And out of The Bottomless Pit there
comes the Little Horn…
Did you hear the news today? Oh boy!
Just as the dust starts to settle from Eat Me, Drink Me, and before the supporting world tour is even complete, Marilyn Manson tears it down with the news that Twiggy Ramirez is returning to the band and the critically acclaimed guitarist, who defined much of the new album’s sound, Tim Skold is leaving.
This is the return of the musical partnership that brought us Antichrist Superstar. This changes the world, in-fact Manson is already hinting that it could be a return to the band’s original mission - to destroy it.
Tim Skold was brought in to replace Twiggy when he quit in 2002 and has been such an instrumental part of the band since then that I can’t believe he’s leaving, to be honest I’m more surprised about that than I am about Twiggy’s return.
MansonUSA have a great interview with Manson about it, if you haven’t read it then I suggest you do.
The only thing that is certain is that Everyone will suffer now.
Manson’s Return to London
It’s been a long time since Marilyn Manson has done a London gig, favouring festivals instead, he hasn’t been here since 2003’s Grotesque Burlesque at Alexandra Palace. In that time we missed the Against All Gods world tour and the first leg of the current tour aptly called The Rape of the World.
So it was with huge anticipation that I made my way down to Wembley Arena last night to see what I’d been missing… and I had been missing a lot.
The show was absolutely amazing! I had deliberately avoided any online discussions of the tour once I was sure I was going to get to see it, so I had no ideas as to set list or what theatrics to expect… Other than a certainty that the show would open with If I Was Your Vampire and end with The Beautiful People, I had a completely open mind.
The opening was incredible - only surpassed by the full rendition of Antichrist Superstar at the end (complete with suit, banners and spontaneous bible combustion.) The band played pretty much everything you’d want them to, from old favourites like The Reflecting God (which almost stole the show) and Lunch Box through to Manson staples like Disposable Teens and Rock Is Dead. New tracks were surprisingly sparse but very well received… There was more than one girl wondering round in Heart Shaped Glasses!
The only way I could have been happier is if they’d played The Nobodies and Great Big White World… But I’m far from complaining! The set list was:
- If I Was Your Vampire
- Disposable Teens
- mOBSCENE
- Tourniquet
- The Irresponsible Hate Anthem
- Are You The Rabbit?
- Sweet Dreams
- Lunchbox
- The Fight Song
- Putting Holes In Happiness
- Heart Shapped Glasses
- Rock Is Dead
- The Dope Show
- The Reflecting God
- Antichrist Superstar
- The Beautiful People
Manson in Jelly Fish!
Check out Marilyn Manson talking about Lindsey Lohan in this weeks Jelly Fish…
http://natmags.cerosmedia.com/1T467be345aad1f012.cde/page/28
The EAT ME, DRINK ME Tour’s Set List
Well the European leg of the tour is already under way with the second performance this afternoon, which seems a bit odd as the album (or even the first single) isn’t in the stores yet!
I found that someone had posted the set list for the May 26th gig in Holland in the Manson USA fan forums. According to them the set list was:
If I Was Your Vampire
Disposable Teens
Irresponsible Hate Anthem
You And Me And The Devil Makes 3
Rock Is Dead
Putting Holes In Happiness
mOBSCENE
Sweet Dreams (are made of this)
Just A Car Crash Away
Great Big White World
Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides The Hand)
The Dope Show
Tainted Love
The Fight Song
The Beautiful People
I hate to say it, but what a disappointment! This looks like 2003’s set list but with new songs in place of the then new songs. I was hoping for Coma White or New Model and something off Holy Wood like Lamb of God or Valentine’s Day.
We can only hope that as the tour goes on the set list might get more adventurous!
In the mean time we can still ask out selves: How does it feel to be one of The Beautiful People?
Heart-Shaped Glasses Video
As posted by The Heirophant this morning.
Not for the bashful I think… I love the way the red tinsel curtain on stage becomes blood running down the walls in the bedroom scenes. Not to spoil the ending, but I was expecting a car crash - just not Thelma & Louise style, in retrospect the Polaroids were a dead give away. I guess this goes back to the idea about wanting to die with the person you love, which has featured pretty heavily in the publicity surrounding the album.
I’m looking forward to the 3D version (no kidding at all) - I just bet the 3D glasses are heart shaped!
Eat Me, Drink Me: The Darko Review
At least my death wish will come true…
I spent this bank holiday weekend with a bottle of absinthe and a copy of Marilyn Manson’s new album Eat Me, Drink Me. For those interested, and I know there are a few, here are my thoughts.
In 2006, with a ‘Best Of’ album in shops, a celebrity wedding and a film project in the works, it felt to many as if Marilyn Manson had unofficially retired from music… but a year later all that has changed, very literally. Eat Me, Drink Me is a collection of songs written about a year in his life that saw the break down of his marriage, frustration with film projects and less publicly dwelt on personal problems with his family. Needless to say, this is a very dark album about a very dark place.
It has also been described as his best and most accessible album to date. I was worried that ‘accessible’ was being used as a euphemism for ‘popy’ by some critics but having heard it, despite the softer music, I think its classical gothic themes of love, death, sex and cannibalism (not necessarily in that order) will set it apart from the resurgence of ‘rock bands’ in popular music.
In conclusion: I think that the esoteric Holy Wood remains Manson’s best work to date (my searching for hidden meanings may have told you that I would come to that conclusion) but never the less… this is pretty damn good and I’ll be in line on June 5th to buy my copy.