Garbage without those pesky Europeans!

Last night's Garbage show was fucking amazing. I truly enjoyed myself even tho it was held at the shittiest venue in San Diego - SOMA. For those of you who don't know about SOMA, let me inform you that the place is just vile. It is so disgusting, I wouldn't even dream of having sex there - and some of you know that I would do it just about anywhere. SOMA does not serve any alcohol due to the fact that it accommodates all ages. And last night I was dying for a beer! *sigh*

Anyhoo, The Start opened the show about 8 o'clock. The Start is a female fronted band from Southern California. Throw in some old Cure, some Punk meets New Wave meets Electro and you have The Start. Altho their sound is not completely original, I did like their performance very much. The lead singer looked as if she was a PB girl reject dipped in a vat of Silverlake make over. Her black gothic prom dress looked like something Karen O would wear - think the Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Maps" video. Her hair was a hybrid of skunk blonde and black cut with an avant-garde slant. I would say she looked like DH (the Arizona Street apartment manager), but that would be an insult to her. Her voice was reminiscent of Amanda Ghost's, raspy but sorry to say not as fiery. I will no doubt be picking up their CD sometime in the future. I was quite fond of the outfits the guys in the band were wearing - tight black buttoned up shirts, tight long sleeved shirts, tight black sweater vest, tight pants - ahem, the common theme is tight. I guess I will be skirting the little boys' section soon for some "tight" clothes. =)

And let me mentioned the sound system at SOMA sucks dirty ass.

After The Start finished their set, there was a brief intermission so I ran up to the concession stand to grab some water and Doritos. And of course, my observations began. I noticed an adequate amount of fags, lesbians who were apparently planning to meet Shirley, older straight women with their "I live and work in La Jolla, but I'm really a rocker by heart" boyfriends, and younger-ish OB couples - which was a oddity for SOMA since every time I have been by there, all I ever see are high school kids getting dropped off by their moms. Let me say that the best part about the crowd last night was there was this "respect my space" vibe - which is definitely a nice touch at any concert.

At about 9 o'clock the lights dimmed to dark and the crowd began to roar. Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" blared out of the speakers. As the song played, members of Garbage began filling the stage one by one. The amount of noise from the crowd increased as each member assumed their positions. During the last few seconds song, Shirley walked out. The crowd went berserk. The blood drenched lighting glowed on stage as they broke into "Queer", which for me was one of the first Garbage songs I heard back in 1995 - I was working at the AMC El Con 6 with Burchie, Stella, and Kale. Oh the memories attached to their first album! *sigh* A couple of songs later and after getting settled in, Shirley thanked the crowd for being there even tho the expression on her face sang a different tune. She looked like she was totally ready to beat a bitch's ass. She had told the band at one point "let's go for fuck's sake". One thing about Shirl is if she is not a happy camper, you can so feel it. Altho not long after, Shirley began to open up and letting go of the bad juju - maybe it was the Whiskey setting in or she was getting a contact high from the joint that was being lit up by the Rasta dude over in the center of the floor - did he not think to puff puff pass to me?! Anyhow, she was interacting with the crowd, showing some thigh, seductively sticking out her tongue, graciously receiving gifts from the audience - like a feathered boa she would later strut with during "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)". You could totally tell at that point she was loving it. Her mood ring was no longer a cruddy brown. The set was filled with a good mix of songs from their catalogue of 4 albums. The show went on for over an hour - insert encore here - with the crowd chanting "Garbage", they all returned in a few minutes for 3 more songs. When you include the encore, the concert reached about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Before they started the first encored song, Shirley mentioned that the song they were about to do was her favorite from the new album - "Bleed Like Me". She spoke of self loathing, along with the image we have of ourselves - hence, the meaning of the song. I strongly suggest you listen to "Bleed Like Me", even if you are not a Garbage fan. This song is very moving - ugh, I sound like one of those cheesy music critics. Regardless, it is one of my most favorite songs of theirs.

Oh yeah, did I mention the sound at SOMA sucks dirty ass?!

Now I know I've been rambling on, but I do have to say one other thing - the stage design was awesome. I wish there had been a camera around for me to have snapped a pic - forgot Woodsick's cam at home. Picture this… the band on stage, Shirley dead center, Butch behind her on drums, Steve on the left, Duke on the right, the elusive tour only 5th member (Eric - I think?) hovering in the background between Duke and Butch. Behind all of them are four evenly positioned monitors. These are scattered along the back of the stage where a huge black wall with tiny little lights stands - think a gigantic Lite Brite (you know, the ones we had as kids). During each song, the monitors would show various images like American Flags ("Metal Heart"), a mouth of a man ("Shut Your Mouth"), outtakes of Shirley from videos ("Why Do You Love Me?"), clouds ("Happy Home"), flames ("Bad Boyfriend"), and so on. Many times the images on the screen would be emulated with the tiny lights on that black hole of a wall. One of the most visually stimulating performances of the evening was "Sex Is Not The Enemy" where some of my favorite words were plastered across the screens - slut, cunt, tart, whore, etc. I completely loved it.

Shirley had addressed the rumors about the notorious split and assured the audience after 10 years of being together, they were not going anywhere. Woohoo for fans like me - ugh, now I sound like a groupie. In my opinion, this had easily become my favorite Garbage performance regardless of the venue and sound. Goes to show that no matter how bad the place is, if the band is great, you are going to have a one hell of a time - even if you have to stand under a cold ass A/C vent for over an hour.