Sunday 16 December 2007

Putting Holes In Happiness

It's been a funny old year for Marilyn Manson. This time twelve months ago, his marriage was in ruins, his long mooted directorial debut was (and still is) languishing in development hell, and he hadn't written a song in a long, long time.

Yet at 6am, on Christmas morning, he began to write what became If I Was Your Vampire - the opening track on the critically acclaimed Eat Me Drink Me album. The album was a departure from Manson's previous work - both stylistically (writing as himself, rather than in character for the first time), and sonically... his usual grand guignol glam rock riff fest fused with complex guitar solos - yes, solos on a Manson record (!) - courtesy of Tim Skold, the only other musician featured, yet stripped down to the bare essentials everywhere else. Marilyn Manson the band is dead. Marilyn Manson the solo artist, lives on.

Not so, perhaps, on stage. Skold and longterm drummer Ginger Fish are still in tow, though the absence of MW Gacy is felt by the somewhat basic keyboard setup for his live successor, Chris Vrenna. And with John5's departure in 2004, former live bassist Skold has shifted to lead guitar, so Rob Holliday has been drafted in to fill that slot... not that you'd know it - because the two new members are rarely given a moment in the spotlight all night. Indeed, even when the houselights are up while Manson addresses an audience member who threw a bottle at Holliday, forcing a ten minute interval, you can barely see either of them - and Manson neglects to even remember to say Rob's name when he's talking about him.

The result is a band that doesn't feel quite right. We're light years away from the Golden Age of Grotesque, or even the band's real golden age - when Gacy, Ginger, and 5 were joined by the greatly missed Twiggy Ramirez (now touring with NIN) for two albums and high profile tours... and Marilyn Manson was a powerful unit that middle America and the more religious parts of the world were deeply afraid of.

Thats not to say the show isn't enjoyable... far from it. For arguably the first time in his career, Manson has perfected his live vocals - he'll never be blessed with the strongest voice on the planet, but its absolutely perfect for the music he makes, and its never sounded better outside the confines of a recording studio as it does on this tour. Considering how heavily treated his voice was on Eat Me Drink Me, this is a welcome surprise, and its also backed by a more showy Manson than past tours. There's none of the spitting, the audience baiting, the rubbing body parts on security staff, or starting fights with band members... in its place is a man aware of how to put on a great show, and determined to prove he can still deliver without having to resort to shock tactics to do so. Its almost as if, shock horror, he's actually grown up.

The one let down of the night is that the majority of the new songs don't work in a live context. Its possible to argue that its because they jarr badly with the back catalogue tracks wheeled out and joyfully accepted by the rabid crowd... the majority of them just don't have the catchy hooks and Adam And The Ants style drum beats of the old favourites, and inevitably end up being the songs in which everyone catches a breather or heads to the bar before another hit appears. Its also possibly because whilst I greatly enjoyed the new album, its ultimately got less to offer than his fictional concept albums, and as a result feels like a lesser album than perhaps it really is... either way, only Heart Shaped Glasses and If I Was Your Vampire seem to really excite the crowd anywhere near the levels Tourniquet or The Dope Show do.

But thankfully the stripped down approach hasn't been applied to the Manson's stage concepts. The familiar Antichrist Superstar podium makes a welcome reappearance (though its smoldering Bible seems like an unnecessary relic from a bygone era he's no longer interested in), alongside a giant Alice In Wonderland inspired chair, a moving mannequin in those heart shaped glasses, a rising platform for Manson to propel himself into the air upon, and best of all - confetti launchers showing the crowd with glitter and sparkling things.

And through it all - Manson the performer finally takes center stage - prancing and posing for the crowd, playing up to the front row, diving in every now and then to create a frenzy... here's a man who is obviously reveling in being back up there doing what he does best, and overjoyed that after all these years, people still care. Long may he continue.

All things digested have a similar hue...

British comedy is full of unsung heroes. Those faces you know, who make you laugh, but never quite reach the giddy heights of the mainstream. But so few of them delight in their position just off kilter from the world of celebrity as much as Matt Berry.

