#Korn

As far as song choices, the audience didn’t mind if it was a rager or a slowdance. If you were on the floor during the 75-minute set, you walked away with a few bruises, as pushing and crowdsurfing were almost nonstop.
Not surprisingly, the band focused exclusively on material from In/Casino/Out and Relationship of Command, as well as the Vaya EP. Bixler and Ward sounded as good as they did when they toured on those releases in the late ’90s.
Microphone problems were a persistent issue: Both Bixler and Ward’s went out at various points in the set. Choosing to move forward with “One Armed Scissor” without Ward yelling, “Cut away,” the audience gladly took over that part.

For a reunion show, this certainly showed why the band is beloved. There was nothing phony about the emotional catharsis they brought, even back when five people watched them play a house show in the mid-’90s. Now back after 12 years, the band didn’t look or play like they were worn out or out of touch. They gave something that a long-timer and newcomer could appreciate.
I was extremely skeptical about ATDI reuniting. Rodriguez might not have been like Roger Waters in terms of talking about estranged bandmates, but years upon years of shit-talking made a reunion sound nearly impossible. So everything’s magically cool now?

Set list:

Arcarsenal
Pattern Against User
Chanbara
Lopsided
Sleepwalk Capsules
Napoleon Solo
Quarantined
Rascuache
198d
Enfilade
Metronome Arthritis
Pickpocket
Non-Zero Possibility
One Armed Scissor
Catacombs

If you were expecting the band to have any interaction with the crowd, this wasn’t the night. They kept to themselves, rolling through one song after another without any considerable time to take a breather. Dynamics and tempos varied, from the demented pep rally chant of The Water Glass to the slow ride down the highway of Manky.
Duane joined us about half way through the show just in time as they started Youth of Today as we looked at each other smiling as our collective jaws hit the floor.
As great as the tones of Osborne’s guitar and Warren’s bass were, they didn’t overpower the nuances of the double-drumming. With identical Tama kits placed next to each other, Crover and Willis beat every inch with marching band-sized drumsticks. And they wore matching gladiator garments to boot. The overall power never started to wane as the band finished with a neverending version of The Bit, but we stayed all the way to the end.Setlist:Dog Island
Hung Bunny
Roman Dog Bird
The Water Glass
Evil New War God
Manky
A History of Bad Men
Youth of America
A Growing Disgust
The War on Wisdom
We Are Doomed
Friends Before Larry
A Really Long Wait
National Hamster
The BitUnsane opened and I had no remorse for missing them until I had heard that with their regular drummer Vinnie Signorelli recuperating in a hospital, Willis and Crover filled in. A chance to see Dale Crover hit drums and cymbals like a punching bag and I missed it. Good times though and great seeing old friends. Tony and I stayed up late talking and I wanted to hang much later but I had the dreaded Jury Duty in the morning.Marilyn Manson/The Pretty Reckless – May 11th – The Palladium – Dallas, TXEven if you are just a casual browser of this blog, or even if you have just met me briefly, you know that I’m a huge fan of Taylor Momsen and her band the Pretty Reckless. Her face (and impossible body) have appeared many times on this blog and I’ve written many of story on her.
So when they came through town opening for Marilyn Manson, it was never a question of not going.

Originally I was going to cover it for that magazine that I have spoken of in the past – the one where the so called editor has actively tried to screw me out of tickets and opportunities only for them to blow up in his face by my handiwork. Well he was up to his old tricks again and I decided that this was the final straw. I had spoken to Taylor’s manager John a few weeks prior to give myself some insurance independently from the magazine.

It proved to do nothing as far as my luck was concerned as when I arrived to the venue. nothing was working out down to the tiniest detail
Here’s what happened:

I know it was a Friday night, but forgive me for underestimating Marilyn Manson’s relevancy but I had no idea he was still this popular as when I pull up to the Palladium expecting my usual parking spot one block over, it looks like everyone in Dallas is at this show. I ended up having to park about as far away from the venue as possible without having to take a cab there.
I get to Will Call to discover that of course my ticket is not there. Glad I trusted my instincts and not trust that kooky editor – but wait – I’m not on the Pretty Reckless’ list either. The people in the Will Call office here are normally very helpful but I didn’t recognize a single person in there and the guy I was speaking to was super rude and unhelpful. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind calling back to production to straighten things out and he seemed super put out and told me all he could do was sell me a ticket for $60 but oh wait now I can’t because we just sold the last one sorry.

