Marilyn Manson / Peaches - MEN Arena - 25.11.03

Peaches wants to f**k you guys up the ass. That's why you're giving her such a hard time, god dammit at least admit that's the only reason you're running scared of the most anarchic thing to happen to music in the last 10 years. Have the guts to admit that for all your vaguely faux rebellious gender bending antics, by the time Manson has retired from the music industry you'll be happily pushing the pram round Safeway, loading up the four wheel drive and digesting what Eamonn Holmes said that morning on GMTV. Peaches is what you get if Daphne & Celeste had spent the past 3 years on roofies getting gang banged in the alleyways of Berlin with Alec Empire providing the soundtrack. "Shake you dicky, Shake your titties", it's all childhood playground stuff, but it's ingenious in it's simplicity and it's Peaches who, along with Countess Zapak, is leading the C*nt Rock Revolution and taking Fachoism into a new era. Sadly however the crowd just don't get it and apart from "Kick It" which sees her dueting with Iggy Pop on a specially recorded projection the unshockable are well and truly taken aback by this Fatherf*cker.

If it was Marilyn Manson's idea to invite Peaches on tour then surely he must have realized he needed to raise the game just a touch from last time he played the city. Last time he played this venue he took a 16 year old boy from the audience and stimulated sex acts on him, mocked religion from his very own pulpit and pushed the limits of what was acceptable. In 2003 with religion being at the forefront of peoples minds and Michael Jackson being taken to court in the newspapers for alleged pedo activity what does Manson do - up the ante as you'd expect the shock rocker to do or simply tone down everything that made him exciting in the first place. He can talk the talk for sure about his flirtations with 1930's German Fascism, but let's be honest what were getting is Manson with Mickey Mouse ears on Jonathan Ross in his most commercial period to date. It's still exciting, still pantomime and as "This Is The New Shit" explains "Everything's been said before, there's nothing left to say anymore". The problem Manson actually as is while there is plenty left to say, look for what System Of A Down and Michael Moore are actually talking about, it's just not that easy to convey in a live show and that's why Marilyn Manson for the time being is infinitely more interesting in interviews than he is on record.

Toned down or not the live shows are where he still stand head and shoulders above the rest of the rock fraternity, ever the showman Manson swerves and punches the air while the Manson army fight the war against the jocks on "Fight Club", mosh on the classic "The Beautiful People". Old live favourite "Sweet Dreams" sits neatly with "Tainted Love" as two of the few ironic rock covers that actually outlive the novelty value of the first time you heard them. Recent single "mOBSCENE" is one of those classic Manson cuts alongside "Disposable Teens" and while at times material such as "Doll Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety Zag" tires it provides a welcome relief for the next onslaught.

Tonight was a great show, great entertainment, but it wasn't why we got into the myth that was Marilyn Manson in the first place. If he's going to maintain our interest, and the fans interest, he's really going to have to go back to the drawing board and come back with something that truly says something about the state of the world. Manson prided himself on an individuality and intelligence mixed with great showmanship and if he could project ideas as strong as the aforementioned SOAD and Michael Moore while still maintaining the sense of fun then maybe he might feel less like a pastiche of his former self.

Alex McCann
Photo's by Karen McBride - www.karenmcbride.com

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