They finally let us in around, I think, 7:30. Surprisingly, security was very lax. No body-patdown, no metal detectors. I got the distinct impression they were just going through the motions & didn't really care what people had on them. This was the first clue of the *cough* quality of security we'd have that night.

After orienting myself, I rushed to the stage - unfortunately, a little too far to the left than I'd anticipated, but I just ran for the first open barricade spot that caught my eye. So rather than being between Manson & Twiggy, I was in pure Twiggy territory, not to mention the DEAFENING speaker zone! The pre-show music was quite varied in some aspects, but I didn't recognize any of what was played before the opening act, as it was mostly instrumental.

Keeping with the tradition of the day, 12 Rounds came on late. It must have been closer to 8:30 by the time they finally came on-stage. What to say about 12 Rounds...? Well, that's about it. They were 12 Rounds TOO MANY! I'm not sure which was worse, suffering through Helmet for three shows in a row last year or this! No, actually, Helmet was worse. At least 12 Rounds had interesting sounding music. In fact, I actually liked the music. It was the vocalist that I just couldn't get into. It seemed like forever, but I think they must've played for about an hour. And remember those deafening speakers I mentioned? The bass was so damn loud for this band I could feel my chest vibrating just below my collar bone! I'm surprised it didn't give me a heart attack!

Between 12 Rounds Too Many, oops, I mean 12 Rounds, and Manson's set, several Pink Floyd tracks were played, including tracks from "The Wall" soundtrack.

To my surprise, there was less security than normal, or so it seemed. They just seemed way too spread out. They seemed to be a mixed bag. While some didn't do their jobs properly, others were quite nice. Apparently it had been announced on the radio that no signs were allowed, but no one had told me this when I went through the joke of a security search. Fortunately, the one security guard in front of Twiggy was nice about it and said I could keep mine as long as I didn't hold it up above my head. HA! As if I'd have ROOM to even play peekaboo with Manson! The pushing started before Manson even got on stage, and this mom with her kids who budded their way up front & onto the barricade didn't help matters either. Fortunately, I managed to stay on the barrier the entire night without too much movement.

It seemed like a surprisingly short wait when the house lights went down for Manson's set and an atmospheric type of music could be heard. For a minute I thought they were going to start with something new, because I couldn't figure out how they'd do the transition from that into "The Reflecting God", but they pulled it off just fine. All I'll say about this is that the music for the song has been changed a bit, but the song still rocks live all the same! =) And on that note here's the set list...

The Reflecting God (with a bit of a new twist)
Great Big White World
Cake and Sodomy
Posthuman
Mechanical Animals (Stilts)
The Speed Of Pain (Snow)
Rock Is Dead
Dope Show
Lunchbox
User Friendly
I Don't Like The Drugs... (Drugs in neon lights)
Rock 'n' Roll Nigger
The Beautiful People

Thanks to a less than great crowd and crappy stage markers, the show ended early. Nope, no tantrums that night, which was surprising since the mic sound was a bit messed up near the begining of the show. Despite all this, Manson's voice sounded REALLY good, possibly the best I've ever heard it. Yet something was missing. It wasn't anything that Manson did or didn't do, but the spark that he needed wasn't there from the crowd, so he gave what he got. Yet even with all that, the band gave a really good performance. I can't wait to see this show when there's a GOOD crowd! =)

Highlights...

Cake & Sodomy was just as fun as ever to sing...err scream along to. =)

Posthuman is absolutely amazing live & an even better opportunity to scream out lyrics..."GOD IS JUST A STA-TISTIC! GOD IS JUST A STA-TISTIC!". =)

Mechanical Animals, another one of my favourites from the new album & show, and to top it all off, Mari came to the Twiggy side of the stage (something he didn't seem to do as often as he did on the previous tour) during my favourite verse "You were my mechanical bride phenobarbidoll..." (raises a stilt in the air).

User Friendly... YUM! Oops, I mean WOW! I mean... Well, let's just say there were many suggestive movements & actions by Marilyn in rather interesting places. *EG* And GOD DAMN the man looks gorgeous in that sparkly red teddy & thigh highs! =) "How many of you are in love tonight? How many of you just wanna get FUCKED?!" was the question yelled out by Manson just before they launched into this one. Also, I noticed that where he'd normally sing "Will you die when you're high, you'd never die just for me" it sounded as though he was singing something else... Did that speaker deafen me even more than I thought or has anyone else noticed this?

The Speed of Pain was sad, yet incredibly beautiful, and the acoustic solo that preceded it was a REALLY nice touch.

Rock 'n' Roll Nigger... Well damn! It's Rock 'n' Roll Nigger, what more could one ask for?! =) This was only my second time hearing it live, and it was even better than before! John5's solo totally won me over on him! That man really CAN play & play he did! It was cool to hear the band rock out near the end of the song.

As for Rock Is Dead, hearing Manson sing "la-la-la-laaa" live was just too cute, but don't expect to have ROOM to even ATTEMPT to dance during this one kiddies! The barrier is just as cramped & crammed as ever! Good thing I'm not claustrophobic!

Before going into "I Don't Like The Drugs..." Manson said "Let's pretend there are no cops in the building" & then asked "Who's got drugs for me tonight?". After a huge cheer from the crowd, he went on to ask "How many of you came here to get high?". Then after a somewhat more quiet cheer from the audience died down - "How many of you are LYING?!". I thought it was rather funny. =)

And speaking of questions, that seems to be Manson's new thing - asking the crowd questions. ;-) "Let me ask you, how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?" was the final question of the night. I don't know about beautiful, but I certainly felt like one of the squished, battered & bruised people by that point! I must say, though, that Manson even does TBP better this tour! I don't recall hearing that harsh scream that he used last tour...

Upon returning to my room, I discovered I'd inadvertently brought back three tiny little souvenirs from the show - GLITTER! =) It turns out the glitter used for Lunchbox is made of tiny little squares, rather than the really fine glitter I'd used for my sign, which to my surprise, actually survived the show. =)

And finally, the top five songs of the night IMHO were:

1. User Friendly
2. Posthuman
3. Rock 'n' Roll Nigger
4. Mechanical Animals
5. The Speed Of Pain


Night Angel