Marilyn Manson at the Hammerstein, 11/27/00 Photo by Glenn Emerstone © 2000 NY Rock

Opening with "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," a caped Manson – with butt cheeks bouncing like a go-go girl's – started what Alice Cooper began many werewolf moons ago. Add to it what Trent Rezner molded like Frankenstein in the mid-nineties, mix in a Bowie-esque baritone and dynamic stage presence and you have Marilyn Manson. A sight to behold, Manson kept the crowd in awe with his middle fingers raised most of the night, yowling at mid-show "I hate everyone, even the homeless!"

Marilyn Manson at the Hammerstein, 11/27/00 Photo by Glenn Emerstone © 2000 NY Rock

Guitarist John5 looked like an extra from The Night of the Living Dead, foaming at the mouth with dribble dangling and playing in a crunchy punk style not unlike Bowie's Mick Ronson. On attack, bassist Twiggy Ramirez and drummer Ginger Fish pounded the rhythms like a jackhammer to the skull as Madonna Wayne Gacy played from a rubberized keyboard that moved to and fro as if it were attached to a gigantic slinky toy.

Manson's performance was a non-stop tour-de force of visual stimuli. Rock he did, shock he didn't. I was looking forward to snakes emanating from the boy's lipsticked mouth but to no avail. Instead Manson took to stilts, sang from a high riser, and spat a lot in glorious Technicolor.

On "Crucifixion in Space," he dressed like the pope and sang from a two-gauge shotgun-encased mike stand with two wax heads on a mantle pontificating on the valley of death. The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" was delivered with biting rage as Manson chanted like the ghost of Sid Vicious. On "Disposable Teens," the pace slowed down a bit with an arty exorcism that was tastefully pulled off.

The performance ended like a carnival freak show at Coney Island with Manson throwing mike stands at the drums and John5 hurling his axe sky bound – four times for added effect – all to the deafening silence of the crowd. The hush was either awe, numbness or dumbfoundedness. Take your pick.

December 2000

More Marilyn Manson:

• Marilyn Manson Responds to Catholic League's Declaration of Boycott on the Band's New Album Holy Wood (Dec. 1, 2000)
• Marilyn Manson's Posthuman Record Label to Release Soundtrack to Book of Shadows Blair Witch 2 (Oct. 6, 2000)
• Manson on Bush, Gore and Eminem (Sept. 20, 2000)
• Interview: I Don't Hate Journalists, I Just Feel Better When They're Not Around (Sept. 2000)
• Marilyn Manson's New Posthuman Record Label Signs Its First Artist (May 18, 2000)
• Review of Live CD: The Last Tour on Earth (Dec 1999)
• Baby Eating Is Bad Influence, Our Kids Need Balanced Diets (May 1999)
• Interview: The Hardest Working Antichrist in Hollywood (Sept. 1998)
• Book Signing: A Cold Night in Hell (Mar. 1998)
• Marilyn Manson at the CMJ Music Fest (Oct. 1997)
• Interview: Manson Talks About the Stage, the Screen and Teenage Suicide (Aug. 1997)
• My Date with Marilyn Manson (May 1997)
  

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