MARILYN MANSON
WITH
GODSHEAD
AT
SAN JOSE STATE
EVENT CENTER
SAN JOSE, CA.
1/10/2001
California gets some much needed rain and snow and with the storm comes Marilyn Manson. Landslides are inevitable as Manson comes sliding into town and twenty foot waves pound the California coastline. The forces of nature eroding the ground beneath us as Marilyn Manson and his band were busy grinding their axes and changing the landscape of music as we know it. It's just a new spin on an old theme. It used to be called a freakshow and consisted of travelling peoples with various bodily distortions and physical anomolies. Today, it's just the incorporation of the completely weird into music. This is not a new aproach either, Alice Cooper did it in the seventies and Ozzy Osbourne did it in the eighties. The deformities are now of the mind, not the body. But, the message comes out the same; this is weird, different, and we will pay too see it. Why is such pleasure derived from seeing something freakishly different than what is considered normal? It's like slowing down and rubbernecking at the scene of an accident, and we all do it. Like I said, it's a freakshow for the new millenium and history is just repeating itself. This is the beginning of a world tour for Marilyn Manson and there are only four scheduled dates in the U.S. at this time. There is a fair number of concert dates slated in for Europe and the rest of the world. Manson is on the road playing songs from his latest CD release "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)." I do believe another string of U.S. dates will be announced in the near future.Take a look at this crowd, I saw a lot of smiles for a crowd that is supposed to thrive on negativity and hate. Love could be seen out there in the eyes of the young people, it might have been love for Marilyn Manson and the things that he represents through his music, but it was love nonetheless. Everybody seemed more positive than negative and mostly happy and upbeat. The clothes were black and black with proud abuse of black makeup. Teeth never looked whiter when the smiles came darting out from amidst the black lipstick. Marilyn came out wearing a long leather floor length dress with buttons all the up to the neck. He ripped that off during the second song to expose his chest inside a leather bodice. Marilyn climbed onto a platform during "Crucifixion In Space" and it rose from the center of the stage until he was twenty feet in the air with this long long dress all the way to the floor. It looked really weird and strangely psychedelic as he was twisting and writhing around looking like something out of a scary dream. The music was much better than I expected. This band is not without talent, but still not everyody's cup of tea. The highpoint for me was certainly when Manson did his version of "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics. Marilyn pulled down his pants and bent over in an unappropriate manner, an offering to his fans I guess. Quite an interesting evening all things considered. During the encore, a fan lit up an item of clothing and was waving it above his head in the middle of the crowd. Bill Graham Presents staff was quick to have the fire put out and no one was hurt. Let's have fun out there folks, but you have to draw the line somewhere and lighting things on fire in a crowd is not safe and could lead to serious injury. Keep it safe and rocking. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
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