REVIEW OF CALDWELL, IDAHO SHOW (JAN. 12)

The Idaho show last Sunday night almost didn't happen due to a bomb threat-- it was a really long time before they came out--they had to call in a special bomb squad and had dogs sniffing the stage, etc. Manson said it was a Christian group that did it. BUT THE SHOW WAS GREAT!!!!!!

Here's the full report:

To back up a little, there apparently had been an uproar in progress about the upcoming show going on all week. It had been on the news, including a press conference in front of the venue by the school district's protestors, who were passing out flyers to "warn parents" about this approaching menace to society :) Local church groups had organized a "holy war" (their words) against the band, city officials had tried to get it cancelled, etc. Rumors were flying...these reports included a list of satanic stage antics the band was expected to engage in, a review of Manson's arrest record, a listing of all the drugs he supposedly uses and something about his affiliation with Anton LaVey (though they neglected to mention his ministerial status with the Church of Satan).

The day before the show, we drove from my sister's place in Boise to check out the O'Connor Fieldhouse--and we had a good laugh. Got off the freeway...I saw a tractor rental lot and a grain silo. It smelled like fertilizer. Nothing but farmland for miles! We drove around looking at cows for awhile before we found the "town" -- a few shops, a gas station, a run-down motel, Mexican restaurant, a place called "Vern's Bar" and oddly enough, a little 25-cent adult movie/ bookstore place. The O'Connor Fieldhouse was across from the Dairy Queen, right next to the bowling alley :\ It was a bit of a stretch to imagine Marilyn Manson and L7 playing in this little farm town!

The day of the show, we got to the O'Connor Fieldhouse at 4:00 and there was nobody there except the tour buses - we were happy to see they made it OK, since it had been snowing the night before. So we went and hung out in the bowling alley next door where it was warm. There were a few other Manson fans in there and the locals were NOT happy to have us there. We eventually got in line with the other 10 people who were there. The gals from L7 were walking around and nobody recognized them. They left the front door open during part of the sound check so we got to hear The Reflecting God.

The news trucks were there putting up their satellite dishes (this was a big controversial event, apparently). Most people didn't show up until half an hour before the doors opened, and by then it was a real circus with all the Christian groups, the news people and the photographers. What must have been the entire Caldwell police force was there (20? 40?) and they were quite amused by the whole thing, including the bonfire that was lit at the back of the line. As the fire truck pulled up to put out the blaze, the crowd started singing that song by Bloodhound Gang, "Firewater Burn":

"We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn!
Burn, motherfucker, burn!"

It was pretty funny :D They then tried to start up a new verse with a guy doing a jig on the roof, waving a lighter: "The Roof...The Roof...The Roof is on Fire!" but luckily that didn't get very far. Also, somebody was reading aloud the flyers that the Christians had been passing out, and a few were shouting "REPENT!" as punctuation between verses :) A bit further down the line, some Christians were saying prayers and some of the crowd were making sheep noises ("BAAAA! BAAAAAA!") at them.

There were some young men in suits and ties, holding bibles; they were just standing a short distance away looking at the line -- I suspect they were Mormons there to preach, but were too afraid to come any closer :) They sure spent a lot of time talking to the TV cameras though (we weren't able to see any of the broadcasts that night). Some Christians were walking up and down the line handing out leaflets. One nice old man came up to us and said, "We're having a prayer meeting down the street tonight. I'm sure it would be a whole lot better for you than this." We politely declined. (We learned in next morning's newspaper that there had been a group of 400 people in the church down the street "praying for Marilyn Manson fans").

The townspeople were driving through the parking lot just to gawk, sometimes shouting stuff like, "Is it Halloween again so soon?" In response to one of these drive-bys, a guy in full face paint and top hat ran after them, waving his arms and shouting in mock outrage, "Hey!!! EVERY day is Halloween!!!!"

They let us in finally (it had been very veeerrrrry cold out there I might add). We got a place on the barricade. People starting pushing and shoving almost immediately, and it was a long time before L7 came out. They were pretty good, but I couldn't breathe even then. I'm sure I'll like them a lot better back home next week, at the Warfield, when I'm not in pain from a partially dislocated shoulder.

