Marilyn Manson will performing at Arizona Bike Week in Scottsdale, Arizona on Saturday, April 5th 2025! Though Manson had not been previously scheduled for this event which is just a few weeks away, yesterday Arizona Bike Week made the following announcement on their social media pages: "Five Finger Death Punch had to cancel their performance due to a family matter, but we’re thrilled to announce Marilyn Manson will be taking the stage in the RockYard on Saturday, April 5th!! Saturday ticket holders will be receiving an email regarding this schedule change." Due to the lineup change, this will be Marilyn Manson's first headliner at a festival since his return to the stage last year. Regarding the nearly last minute schedule change, Arizona Bike Week producer Lisa Cyr told the Arizona Republic the following: “It’s been a little crazy, obviously. A lot of scrambling. But we’re pretty excited with the way it all turned out. Marilyn Manson, I hear that his last few tours hav...
One of the things I always love about seeing Marilyn Manson live is to hear the songs he chooses to introduce his performance and then see what kind of Intro will precede his stage appearance.
In the past, the setup for his stage show would take such a long time, that along with other songs entire albums were played, the most memorable being when the entire album of Pink Floyd's The Wall (80 minutes) was played and the crowd sang along to it, or when Iggy Pop's The Idiot (40 minutes) played from start to finish.
When I attended a live performance in New Jersey on August 5th 2024, the wait time between sets wasn't that long, but I do recall hearing some songs play before Manson performed, though I was also a bit distracted and not paying as much attention as I should have. However, I can tell you the one song that was played right before the Intro, and I believe it has been played at every show this leg of the tour, though I'm not sure. I looked around for a video that maybe captured this song, but all the "full show" videos online so far have only begun with the actual Intro and not the songs preceding it. Since this leg of the tour is about to end this week, and no one has managed to record it, I decided to just move forward and reveal this one song and some facts about the Intro before Manson takes the stage.
As many Manson fans know, he is a big fan of the show True Detective. As he has noted in interviews, its dark themes have been a source of inspiration for him, especially on his Heaven Upside Down album. He even named his cat Rusty after Matthew McConaughey's character. It shouldn't be surprising then that the song Manson chose to be played before the Intro to his set is a song you can hear during the closing credits of episode one in season one. The song is called "Young Men Dead" by The Black Angels. You can hear the song from the episode in the first video below, while under that is the song played while showing the lyrics.
In the past, the setup for his stage show would take such a long time, that along with other songs entire albums were played, the most memorable being when the entire album of Pink Floyd's The Wall (80 minutes) was played and the crowd sang along to it, or when Iggy Pop's The Idiot (40 minutes) played from start to finish.
When I attended a live performance in New Jersey on August 5th 2024, the wait time between sets wasn't that long, but I do recall hearing some songs play before Manson performed, though I was also a bit distracted and not paying as much attention as I should have. However, I can tell you the one song that was played right before the Intro, and I believe it has been played at every show this leg of the tour, though I'm not sure. I looked around for a video that maybe captured this song, but all the "full show" videos online so far have only begun with the actual Intro and not the songs preceding it. Since this leg of the tour is about to end this week, and no one has managed to record it, I decided to just move forward and reveal this one song and some facts about the Intro before Manson takes the stage.
As many Manson fans know, he is a big fan of the show True Detective. As he has noted in interviews, its dark themes have been a source of inspiration for him, especially on his Heaven Upside Down album. He even named his cat Rusty after Matthew McConaughey's character. It shouldn't be surprising then that the song Manson chose to be played before the Intro to his set is a song you can hear during the closing credits of episode one in season one. The song is called "Young Men Dead" by The Black Angels. You can hear the song from the episode in the first video below, while under that is the song played while showing the lyrics.
I believe the only show where "Young Men Dead" was not played right before the Intro was in Phoenix, Arizona on September 10th, where it was replaced with "Birds of Hell Awaiting". Since around 2015, Manson has always played "Birds of Hell Awaiting" in Phoenix because of the reference in the song to the phoenix, and it is reported that during Manson's performance he even said "I feel like a phoenix tonight."
After a short period of silence, the lights dim and the Intro begins. The Intro is music composed by Tyler Bates. The stage is covered by a black curtain while the seven inverted double crosses begin flashing, a symbol created by Manson in 2017 to represent the dichotomies involved in his art. Meanwhile a voice can be heard repeating the phrase "You know who I am" seven times, though before the seventh time the sixth is echoed a number of times. This Intro reminded me a lot of the Mechanical Animals tour in 1998, where you heard a voice repeating "This isn't me, I'm not mechanical." The 2024 Intro can be seen and heard pretty clearly in the beginning of the two videos below.