Marilyn Manson's Triumphant Return To The Stage After Nearly Five Years

Besides a few stage appearances with Kanye West in 2021 and 2022, Marilyn Manson had not performed in concert before a live audience since late 2019. Nearly five years later, after setbacks due to covid regulations and an attempt at cancellation due to unfounded accusations, Marilyn Manson had a triumphant return to the stage in Hershey, Pennsylvania at Hersheypark Stadium on Friday, August 2nd. For this show he opened for Five Finger Death Punch, but tonight in Silver Spring, Maryland he will be headlining for the first time with special guest Slaughter To Prevail. He was on the stage in Hershey for about 50 minutes, and went through some of his biggest hits with a lot of energy to an enthusiastic crowd.

Many people had a lot of questions going into this show, and now we can answer at least a few of them.

First, we finally know who is part of Marilyn Manson's band, who were for the most part kept a secret until they walked on stage. They are:

Tyler Bates - Guitar
Reba Meyers - Guitar
Piggy D (Matt Montgomery) - Bass
Gil Sharone - Drums

A very interesting lineup when you consider a few things. Though both Tyler Bates and Gil Sharone toured together with Manson in the past, Bates quit the band in 2018 and Sharone quit in 2019 to pursue other things, so to see them back supporting Manson is a big deal. Piggy D. is a new addition to the band, primarily known for working with Rob Zombie for a number of years. The new addition of Reba Meyers from Code Orange is a historic move for the band as the first female band member.

On Instagram, Gil Sharone shared the following statement on August 2nd: "Happy to announce that I’m rockin with @marilynmanson again. Catch us on tour this summer and check out our new single 'As Sick As The Secrets Within.'”

Piggy D also wrote: "It is with immense gratitude that I stand with these beautiful and inspiring people on this amazing journey. I hope to see you all there!✊❤️ #marilynmanson"

Reba Meyers has yet to say anything, but there is an interesting fact about her in light of the allegations against Manson and how her presence in the band is a statement of how she may feel about his innocence. In June 2020 Homewrecker guitarist/vocalist Matt Barnum was called out for sexual misconduct by a number of women who alleged to be underage at the time, leading to the band to be dropped by their label Good Fight Music. Barnum also had a longstanding relationship with Code Orange, handling the merch sales and serving as a frequent member of their road crew, in addition to assisting them with early show bookings. Code Orange guitarist Reba Meyers commented on the allegations brought against Barnum:

 

During the performance, Manson introduced all the band members (Piggy D he only introduced as Matt Montgomery), which is pretty rare for him to do, and afterwords introduced himself with a greeting that shows he is working on his sobriety: "My name is Marilyn Manson and I'm a drug addict." People in recovery do this to acknowledge publicly that they have a problem which needs to be worked on. Strategically this introduction was timed to be the opener for his performance of "The Dope Show". Some wondered whether or not he would perform songs like "The Dope Show" ever again, since he is now sober, but by performing it last night he showed he is not shying away from those songs that helped define him as an artist, but introducing them in a way to give them a different perspective in his evolution as a person. And nowhere to be seen was there a big neon sign with the word DRUGS on stage, as was the usual in the past when he performed "The Dope Show".

Which brings us, secondly, to the setlist. The setlist for each show can vary, especially when the band is performing as a headliner as opposed to an opener, but from this first setlist we can see what Marilyn Manson is aiming for as a non-headliner, which is typical for such shows, to primarily focus on and present some of the hits, especially to a crowd that may not be familiar with you as a band. Here is the setlist that was posted:

 

 

It's a bold move that Manson opened with "We Know Where You Fucking Live", since he has previously stated that it was inspired by people saying things on the internet that they think they can get away with. This is in light of all that is going on with him personally right now, including the trial by social media his accusers put him through beginning in early 2021.

Also interesting is that he did not play any songs from albums he has been critical of in the past, such as Portrait of an American Family, Eat Me Drink Me, The High End of Low or Born Villain. Even more interesting is that he played no songs from We Are Chaos, which is an album he has never performed live, and I think a lot of people were expecting at least one song from. Instead he played one song from Smells Like Children, three songs from Antichrist Superstar, one from Mechanical Animals, two from Holy Wood, two from Golden Age of Grotesque, one from The Pale Emperor and two from Heaven Upside Down. His new song "As Sick As the Secrets Within" was also not part of the set. It will be interesting to see how this changes for a headline show. But for a shortened show, these are certainly high energy songs, and as a support act that is what you want to primarily offer.

Thirdly, we also got a glimpse of the stage backdrop and imagery presented for the show. What was very prominent throughout almost all the songs performed was that Manson used the Heaven Upside Down image of the upside down Cross of Lorraine, or Doublecross as Manson calls it. This could mean a few things. Manson has stated in the past that when he wants to flip something totally around and change it completely, it is like flipping heaven upside down. Along with this he has also stated that this is what makes his life one of chaos, and it is in chaos that he lives most comfortably and creatively. About this chaos he has stated in the past, when Heaven Upside Down was released: "I’m not here to save the world or change people’s lives in a way that I feel that it should be changed. I’m here to create a conduit of some sort of special space in their brain that they can create their own story out of. I just want to inspire people to be something else and I don’t really care specifically what that something else is. If it’s bad or good or whatever you define bad or good as, I just feel like I’m a tornado. That’s what I’m supposed to be. I grew up in tornado country, so I know."

 

 

 

We also got a few statements from people that helped get Manson back on track with his career. The Label Manager from Nuclear Blast Records, Tommy Jones, issued a statement, as well Alan Lasky and Tony Silva who worked on some of the art for the music video to "As Sick As the Secrets Within".

 

 

 

If you want to watch the whole show in its entirety, you can see it here, though nothing beats a live show, so if you haven't already, buy your tickets today.

 

 

I will have more to say after Manson's first headline show, then after the show I attend in person on Monday.