I decide to take matters in my own hands and this is where things get cartoonish. I go around the side of the building where I know crew load-in is and I see every member of the Pretty Reckless (sans Taylor of course) hanging out and smoking, minutes from taking the stage. I see that the drummer is wearing a Clutch t-shirt, perfect. We start chatting and he’s a huge Clutch fan (they had just shared a festival bill in South Dakota that week) and we are having a good time swapping stories. I then see Sean, the Tour Manager whom I recognize from a conversation he and I had via Twitter a few weeks back.
With this tour coming to end soon he was looking to jump onto another one and I told him I might have something for him and we could talk about it when they got to Dallas.
I go up to him and introduce myself, let him know who I am, and we start talking about his qualifications and experiences. Basically it turns into an informal job interview. I tell him about the tour I had in mind and he seems interested and tells me he’s qualified and we exchange contact information. When that ends I tell him of the snafu at Will Call and he commiserates by telling me he’s not surprised by how forgetful Taylor’s manager is. He double checks his information and concurs that I’m not on there. He shakes his head as almost to apologize like the next thing he’s gonna say is “Don’t worry, I gotcha covered”.
If for nothing else to ensure a little advantage for him to get me to hire him for an upcoming tour.
We switch subjects for a second and then he has to get back to his Tour Managing duties- Ok cool, I can only assume that he does indeed got me covered.
Losing confidence by the second, I swallowed my pride and flat out asked him how he wanted to cover this.
Incredulously, he just says “Oh their’s nothing I can do sorry”, and continues to ask me about the job.
Stunned, I just say “Well you just wanna walk me in then?” – to which he replies “No, sorry I can’t” – and continues to press me about potentially hiring him.

Shocked but remaining dignified I said “No worries, have a good show” – and went back to the drummer for more Clutch talk.
He makes a call on his walkie talkie and like something out of a movie I realize that the call was to Taylor’s assistant as in the distance I see her helping Taylor (who I thought was already inside the venue) off the bus and walking toward us. Like the priestess has been summoned.

As Taylor and her assistant get closer and eventually reach hand-shaking proximity to me, I purposely removed myself to avoid any notion that I was any threat or seemingly waiting for her like some lovesick fan. I purposely looked away, and made no eye contact to enforce this.
In doing so, I saw enough to have several moments of pristine clarity which are the following:

1) When describing Taylor the word that you often hear or read is perfect – Like Mila Kunis is hot, or Meghan Fox is sexy, but with Taylor the talk always turn to the fact that physically she is seemingly the perfect specimen. She has as many (if not more) female fans than male for this very reason and I must tell you that being this close to her, I would be hard pressed to disagree with them.

2) However, by the same token I also had this overwhelming burst of maturity and clarity by in an instant the whole thing seemed ridiculous to me. Like what the fuck was I doing hanging by the back door like some old dog trying to get in to see this obnoxious, bony teenager that looked like she had been playing dressup in her older sisters’ stripper closet?

The odd thing was how civil and friendly the tour manager remained to me while he was corralling Taylor and the other members to take the stage by still talking to me and even introducing me to Taylor and her assistant who I learn who’s name is Alie.
If not for standing next to Taylor, all eyes would be on Alie as she is quite attractive herself.

