Through a strange turn of events that are completely irrelevant here,
I found myself at Barrie's Molson Park, mainly for two reasons: to mosh
(which I had discovered that I loved the week before at Lollapalooza)
and to see just what the fuck Marilyn Manson was. I think it's safe
to say that at the time they weren't a household name. Anyways, me
and four of my buddies arrived at the park at 11:00 am and spent an
hour "partying" in my van before going in, because the gates didn't
open until noon. On the way in, I got my first glimpse of "Manson"
as we passed a T-Shirt stand. Amidst all the NIN and Soundgarden shirts
stood the now legendary "Satanic Army" shirt, the Monroe/Manson eyeballs
shirt and many other discontinued designs. The words "I am the God of
Fuck" caught my eye and only heightened my anticipation of this new
wonder.
By the time we got in, we had learned that even though the gates opened
at noon, the show didn't start until 4:00. It was boiling hot out that
day, so we sat in the pit area and prayed for rain, but it never came.
About 3:00 a drunk guy hurled all over the pit, so we had to move over
and I made a mental note not to mosh in that area, no matter what.
About 4:00 or so, You Am I took the stage. By now the crowd was
extremely pissed off and You Am I didn't help any. They sucked. The
crowd just stood there and looked at them. It was so bad that the
drummer through his drumstick into the crowd and barely anyone even
moved to get it. I was praying a mosh pit would break out, just so I
wouldn't have to look at these guys, but no such luck. Anyways, they
finally finished their set and then came the prophetic words "Thanks
alot for coming early to listen to us, Marilyn Manson are next." With
that announcement, You Am I left the stage, and me and my friends hit
the porta-potties.
If you've ever seen a Three Stooges cartoon, then you've seen my first
reaction to Marilyn Manson. The 5 of us were making our way single
file through the crowd, with me in the lead, when for some reason I
looked at the stage and saw the Rev. It was like when Mo stops and
Larry and Curly bump into him. My buddy told me later that he was
singing "The Family Trip" but I didn't even notice. All I saw was
this man who looked so much like a 16th century witch-hunter or
something, standing there, convulsing. Once I'd regained my composure, I dashed
for the pit and witnessed the best show I'd ever seen.
As far as I can remember, the rest of the band was dressed very
similarly to the back of the "Get Your Gunn" CD. Daisy had the exact same hair
and orange pants, Pogo had his 'satanic school-boy' look. Sara Lee
had on the 'Satanic Army' shirt, and I really don't remember what
Twiggy had on, cuz he was dressed as a man. I didn't much care for
him at that point, but that's all in the past.
I don't really remember the songs, cuz I didn't know them at that point.
I do remember "Cake & Sodomy" 'cuz of the "God of Fuck" line. And I
imagine they played "Get Your Gunn" (I know they did) cuz I remember the
Rev. screaming "Hallelujah Mutha Fuckers" and Pogo would play the
"Goddamn the lord" sample over and over and over again. "My Monkey"
was intro'd solely by the "Raise up children kill your Moms and Dads"
sample being played numerous times.
For me, the high points were the filth he yelled at the crowd. My
fave was when he crawled up on the box and said "There's alot of grade
8 stinky pussies out there today. Why don't you boys roll me up one
of those 13-year olds so I can put my whole fucking arm in her." I
swear, the whole pit looked at him in shock for a second and then
cheered so loudly it wasn't even funny. If I'd been a 13-year old girl, I would
have ran for my life at that point.
The Rev. spit on the crowd, threw water bottles at us (I almost got
hit in the head) and generally hated us. I'd never seen a band like
that. When the closing number came, (I can't remember what it was!!
You have to remember, I'd never heard of them before) the Rev. finished
his singing, threw the microphone to the ground and stomped off.
Everyone else did the same when their turn came. As soon as they
finished their part, they just took off their instrument (if there names were
Daisy or Twiggy) and threw it to the ground. They didn't smash it or
anything, they just threw it on the ground like they didn't give a fuck
at all and left. It was fucking wild!!
So anyways, Pop Will Eat Itself played a great show, Reverend Horton
Heat blew, NIN blew Soundgarden off the stage. I ran into a couple
of my friends from back home in the crowd and they excitedly showed
me the autographs on their arm. I think you can all guess who's it
was and I can't bring myself to repeat it. Another girl I know (who
is just as big a fan as I am) will not speak to her old best friend for
this reason. This girl (the friend)was leaning with her back to the
barricade at the far right side, by the medical tent, later in the day. She was
wearing a bathing suit with jean shorts. Anyways, someone on the
other side of the barricade licked her back!! She spun around just as
the Rev. smiled at her and walked backstage again.
As I was leaving that night, I stopped at the T-Shirt booth and found
with no surprise, that all the MM shirts had been sold. I forked over
$30 for the NIN teeth/salt trail shirt and went to the van. As I was
sitting in the back of the van (with the hatch up) I slowly took off
my docs and casually watched 5 guys beat the fuck out of some other
guy. I had to laugh, if you'd seen it, it was funny. I stripped down
to my boxers, put on my sandals and began the hour long drive home
(after making my friend get out and get me some street-vendor hotdogs,
my favourite food). For the next month, I tormented my girlfriend and
anyone else who would listen with tales of Marilyn Manson, the concert
and my newly purchased copy of POAFF.
"Go out and Kill" commands Father Sam
Mr. Monster
Visit the Ontario Spookhouse:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/9539/index.html