the Quinta-feira 06 Dezembro 2007, Manchester Central

Marilyn Manson

I had never seen the God of Fuck live before and was prepared for him to be fairly ordinary, which I am glad to say was not the case. He teased the audience with glimpses of himself from behind a curtain before being revealed at the front of the stage for opener If I Was Your Vampire. He prowled the stage with a dagger shaped microphone which he slashed with furiously in the air when not delivering vocals, and looked decidedly unhinged when doing so.

The set was a pleasant surprise for a first timer like me, with only a few songs from the new album, and plenty of his older, anthemic songs (Disposable Teens, The Fight Song, The Dope Show etc.) which generally went down very well. The new material sat very well with the older gems in the set and Heart Shaped Glasses was a show highlight. The sound was extremely good, another pleasant surprise in a large venue, and the man himself was in good voice.

He spoke to the audience more than I expected, and I was laughing to myself at how enthusiastically fans were trying to get hold of sweaty towels he threw into the crowd after putting them down his trousers.There were some stage props but the focus seemed to be on performance and the band were extremely competent but never distracted anyone from the frontman. A bottle thrown from the crowd halted the show for five minutes, by hitting the bass player in the head, but after treatment he gamely carried on. MM debated angrily with someone in the crowd who claimed to have thrown it, and who then seemed to realise he could get himself seriously hurt for owning up and backed away in a hurry. The irritating idiot only temporarily interrupted proceedings (about two thirds of the way through) and the show finished with the crowd still wanting more.

For someone with a varied output I wonder how Marilyn Manson feels about Sweet Dreams. It got the best reaction of the night and with all the quality original material played it seemed a shame to me that this cover version got the crowd more frenzied than anything else. My favourite tune was The Fight Song, and it played back in my head for hours afterwards. His up-tempo numbers are great.

There were a lot of young people in the audience, which bodes well should he continue to tour, which he has sometimes expressed doubts about in the past. I would go again, which is a compliment to the man. He may not seem as edgy as in the past, his stage shows are less explicit and he may not be public enemy number one in the US anymore, but his music still has a dark humour and style that many have tried to copy but few get anywhere close.