During the break after L7 the crowd up by the stage got really vicious. A relatively small number of teenaged boys were responsible for most of it I think. We were constantly getting elbowed and squashed and our hair pulled out by these jerks who got there at 8:30 and wanted to push us out of the way so they could get up front. One guy who muscled out this girl next to me who'd waited hours to get there just like us was bellowing out to his friend, "I don't even like Manson! He sucks!! Man, at Morbid Angel it didn't take us this long to get to the stage, huh?" Then they exchanged tips on hurting people to make them let go of the barricade, including a "joke" about lighting someone's hair on fire. It was a good thing they took my weapons away at the front door :) or I probably would have used them on this guy. There were a bunch of yahoo jocks in baseball caps who didn't even like the band--it seemed this was just somewhere they could go that night to hurt people (limited head-banging opportunities in that part of the country, I suppose). When I woke up the next day, I was in pain, covered with bruises, my diaphragm muscles were going into spasm every time I took a breath, and as I discovered later, some of my ribs were cracked. Though I must say, the people we met early on in the line (the real fans) were very nice. But I digress...

There was such a long break after L7 that I thought MM was never going to come out--at least not before I was squashed to death. It was at least an hour and a half, maybe longer. The sound guys were testing the guitars and shaking their heads at somebody in the back, and they *did* sound terrible, so I was worried. A few announcements were made about "technical difficulties" and a "Bullshit! Bullshit!" chant started up for awhile. <-p>

But then...out came a different set of cops with dogs, who were sniffing around the stage. People misunderstood and assumed they were looking for drugs or something, and there was almost a riot (at least up where I was). Somebody actually threw SHIT (that's right, excrement) at the stage (none of it hit me, thank god), and some guys just behind me were lighting their shirts on fire. (One can only speculate where the shit had come from, since they were searching people pretty thoroughly at the door.) Anyway, I realized there had obviously been another bomb threat. I thought their uniforms said "Boise Police" rather than "Caldwell" so what I think happened is that they had to call in a special bomb squad from Boise (a half hour drive away) and that this was part of the reason why it took so long. Somebody from backstage came out and said to one of the guards, "Manson's not back there. Nobody knows where he is." (I guess he didn't want to get blown up with the rest of us :)

Finally the lights went out and the show started! Angel with the Scabbed Wings...Manson was wearing what looked like little girls' underpants. They had these frilly ruffles all over them, kind of like Little Bo Peep's bloomers, but they were panties. He had a moth eaten sleeveless undershirt (maybe he got this off a clothesline as they passed all those farms? :) over his back brace, and the ripped stockings and boots of course. Zim Zum looked really pretty. He was wearing the little black leather hot pants. I couldn't see the rest of the band very well (either that, or I couldn't take my eyes off Manson long enough to look, as I was just in awe watching him).

They played Get Your Gunn and Dogma. About this time they stopped and Manson explained that the "Christians" had been responsible for the delay due to a bomb threat. He was crouched on the cube in his little-girl underpants, whispering stuff about church, little children of god (can't remember exactly what he said) Then he stood up. "That was very *CHRISTIAN* of them to threaten to blow up this building, WASN'T IT?????" he kept repeating. He seemed pretty sure about who did it--I wish I knew the details. He also went through this little scene again a bit later.

Oh--I almost forgot this hysterically funny moment: as soon as Manson came out, all ten or so of the security guards in front of the stage put on these hooded yellow rain ponchos!! (The City of Caldwell was expecting the band to "throw bodily fluids at the audience" and were offering free "health tests" to anybody who got doused with said fluids :) Needless to say, there were no fluids spewed from the stage except the occasional spit or spit water from Manson. He did beat on his chest once with the microphone and asked the crowd to spit on *him* but I think the guards had taken off their rain ponchos by then :) Some of them had been wearing latex gloves too.

When we had first come in, we noticed that the Caldwell Police Department had set up a video camera in the bleachers, and they sat there and taped the whole show. I assumed this was for evidence since they were expecting Manson to do something illegal. Much to their disappointment, I'm sure, there were no animal sacrifices, no live sex acts performed on stage, no devil worshipping...none of the stuff that had been reported in the paper the previous week.

