Marilyn Manson / Peaches
26 November 2003
Alexandra Palace, London

OK, first prize tonight went to the Alexandra Palace for the most badly organised gig I have ever been to, and this was my 388th gig! I loathe gigs at either Wembley or Docklands Arenas but this had me wishing I was at either of those.

We arrived at Alexandra Palace train station shortly after 6pm and after seeing the fight to get on the shuttle bus decided to take a walk up the hill, which took less than 15mins. Doors apparently were due to open at 6pm so we didn`t expect to be queuing too long, well not close to two hours in the freezing cold - thank god it wasn`t raining.

Why weren`t there more people on the doors and why weren`t those working the doors moving people quicker, it wasn`t like there were thorough searches. The shuttle bus was dropping people at the front of the queue, who on discovering how long it was, good portions were queue jumping, slowing down the progress of those who had joined the queue legitimately. The security weren`t doing anything about this and appeared to be spending all their time chatting to each other, ignoring a few near fights with people having a go at the queue jumpers.

It didn`t get any better once we got in, with a 15minute wait for the toilets, which were far too few for the size of crowd, and a half hour wait to get served at the most bizarrely organised bar system. We thought we had missed Peaches …unfortunately not! I have nothing positive to say about her. Basically her act consists of just her, kind of rapping to a dodgy drum and bass backing track about infantile vulgar sex related topics. Meanwhile she continued to strip off and rub herself suggestively. It wasn`t funny nor shocking, just annoying. It must have taken her hours to think up that she could suggest the boys "Shake yer dix" and rhyme it with a call for the girls to "Shake yer tits". Well in a similar fashion all I can say is bollocks!

Peaches first four songs before we walked off:
I Don`t Give A … / I U She / Shake Yer Dix / I`m the Kinda

Having walked off, of course then we had the half hour scrum for a beer with Peaches as a backing track. As you can gather I was in a great mood by this point.

Trying not to let all that effect my enjoyment of Marilyn Manson was near impossible, which is a shame as his performance was very good. As the Thaeter intro kicked in, Manson descended from above on a gothic throne, all royal waves and you couldn`t help but smile. This Is The New Shit appropriately started the set, Manson kitted out in his Simon Cowell waist high pants stomping round the stage.

The show wasn`t quite as theatrical as I expected, given Manson had said his Grotesque Burlesque show would reinvent the live setting. mOBSCENE, saw the arrival of the high kicking dancing girls with the song logo from the video flashing behind, whilst Dopeshow had Manson wearing long prosthetic arms. Donning his crooked top hat, Manson brought to mind the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as he stalked round the girls on stage for The Golden Age Of Grotesque.

Musically, the band couldn`t be faulted, though I did begin to wonder how much of what we were hearing was being played and how much was pre-recorded. Drummer, Ginger Fish manages to play his kit whilst standing on it, seemingly without missing a beat. Similarly, Madonna Wayne Gacy gives his keys some serious abuse, rocking them back and forth on a giant spring, without it affecting the sound. I`d once walked out on a gig by Tim Skold`s previous band KMFDM as the whole thing was pre-recorded and he certainly, at the very least, wasn`t playing the double bass live on The Golden Age Of Grotesque tonight.

Manson himself seems to spend much of the set interacting with Skold whilst completely ignoring guitarist John 5, who`s left to his own devices. I wouldn`t say he`s as particularly shocking or subversive as Middle America would have you believe, and the parents lined up outside to collect their kids after need not worry. Asking all the girls to reach to the guys next to them and ensure they had hard-on`s was as "naughty" as he got tonight.

It`s a shame my enjoyment had been tainted as this should all have been great fun and the set list encompassed all the greatest hits. Concern for getting home after had caused a great number of people, including us, to leave before the encore. Manson had said earlier that he had started the tour in the UK and that if he died tonight it would be fitting to end it in London. On tonight`s debacle the only thing that should end tonight is any other bands playing this venue!

Marilyn Manson Set List:
Thaeter (Intro) / This Is The New Shit / Disposable Teens / Use Your Fist & Not Your Mouth / Great Big White World / Rock Is Dead / mOBSCENE / Tainted Love / Tourniquet / Dopeshow / (S)ain't / Golden Age Of Grotesque / Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag / Sweet Dreams / Fight Song / Beautiful People / Irresponsible Hate Anthem
FOOTNOTE:

The following is the official statement issued by the concert promoters, Clear Channel, regarding the delay:

'[Wednesday] night, the first concert to take place at Alexandra Palace for some years was held featuring MARILYN MANSON. As the promoters of the concert, Clear Channel and Straight were responsible for the staging of the event and very much regret that they encountered some logistical challenges, which led to a 45-minute delay in being able to open the doors. This delay in turn had a knock on effect throughout the evening, that meant a large number of customers had to queue for an unacceptably long time to enter the venue.

'Having overcome the problems that resulted in the delay, the concert did go ahead and both PEACHES and MARILYN MANSON played full performances.

'As the promoters of the concert, Clear Channel and Straight would like to stress that the delay was caused by issues involving staffing, licensing and health and safety issues and no delays were caused by either PEACHES' or MARILYN MANSON's stage set ups.

'Clear Channel and Straight would like to apologise to all the customers that were inconvenienced and hope that it did not detract too much from what was a fantastic event.'