*So* many things went wrong in Philly, but I think a good deal of it was the weird attitude of the crowd. Apathetic and uninvolved, as dave described the Roseland crowd, but even worse...that creepy, ghoulish "we're waiting to see you kill yourself" attitude. There's no other way I can describe it: they stood and watched, but they weren't really interested in the music, they were waiting for the blood. The only thing that got them going was when the Rev pitched a fit. Which he did several times.

My overall impression: they're trying to do too much at once, and it just didn't work this time. The old songs and the new ones don't quite seem to go together (this could be just me, of course). The transition from straightforward rock show to stage spectacle - the sudden appearance of the podium, etc. - and back again didn't go smoothly (though the podium and costume themselves are ace!). Also, of course there were those technical gremlins that trail MM from year to year. Microphone troubles especially.

P'com didn't have a lot of fun either =(...but we're assuring ourselves that it'll all be better when this "they're gonna kill themselves on Hallowe'en" mess goes away. I mean, cripes, even the counter guy at Denny's had heard of that.

ANYway. Here's the set: Angel w/t Scabbed Wings//Get Your Gunn// Dogma//Dried Up Tied & Dead To the World//Tourniquet//Lunchbox// Sweet Dreams (again with the "now that we've catered to our MTV audience" line - this was especially funny because an MTV News crew was there filming...=)//Hate Anthem//Minute of Decay//Little Horn// Cryptorchid (just exquisitely beautiful with the spotlight and snow; my favorite of the night. Loved watching him reach up into the falling show and let it drift thru his fingers.)//Antichrist Superstar (so over-the-top! Manson in his red/black suit throwing kisses from the podium had me in stitches over the balcony rail)// Beautiful People (this one seriously kicked)//Reflecting God (also kicked)//1996 (kicked HUGE. Great introline: "I was born into this wicked world in 1969...and I want you to help me destroy it in 1996!"). Cake & Sodomy, Misery Machine and Man That You Fear were also on the setlist, but weren't played. No encore.

Aw, it was all bollixed. Originally it was just technical hassles that put the Rev off balance, but that made the show slip a notch, the crowd didn't get involved (except the goddamn *hecklers*... I was next to one in the balcony I'd like to see suffer), the band wasn't getting any energy feedback, Manson kept losing his temper, throwing things and storming over to harrass the soundboard guy, and the whole thing just never got into gear. We got the same line that NYC got: "Is that the best you fuckers have to offer?" and I think Philly's crowd deserved it - we didn't give much of anything to the show. I can't even honestly say we P'coms were much help, as creeped-out and uncomfortable as we were.

But we expect it to go better in Baltimore. =)

==angelynx==
The New American Hoodoo wil get your children *soon*... ***Visit my web page: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/4812***