However, during the next song, Dried Up/Tied Up, Manson put on a real show for the videotaping cops in the back. At each "Don't You Want Some of This/ Don't You Need Some of This" Manson would grab or fondle himself through the ruffled panties. Once or twice he spread his legs, leaned back on his arm and was thrusting his hips while doing so. Um, yeah that part was interesting, especially since he was right in my face :) I don't know if he does that all the time, but it seemed to me it was for the cops' benefit...he must have known about the video camera and exactly how far he could go without being arrested. They played Cake & Sodomy right after that. (Now all the people who read the Idaho Teachers' Association flyer with the lyrics bleeped out got to hear what was really in this song). Somebody threw their shirt at Manson; the guard caught it but Manson grabbed it away from him, wiped his crotch with it, and threw it back out into the audience.

During "Lunchbox," Manson tried to get the crowd to sing along (as he did with "Get Your Gunn" and "Cake & Sodomy") but most people didn't know the words. He even patiently tried to coax people into singing "Gonna get my metal...Pow Pow Pow" without much success. They only sang along (and very loudly too) to Sweet Dreams. This was the point where the guards pulled my sister out because she couldn't breathe. I didn't last much longer myself. They kept asking me if I was OK. Every single crowdsurfer it seemed was landing on my head, kicking me in the face, and tearing out my hair. Not to mention that these big tall assholes were still trying to crush my rib cage and push me out of the way.

I made it through Tourniquet, which was really good! Manson wasn't looking down into the crowd much during this song...he was off in his own world. Anyway, I passed out. I recall it going dark and snow was falling. I remember thinking no, I wasn't unconscious because this was part of the show, but I really wasn't sure at the time. I grabbed hold of one of the guards as I was going down and they pulled me out. I hated myself for being weak but I really thought I was going to die, not to mention being trampled if I fell down where I was. Arrgh. I next remember sitting on the floor in the security area behind the speakers gasping for air...Twiggy was wearing a helmet and Antichrist Superstar was playing... so I got up and walked back out there to watch the rest of the show--from not too much farther away, but it was quite different from standing right underneath them and I wasn't too happy about that :( I noticed at this point that there were really only problems up near the stage...there was actually room to move around as well as breathe just a short distance back.

This show had the full stage props I guess. The angel back drop, pipe organ, replaced by the shock symbol back drop during ACS with the helmets, podium, Manson ripping up the Bible, tossing it into the audience, and blowing kisses. He was shining the spotlight into the crowd during "The Beautiful People." They also played "Little Horn", "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" (the crowd did the chant) and "The Reflecting God," probably a few others too that I can't remember. I think they only played for an hour, but it was an incredible show, so good, in fact, that it wasn't even noticeably short. (Except for the fact that I didn't get to hear "Minute of Decay" which I was hoping they would play.)

Man That You Fear was AWESOME!! I finally got to experience what everybody was talking about regarding this song played live. The blood- soaked flowers around the microphone stand, Manson dressed in white rags dripping with blood and holding out his arms...it was dark, a slow strobe light was playing, snow was falling...the effect of the strobe made it feel like time had slowed down and that Manson sang this song for a lot longer than I'm sure it actually lasted. I'll never forget this. It was just an incredible few minutes.

I got to hear Apple of Sodom finally, which was played over the PA afterwards. My sister and I talked about the show. She's not a big Manson fan and she thinks Manson is ugly (?!). But despite this, she said Manson is absolutely mesmerizing and that this was the best performance she'd ever seen done by anybody, ever. So I know it was not just my personal bias, as I thought so too. It's now my favorite show ever, having bumped out a performance by David Bowie I saw a long time ago up near the front of the stage, and a Peter Murphy show in a smallish club during the Deep Tour, also up by the stage. And this was better than both of those (Sorry Peter and David, but that's the truth).

I loved it!!!!!

We caught part of the news the next night from a Boise station about the show. Among other things, they showed footage of the back-stage area and said the band will "most likely be charged with smashing light bulbs and general destruction" They seemed disappointed that this was all they could get them on :)