Marilyn Manson, Ours @ The Warfield, 2/20/08

Last year, I finally was able to see Manson for the first time. It was something I had been waiting to do for 10 years. While I was really happy with the show, and rated it as one of my top shows last year, this show at The Warfield was about a hundred times better. It actually held a candle to a NIN show, which is a statement I don’t throw around lightly.

When the announcement was made that Jeordie would be coming back on as bassist, I was ecstatic. I was a little sad that Tim Skold wasn’t coming back, and my reach for the stars imagination entertained thoughts of John 5, but we all know that those chances are slim to none.

I was also really excited about the venue…it’s about a small a venue as you’ll get to see a show of this scope. Since I’m a huge Jeordie fan, I made sure to do my research so that I could stand on his side of the stage. Granted I had just seen him with Goon Moon in December and saw him many times with NIN…but this is his home.

Ours was the opener, and while they have a nice sound and the singer has an amazing voice, it was not a good fit for the show (SHAT would have been better). The audience for the most part was really not into it. It was too sad and whiny, and felt more along the lines of a slightly darker Incubus fronted by Bono. They had a very clean rock sound, and the singer really really sounded like Bono. It was a short set, and everyone was OK with that. There was already a girl trying to use her boobs as currency to get backstage.

Once Bela Lugosi’s Dead came on, we knew it was about to start. The shadow of Jeordie’s witch hat appeared at about the same time as Manson. The crowd started to get crazy, and it barely stopped for the next hour and a half. Let’s just say I pulled a lot of hair and kneed a few guys that were misbehaving.

The set list was phenomenal. It felt like I was transported back to the their heydays in the Nineties, rather than a ‘reunion show’. The energy was high, and Manson was definitely having fun with the crowd. He told us about how SF was special to him because he “fornicated with his first porn star downstairs” (Traci Lords). Then he told the people who were booing to gather in a specific area, and then told the girls to go kick their asses. And then there was something about how ‘these girls are going to suck my cock and then spit my cum in your face’. He kept mooning the crowd, and it kept escalating to a point where I thought we might be getting a little more of Manson than we had bought tickets for.

The energy, attitude, crowd, and setlist made the show, where in Concord I was more mesmerized by it being ‘my first time’ and a very high production value. The only elements that were brought over from the production of the last leg of the tour were the hot pink eye makeup, the blade mic, the antichrist superstar pulpit, and some white bubbles replaced the heart shaped confetti from the last show. The catwalk was also set up, which was an awesome change for the Warfield. I wish they’d do this at other shows.

Jeordie had a long black wig and hat on to start, with dots painted all over his face. About half way through he took it off, and had a brown headband with a fishnet veil on. While he mouthed the words to a lot of the songs, he only provided back up vocals on a few instances. Manson was definitely loving up on him throughout the night. I was impressed by all of the Jeordie/Twiggy fans in my area…where were you at the Goon Moon show? I had a great view the entire show- it was a shame I couldn’t take pictures, but with the way that I was being thrown around, they probably wouldn’t have turned out.

When they came back out for the Antichrist Superstar/Beautiful People encore, they let it all out. Finally, I get to see some destruction. Jeordie was doing something to Ginger Fish’s drum kit, and Rob Holliday was toppling over the amps. In a metaphorical ending to the set, Jeordie was the last to leave the stage, letting out a couple of riffs from ‘Come Together’, and threw his bass down.

I looked on the ground for picks as others looked around for their missing wallets, keys, etc. There seemed to be none in existence. But I didn’t leave empty handed (see below).

It was one of those shows where I suffered a min-depression afterwards. When will I get to feel like this again? Filter @ Cafe du Nord? Ministry @ The Fillmore. Calling Trent Reznor, please, please, hurry.

Set list:

1. “Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major for Piano, Violin, and Violoncello”
2. “Cruci-Fiction in Space”
3. “Disposable Teens”
4. “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”
5. “Great Big White World”
6. “mOBSCENE”
7. “If I Was Your Vampire”
8. “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)”
9. “The Love Song”
10. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”/”Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger”
11. “Tourniquet”
12. “Little Horn”
13. “The Fight Song”
14. “The Dope Show”
15. “Rock Is Dead”
16. “Coma White”/”Coma Black”
17. “1996”
18. “Antichrist Superstar”
19. “The Beautiful People”

I bought one of these, signed by MM himself

Good pics from other shows on the tour here.

Vids from other shows on the tour

Super Awesome:

Somewhat Awesome:

OVERALL: 9.5/10
Manson performance: 10/10
Ours performance: 6.5/10
venue (The Warfield): 8.5/10
crowd/scene: 9/10
value ($60/ticket): 7/10
memorable: 9/10