Written by Eddie Ferranti
Being blessed to witness the emergence of women in rock has captivated me from Day One. The list includes Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, Deborah Harry, Joan Jett and Ohio native Chrissie Hynde to name a few. One from the mid 90’s who has scratched an itch is one Shirley Manson fronting the band Garbage. I last saw her in 2015 and quite frankly she seemed to just go thru the motions, but this night with her killer band in tow she melted down the Revention Music Center and then some!
Steve Marker and Duke Erickson scorched all night mainly in the darkness backed by the welcome always drum work of vet original Butch Vig and Eric Avery’s extra kick on bass. Make no mistake about it though that the crowd could not peel their eyes off the stalking the stage mad woman Manson. When the stellar “I Think I’m Paranoid” was followed by a drawn out spooky intro to “Stupid Girl”, the crowd came to life and stayed that way throughout the set which featured a nice assortment of tunes from their six albums, including deep cuts, too! Shirley took it upon herself to dedicate a lot of the songs to what she called the weirdos who have been loyal for so many years stating : “You people speak our language!” Amen sister indeed. Their 2016 release went under the radar for air play these days, but new tracks “Empty”and “Sometimes” reserved for the encore plus “Blackout “, stood toe-to-toe with all the vast library of cult like cuts for sure.
Manson’s powerful pipes were on display all night. The woman, who has just turned 50, has found a fountain of youth as far as delivering a sharp as a razor performance which seems effortless to her. Her cool charisma oozes from the stage singing as if she has not been prowling a stage for over 20 years. Garbage has always said what is on their mind and this night was no different. “Sex is Not the Enemy” went out to the abuse against LGBT and she went on to say that the love/hate relationship they’ve had over the years with the press stemmed from them expressing their opinions as they observe society speaking out for everyone-not just her.
Every button was pushed in a good way for this reviewer with the 20+ song set including pop rock “Blood for Poppies”, “Why Do You Love Me”, stimulating “#1 Crush”, stand by oldie “Queer”, biting “Automatic Systematic Habit”, high energy trio of “Push It”, “Vow” and synth gem “Cherry Lips”! Nothing embodies the crescendo of a Garbage gig to me though is the goose bump inducing anthem “Only Happens When It Rains”, which had the on your feet all night crowd bellowing out all the words with Shirley turning the mike to them! The room was hers all night and my hat’s off to a band who seems to be pushing forward and not resting on their laurels what so ever. Here’s one weirdo who hopes she comes back again……………GO support live music!