MARILYN MANSON LIVE AT THE CONCORD PAVILION IN CONCORD, CA ON 8/28/18

The Pale Emperor Returns

I remember going into a rock club to drink, party and hang out with a friend in the early nineties in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While being there all night socializing, a band took the stage and captured everyone’s attention as their music shook the walls and my eardrums. I wondered who the fuck this band of loud, weird, creepy, and entertaining guys were. It was Marilyn Manson. Industrial was just starting to become popular and the band had that edge with their aggression, drum beats, synthesizer, guitars, and well, structured music.

I never expected them to blow up like they did and as they released ‘Portrait of An American Family’ about a year later, that cd became a fixture in my everyday life. After seeing Manson perform several times over the past twenty plus years, I still find myself enjoying the music he makes and the library of hits he has created that are played in his live shows. For that reason I catch Marilyn Manson on the second to the final show if the “Twins of Evil: The Second Coming” tour with Rob Zombie at the Concord Pavilion. The clock was winding down as Manson was deciding whether to allow photographers to shoot the show or to axe us from doing so. With less than five minutes to curtain call all of us who were waiting were given the green light.

We knew that meant we would still have to deal with being spit at or like previous shows being bombed by these powder bombs he throws out. It keeps us on our toes and its good to expect the unexpected. No such chaos ensued as Manson stuck to playing the music to the packed house. Marilyn Manson is known for changing his appearance through the years and tonight he came out well dressed and ready to let the evening go wherever it takes him. He opened the show playing ‘Irresponsible Hate Anthem’. He was charged with energy and I will say that this was probably the best I had ever seen him live. He played through several tracks from ‘Angel With The Scabbed Wings’, ‘This is The New Shit’, ‘The Fight Song’, and ‘mOBSCENE’.

Manson controlled all his disciples that were there to worship their false god. There are only a few that have held their status in the industrial rock genre through the decades like Manson or Trent Reznor. Tonight is a perfect reason why he can still pack a large venue or amphitheater. Manson still does the theatrics from outfit changes to using his giant podium to rise above the people even higher as he torched a bible. He continues the show as he performs songs like ‘Say10’, ‘The Dope Show’, ‘Kill4Me’, and the ‘Beautiful People’. I knew he would do the Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’, but I was really pleased when he performed Gerard McMann’s ‘Cry Little Sister’ from the Lost Boys soundtrack.

Every time I’ve seen Manson play, he has had his long time cohort in crime Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie White) on stage with him. It was nice to see that Every time I’ve seen Manson play, he has had his long time cohort in crime Twiggy Ramirez (Joerdie White) on stage with him. It was nice to see that Manson and his sound has not lost any appeal without Ramirez on board. That shows that this titan of genre deserves to be exactly where he is and selling out shows all over the world.

All photos by Dwayne Cavanas for Mayhem Music Magazine