Not so coincidentally, Marilyn Manson chose the week of Halloween to start his 1998 world tour. You see, he has some new costumes to show off. For starters, he wears prettier cosmetics these days, favoring joyous red lipstick and eyeliner, not blots of ghoulish black mascara, over his death-pallor makeup. His hair these days is rampant-chic, a blend of Edward Scissorhands and Jennifer Aniston. And it's no longer black. It's two shades: Wilma Flintstone orange and Betty Rubble brunette. And his fashion? For most of the show, he stepped out of the lingerie, garter belts and ghoulish, Victorian underthings and into knee-high platform boots and a glittery teal bodysuit with two big portholes: One in front revealing his sequined thong underwear and the other in back revealing his buttocks. When he did wear women's underwear, it was spangled with ruby red rhinestones and decorated lavishly with feathers. Ding-dong. Trick or treat? As it turned out, the trick was on us: Monday night at Memorial Hall, the official opening of his 1998 world tour, Manson performed for barely one hour, ending his show so suddenly - cutting off four songs on the set list - that it appeared to surprise his own sound men. Fans who paid about $27 but got barely an hour of music looked equally astonished, if not angry. As for the show, his new ``Mechanical Animals'' record has put Manson into a new subterranean light: He's more glam, less goth. But live, in the flesh, Manson still sounds like the raging industrial-rock animal who put theater noir back into rock. He's made some changes, though. Gone are the fits of sacrilege (no theatrics with the Bible) and Satanism, though he still spits at his crowd (and it returns the favor) and waves at it with his middle finger. But overall, the show lacked spectacle and fire. Manson did reprise his Antichrist Superstar alter ego for the last song; not surprisingly, that got the biggest rise out of the crowd. The shortened set list was a mix of old and new. He opened with ``The Reflecting God'' and ``Great Big White World'' then tore into several new songs, ``Posthuman,'' ``Disassociative'' and ``Speed of Pain. '' On ``Rock Is Dead,'' a tirade against the music industry, two backup singers/dancers joined in, providing a glaring juxtaposition of apocalyptic rock and Motown soul. Monday's show was the second in two nights for Manson. He gave an abbreviated dress rehearsal Sunday night in Lawrence, a violently loud show that shook the intimate Granada Theatre down to its moorings. That show attracted a sellout crowd of about 700 plus a gaggle of peaceful (but not tasteful) protesters from a church in Topeka, who were apparently under the false impression that Manson is gay. As it turned out, fans in Lawrence got the better part of the deal. The show was the same length as the show at Memorial, but tickets were only $15 and nobody had a bad seat.
By: TIMOTHY FINN Pop Music Writer
Date: 10/27/98