So I went to see Garbage! Yeah, that alt-rock band that just celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first, self-titled album!
After first hearing about them a few years ago, I was super-stoked to hear them announce that they were going to do a handful of 20th anniversary shows, one of them being at the London O2 Academy Brixton. Of course, after I bought tickets, they announced several other dates all across the country, so the show which I thought was going to be a special, rare thing wasn’t quite so unique. The ’20 Years Queer’ tour had two dates at the O2 Academy Brixton due to the high demand, and I went on the first one.
It’s quite exciting that the last concert I went to, before this, was at the same venue for another 20th Anniversary show (for Korn). Pretty crazy eh?
To add to the excitement a few months prior to the concert, there were signs up around stations for the special edition release of their first album. I found that quite exciting as I rarely come across adverts for music I like.
Anyways, I asked my friends if they wanted to join me to the show, but with a band name like ‘Garbage’ they claimed that they must ‘sound like trash’ or ‘be rubbish.’ Woa, original, I know 🙂 In the end I persuaded my sister to join me (though she dropped out last minute and I had to sell the ticket off super-cheap to a dodgy guy on the streets. Darn).
The show involved the entirety of their first album complete with all the B-sides released alongside, which was pretty cool I’ll grant you, although I didn’t know all of the songs.
I loved the diversity of the crowd – people of all ages, goths, punks, and many out and proud members of the LGBT community. In the queue it was interesting to note the multitude of people with dyed pink hair wearing pink feather boas – you knew you were definitely at the right place!
The support act was Dutch Uncles, who were pretty good fun, with the lead singer having some weird, crazy dance moves. However, they weren’t very good at engaging with the audience and their songs were often very similar. Nevertheless, they got the audience warmed up and people enjoyed trying to replicate the dancing.
Then Garbage were here! Hell yea!
Shirley Manson has an incredible voice! And it’s always exciting watching live music being performed. After the first few songs, she told the audience that she had to go and put some knickers on because she had somehow forgotten to (with the excitement of having her parents here to see the show) and was becoming conscious of her skirt with the wind machines on stage. ‘Twas a good laugh. After putting on her pants, the show continued.
Another unusual addition to the show was the appearance of Shirley’s niece, who was brought onto the stage and shyly said ‘Hello’ into the microphone. Aww, it was really cute.
The highlights of the show, to me, were probably the performances of ‘Queer‘ and ‘Only Happy When it Rains,‘ as I feel as though these hits are what makes the album stand out and they really resonate with the audience. Every one was singing along and having a good time, and it was a really happy atmosphere (even when the lyrics weren’t quite so jolly). The frequent use of pink lighting and simplicity of the staging added to the old-school feel and really tied in with the album.
Finally the band rounded the show off with an encore, which consisted of more recent songs such as ‘Automatic Systematic Habit’ and ‘When I Grow Up.’ It was ‘When I Grow Up’ that particularly got the audience moving, as all of the mismatched outsiders seemed to relate to the lyrics and really connect with each other.
Garbage have been making videos of their journeys and so below is the one for London. It was a thoroughly enjoyable night, and I’m looking forward to their new album which they plan to release in 2016!
Pure Destruction 