So did Marilyn Manson bomb at the Sunset Strip Music Festival, or was he amazing or was he simply being Manson after all? I read a review in the LA Times, and it seems that critic
‘Manson's memory, or delivery, wasn't nearly as sharp. On the contrary, where Bad Religion connected, Manson alienated. The singer's platinum albums in the '90s helped define goth rock, but on Saturday he seemed like a vampire awakened during daylight: groggy and out of it.
In fact, it was easy to identify the moment when he lost the crowd. Between songs, after he'd performed "No Reflection," in an apparent effort to shock, he expressed an out-of-the-blue observation. "Most of you are on narcotics," he declared knowingly. When in unison the crowd responded with a healthy roar of "No," Manson seemed taken aback, and replied, "I'm not on drugs. I swear to God."
But later, before leading into his singalong industrial rock classic "The Dope Show," he tried to blame the crowd's lack of enthusiasm on them not being on drugs. What never seemed to occur to him was the indifference went way deeper than that.
Even the appearance of Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger for three songs by the Doors ("People Are Strange," "Love Me Two Times," and "Five to One), a band born on the Strip and that was honored throughout the festival, wasn't enough to salvage the set. On the contrary, it only made Manson's shortcomings more obvious.’
Ouchs! Not that great, but other people have commented that his set ‘was amazing’, that he was ‘full of energy’ and that the narcotics talk was just a common routine of his. So who knows? It made me think how subjective we are when attending a show, as our opinion at the end largely depends on our previous impression of the artist and whether we are a fan or not. A honest critic will always be trying to be as objective as possible, but it’s quite a delusion.
You can always watch this 3-minute video of Manson covering the Doors’ People Are Strange’ at SSMF,… without any other previous thought, he looked a little groggy to me!