeeeeee!! Then to the ACS portion, they had the podium out...I still think they shoulda done something different for this tour, but you gotta admit it has quite a presence...

they also played:

Mechanical Animals
Lunchbox
User Friendly
The Beautiful People
Sweet Dreams
Irresponsible Hate Anthem

and the biggest surprise of the night...the song I heard live the very first time I saw MM in 1995 and hadn't heard since...

ROCK N ROLL NIGGER!! YEAH!!!!!! me n hagen went crazy on this one..

Fun Manson dialogue:

Before "User Friendly": "How many of you are in love tonite?" (phoenix does a double take..we ARE at Marilyn Manson, not just an incredible lookalike, right?) then "how many of you just wanna get FUCKED tonight?!" (yeah, it's manson)

Before "I Don't Like the Drugs": "How many of you have drugs tonite? How many of you are going to give me your drugs?" (new rumour: at marilyn manson shows, the audience tosses bags of cocaine to the band)

the best part..before IHA, Manson comes out dressed in a denim shirt, policeman hat, tights, and an american flag around his waist, and says it's a good outfit to look for a blowjob in :) Then he goes into this lil spiel on how cops are cool and starts chanting "We love cops, we hate drugs, we love cops...we hate drugs...no, wait, stop. This isn't working" I was DYING of laughter!!

And for all those concerned, Ginger was alive and well and behind the drums last nite. No abuse occurred. I think Manson just had a temper tantrum in Milwaukee, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Overall, it was a fun show, and I can't wait to go again..on the next leg of the tour (I realize that this is probably the time to see them, since they're playing smaller venues, but it just isn't a realistic option for me right now). Next time I wanna get seats, so I can get take in the whole visual aspect of the show. Improvements they could make? Put in some different ACS songs..I think "Deformagraphy" "Dried Up" "Little Horn" any of those would work.

glitter and chickens,

Phoenix