Marilyn Manson
August 24, 2024
Grey Eagle Event Centre, Calgary, AB
Canadian Beats Passport
What more can you say about the electrifying shock rocker Marilyn Manson that hasn’t already been said? A tumultuous career, controversy, and some of the most shocking imagery in rock history are all elements that have catapulted Manson to the top and kept him a cut above the rest for the last 30 years. From everything I’ve seen and heard, his live shows are a gamble – as he’s battled with sobriety, he’s put on some pretty terrible performances over the years, phoning it in, seeming like he’d rather be anywhere but on that stage. Let me reassure you – this was not what we experienced.
Dude was on FIRE. An engaged, electrifying performance, cementing for many why he is the king of shock rock. He is currently on tour with Five Finger Death Punch and Slaughter to Prevail, but the Calgary show appears to be a one-off for him, as the rest of the tour was in Saskatoon that night.
His setlist was a pretty even spread of material from roughly 7 different albums, with the meat of it from Antichrist Superstar. The usual hits were there such as The Beautiful People, Sweet Dreams, and The Dope Show, but this show also featured the live debut of “Raise the Red Flag”, and some deeper cuts like “Angel with the Scabbed Wings”.
He even did a 2-song encore, clocking his set in at nearly 90 minutes.
He only allows photogs one song to get what you need, but the stage was super well lit, and although I would have preferred the usual 3 songs (I’m a creature of habit), getting some dang cool shots in that shorter time frame was actually a breeze. I’ve heard horror stories of him spitting on, or blowing snot rockets at photographers – there was no such behaviour towards us. It was actually a really cool experience being to have him in front of my lens, and I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to capture him, with a phenomenal performance to go along with it.
