Marilyn Manson at ACL Live – July 19, 2015

Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson once told a classroom of students at Temple University that “Art is a question mark , I don’t think it should ever be an answer. As an artist, we are here to affect people, whether it is positively or negatively, that is our role.”

Marilyn Manson is an artist before he is a musician and, he would be the first one to tell you that. The powerful impact of his aesthetic is unquestionably unique as it is captivating, and his popularity shows that his art does elicit responses, good and bad, from a diverse audience.

What is questionable though, is whether a solid 3 hours of music should ever cost more than $100? Do the egos of Marilyn and Billy Corgan need to be affirmed by a horde of obsequious yuppies yearning for a hit of long lost 90’s nostalgia? Or are they only on the road to fortify their comfortable and lascivious lifestyles they’ve become accustomed too, like a pensioner punching in?

I love the career of Marilyn and hate that of Billy Corgan’s, and it unclear what the motives of these once mortal enemies are in reconciling to tour together. So since I have this soapbox, I will place the blame of this exorbitant pricing scheme on the bald, overgrown, wunderkind and leave it at that.

What is evidently clear, is that I finally witnessed the fingernail-curling religious spectacle that is a Manson show. Manson’s set plowed into me with debilitating force that baptized myself and, all the other sacrificial lambs baying at his pulpit this past Sunday night at the Moody Theater, in the gospel that is Manson.

The diabolical dictator opened his sermon of sex, drugs and Satan with hits like “Deep Six”, “Disposable Teens”, and “mOBSCENE”. Bassist, Twiggy Ramirez, pogo’d around the stage looking like a Catholic schoolgirl corpse, giving the crowd vacant apathetic stares, while Marilyn spit on every fan that came within range.

Marilyn got his first dose of fame doing a cover, so it makes sense that “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics and “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode are still found in his set. Before “Personal Jesus”, Marilyn expounded his unique views on Christianity by setting a bible on fire, groping strippers who grinded on his pulpit of debauchery, and exclaiming that Jesus “Might be able to help us, if he wasn’t so busy dying all the time.” and that “If God lived with us today, we would go to his house and break his fucking windows.”

During “Dope Show” a female fan was filming Marilyn up close with her cell phone, Marilyn snatched the Iphone and pushed it down his pants and rubbed his crotch with it. He turned away in disgust and threw the phone 20 ft in the air, which was miraculously caught by an astute security guard.

Between groping his bassist, gyrating on his PA equipment, pouring baggies of white powder on the audience, and singing with a visceral wantonness that is absent from much of rock and roll these days, there was very little time to avert one’s eyes.

Manson closed his set with a powerful slew of songs; “Rock Is Dead”, “Lunchbox”, “Antichrist Superstar”, “the Beautiful People” and “Coma White” had the crowd pulsing with angst.

Each song Manson plays has correlating imagery that can be dissected and analyzed for it’s message. Whether it’s railing against religion, censorship, or false idols, Marilyn brings back the pageantry of Alice Cooper and KISS to show us that Rock n’ Roll is just a canvas for him to paint his masterpiece on. The art of Manson is just as relevant today as it was two decades ago when he began, it’s just a shame that there aren’t many new artists today that can match his dedication on assaulting the status quo.