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June 30, 2022

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Garbage, fresh off their opening slot on the Tears For Fears tour, played their second headlining gig of the year at The Roxian Theater last night in Pittsburgh.

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Shirley Manson and the boys (Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker) rocked out for over ninety minutes playing songs from every album that they have released during their twenty-seven year career.  

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Manson is a fantastic front-woman for the band as she has a great presence and  commands attention as she prowls around the stage, and her voice is still very powerful.

 

Dressed in a black jumpsuit with black and silver metal belt around her waist and black leather boots, Manson appeared on stage bathed in blue light as the band opened the show with "Automatic System Habit" from their 2012 album, Not Your Kind Of People. 

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By the third song, "Stupid Girl" Manson had everyone in the palm of her hand, if they weren't already there.

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After playing "Godhead" from their latest release, No Gods No Masters, Manson spotted a few youngsters in the audience and asked if they had earplugs.  They did not.  So she asked if anyone had an extra pair and once some were obtained, she made sure those kids had them in.

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Why parents would bring kids as young as four, (Manson asked how old they were) and want to be in the pit, close to the speaker and not have protection for their children's hearing is beyond me.  It was beyond Shirley as well as she quipped, "I feel like a parent up here."  

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Other tunes like "Queer," "Wicked Ways" with a snippet of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" added to the end, and "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)" were all played flawlessly.

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Manson then told the audience that it would not be like her to not address what has been going on this past week. She said the next song, "Men Who Rule The World" could do most of the talking for her, however she noted, "I have four words, abort the Supreme Court!" in which most of the audience responded with a roar of approval.  ​

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The end of the set included "I think I'm Paranoid," "Push It" and "You Look So Fine" with Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" played in the outro.

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A three song encore ended the masterful performance.  "Even Though Our Love Is Doomed" and a song the Manson said that the band has only played once before in concert, "Can't Cry These Tears" before the band launched into their biggest hit, "I'm Only Happy When It Rains."

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However, about a minute into the song Manson saw a woman in distress and had the band stop the song.  Shirley made sure the woman was taken care of before they restarted the song from the top.

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A classy move by a truly classy lady.  (Take note Travis Scott.)

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Newcomer Glass Battles opened the show with his brand of indie rock.  

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Flanked by a guitarist and a bassist, Glass Battles sang along to many beats and vocal tracks that were played on a laptop.  

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The guitar and bass were live, but a lot of the music was manufactured from a computer.  I would much rather have him hire a drummer and a backing vocalist and actually have the whole experience be live. 

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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