Having first made his mark as the womanising alcoholic stud Todd Rivers, portraying hot headed badly dubbed womanising alcoholic stud Dr Lucian Sanchez in the magnificient Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Berry soon cropped up in The Mighty Boosh - as the self important and sometimes villainous zoo owner Dixon Bainbridge. This was followed by what, to date, is his magnum opus... the criminally unseen AD/BC: A Rock Opera.

Further appearances in the Garth Marenghi linked Man to Man with Dean Learner, and his own sketch show with Rich Fulcher, Snuffbox (soon to be released on dvd at last), were followed by his most high profile role to date - as new boss Douglas Denholm in series two of the hit and miss The IT Crowd. The role may have been somewhat limited - at times it felt as if the part was a hastily formed rewrite when Chris Morris refused to return for the full run - but its certainly brought Berry a lot more attention.

This is both a good thing and a bad one. Its given the BBC the push they needed to release both AD/BC and Snuffbox - though the success of The Mighty Boosh through sheer word of mouth and Youtube alone may have had a helping hand there - but it also means that the audience for his second tour of 2007 is made up as much of unwitting newcomers who have no idea what to expect as it is the hardened followers who've seen it all before and want a second helping of the bizarre.

And strange Berry's show is. Drawing mostly on his 2005 album Opium - a glorious blend of seventies prog jazz lounge rock, faux-mysgonistic comedy and that wonderful fruity voice - the show also features songs from AD:BC and Snuffbox, and a snatch of the music he's composed for other shows on the quiet too (the theme for Saxondale gets an airing, but sadly none of the hilarious songs he wrote for The Peter Serafinowicz Show). The songs were mostly the same as the previous tour, but the character Berry plays on stage had developed immensely. Matt Berry, the 'singer', is apparently a bastard, and proud of it.

Throughout the night, Berry downs a bottle of 'vodka', berates his band - at one point insulting his bassist so much he threatens our anti-hero - only for Berry to command the poor man remove his trousers and play the rest of the show sans pants. Its a grand cabaret of base debauchery, and while its a complete contrast to the man himself, the theatrics stretch out what basically amounts to around 40 minutes of musical material into a full show. It barely matters that Love Is A Fool/Snuffbox Theme gets trotted out three times before the night is over, because the journey between the variations is so entertaining.

A highlight of the evening is undoubtedly Berry's most famous 'number' - the infamous One Track Lover. For those not in the know, in the fictional world of Garth Marenghi, the actor Todd Rivers (Berry) had a failed attempt at a pop career on the back of his Darkplace role - as those awful eighties tv stars often did - and as with many of the real shows of the time, persuaded the makers to put the song into an episode for a bit of free promotion... well, to say any more if you haven't seen it would spoil its charms should you chose to do so, and to say any more if you have would just be pointless - you know the bit I mean.

In the middle of One Track Lover, Berry and the band have taken to inserting a brief blast of In The Air Tonight - this time around, this was backed up by the sight of drummer Charlie wearing a gorilla mask. At another point, Berry complains he feels sick, then pretends to pass out while the band perform a perfect rendition of The IT Crowd theme. When its over, Berry awakes, and jokes he's had a horrible dream that he was in a show that people watched. It's these little touches that help to make the night so special... a treat for the dedicated who have followed his work these past three years or so enchanted.

Special mention must be made of his backing band, Jonas 3. Their own work is heavier than Berry's, and positively reeks of 'The Next Big Thing', yet they are also the perfect accompaniment to Matt's unusual charms... being suitably quirky in their own right. Sadly on this tour they are not playing their own set, being knee deep in working out material for their second album, but if you get a chance to see them live in their own right - you'd be a fool not to go for it. It's safe to say that if it wasn't for Berry's tv connections, the majority of people in the audience wouldn't be there... its arguable that a lot of them would find his music on record to be a little too oddball for them - but if you buy into Berry's world, you're in for a treat. Let's hope another album and tour are in the pipeline before too long.

AD/BC: A Rock Opera is now available to buy from 2|Entertain. Snuff Box: Series One is released in January. The album Opium is available at gigs, or visit Matt Berry's myspace for more info.