MARILYN MANSON
THE LAST TOUR ON EARTH
LIVE ALBUM NOTHING RELEASE: NOVEMBER 15, 1999 REVIEW: DECEMBER 2, 1999


Now, this wasn't a very surprising release, was it? When a band leaves the smaller stages and enters the major arenas, a live recording seems strangely unavoidable. And releasing it in time for the lucrative Christmas holidays, ironically or not, just gives you a bad aftertaste. Not very rock'n'roll at all.
But then, the concept of Marilyn Manson is, as their name indicates, built on contradictions: using the system to smash it up, mocking stardom by living it to the extreme and so forth. But I sometimes feel that the dear Reverend has begun to enjoy his commercial journey a bit too much. Hopefully not. Because the, in my view, radical and humanistic core of Manson is not only interesting but also a necessity in the Land of the illusory free and home of the ignorant. They have undoubtedly been quite successful in their attempts to ridicule several conservative pricks and the so called Moral Majority. And that is an effort, whether you like their music or not, is both impressive and utterly important.
But if you disregard from these facts and just look at the album "The Last Tour on Earth", you don't find that much of interest. The live versions simply falls short in a comparison with the studio versions. Though it is kind of sweet when Manson, during the extended version of "Lunchbox", salutes the cops that is about to arrest him after the concert. So is the intro of "I Don't Like the Drugs But the Drugs Like Me" when he tells the audience about a dream he had where the world was made of all sorts of drugs and the cops sucked his dick instead of arrested him. But otherwise this is just another live album strictly intended for the hardcore fans.

ERIK ALMGREN