I talk with them both as I finish my cigarette and then the tour manager signals that its time to go in and cordial to the end he waves to me and cheerfully says “See ya Roy” for which incredulously inspired Taylor and Alie to turn and do the same. I say goodbye and as the door closed behind them with me outside, as if on cue, it starts to pour down rain. A new low reached.I stood there for a second contemplating what to do – give up and go home, commit ritual suicide or fucking do something about this –
Suddenly out of desperation I found courage and I waited a few mins and went for broke – I opened the backstage door like I belonged there and saw several people that recognized me from all the times I’ve been there managing my own artists.
Without a single credential, I walked in there like I owned the place and because, again of my previous knowledge of the venue I knew how to get out to general seating with a quickness and that’s just what I did.
I did it so quickly that Taylor hadn’t even taken the stage yet – Fuck the World
Now I was in and even had time to go get a beer. I needed one because my adrenaline was a little high from my little stunt and as I’m eying the never-ending beer line deciding if I wanna get in it, I hear someone calling my name loudly.
Its one of the bartenders whom I don’t recognize until I get right up to the bar and see that’s its an old buddy of mine. I don’t recognize him because he had shaved off his huge ZZ Top beard that he’s had since I’ve known him but his voice is unmistakable.
He high fives me, asks me what I’m drinking and hands it to me without even charging and says “Here dude, fuck that line”. Bless you old friend.
Things were looking up and in a hurry – literally 90 seconds ago I was a chump without a ticket in the rain and now I’m walking to the front of the stage with a free beer in my hand.Though they were the opening act, when Taylor entered last onstage, their was this collective gasp that’s hard to describe if you were not there.

The set kicked off with Hit Me Like a Man, from their recently released EP of the same name that the music of, believe it or not decidedly sounded Clutch influenced. .

Despite her slutty bad girl shtick, the girl can sing. Taylor immediately established her rock credibility with her signature throaty, growling vocals and it seems she’s finally hit a point where she knows how to own the stage. An improvement over the angsty teenager who was solely focused on trying to be a bad ass.

Speeding through each song, she carried the band and their musicianship was flawless, but clearly the audience was there to see her – and she delivered.
She urged the crowd to sing along, and they obliged at every offer as she listened and smiled, especially on fan favorites Just Tonight and Make Me Wanna Die. While some singers use audience participation as a cop out, Her voice never wavered.
Another standout was Cold Blooded, offering a haunting duet between her and the guitarist as they sang back and forth as though trading quips.
The set was short, but it was definitely what the fans came out for and a good display that they’re all a bit more seasoned as performers.

Setlist –

Hit Me Like A Man
Since You’re Gone
Zombie
Miss Nothing
Just Tonight
Goin’ Down
Cold Blooded
My Medicine
Make Me Wanna Die
Under the Water
Factory Girl

Ok now I needed a cigarette (not like that creep) as I was relieved to have seen the show after all. I almost forgot that I still had Marilyn Manson to go but that was immediately hard to ignore by all of the awesome people watching I was enjoying on the smoker’s porch. People watching doesn’t get any better than at a show like this. At this point I had got what I came for so everything else from here on out was academic. I waked back to the bar, skipping the line once again as my bartender hands me a refill and asking in his unmistakable voice “Who was that little slut?” – This is awesome.

Now it’s Manson’s turn and as the curtain dropped the presentation was as simple and stripped down as Manson has ever been.
Aside from a microphone that resembled a large butcher’s knife, the only indulgence was a hat rack, situated next to the drum riser, with a modest selection of headwear. He’d grab a hat, emote and grimace for the audience, then throw it on the stage for a crew member – his “hat tech”? – to fetch.

But I gotta tell you I have seen a dozen Manson shows and this was unlucky number 13 as the sound was awful and he just seemed like a mess.
He appeared winded, a little wiped out. Even the act of leading the crowd on his trademark chant, “We hate love, we love hate,” felt perfunctory and passionless.
The last time I saw him perform was 8 years ago (sadly the night that Dimebag was killed) and on this night he just seemed fucked up and almost embarrassing.I’ve always admired Manson for being an outrageous reactionary, a provocateur whose ideas were more intelligent than most were willing to admit but it’s questionable whether the subtleties – yes, subtleties – of his statements necessarily translated well.
Musically, his band performs rudimentary Industrial Rock, that’s big and dumb and should be the foundation, not the focus, of the live show.I was hoping that Taylor was gonna come out and duet with him as they had done at the Revolver Awards to liven things up but that didn’t happen.