October 20, 2018

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Shirley Manson knows how to command a stage.  Manson and the rest of her band, Garbage made a stop at The Hard Rock Rocksino on Thursday night as they are out celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their album Version 2.0.

 

Dressed in an orange sparkly dress, with matching orange choker, ring and makeup that went across her eyes like a mask, Manson was the center of attention all night long.   

 

The Scottish lass has a powerful voice and she prowls, dances and shimmies her way across the stage proving that she is one of the best front-people in the business today.   The band, consisting of drummer Butch Vig, guitarists/keyboardists Butch Erikson and Steve Marker and touring bassist Eric Avery were spot-on all evening long.  They seemed to be content being at the back of the stage and letting their front-woman take the spotlight.

 

After the first three songs, "Afterglow," "Deadwood" and "Temptation Waits" Manson spoke to the audience and thanked them for coming to the show.  She stated that she was happy to "Wake up in your beautiful city.  The city of Rock and Roll!"

 

Not only did the band mix in the entire album of Version 2.0 throughout the set, but they also mashed-up a couple of songs with there own as well.  The first mashup was "Personal Jesus" with "Wicked Ways," The Kinks "So Tired" with "13x Forever" and Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" with "You Look So Fine."   All of the mash-ups fit in perfectly. 

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They also played what Manson called "The only pop song we ever wrote" which was "Get Busy with the Fizzy."

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The two-hour show came to a close with a three song encore which consisted of "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing," "No Horses" and "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)."

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Even though the band didn't play any of their biggest hits from their first record, it was still a great night of music from one of the best rock bands from the '90s.

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Rituals of Mine opened the show with a very interesting set of vocals and drums.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

 

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