High Point of Manson Show: Love Quits

The World Wrestling Federation-style sideshow pitting Marilyn Manson and Hole on the same bill apparently sputtered to a conclusion over the weekend, with Hole’s Courtney Love announcing from the stage at the Arrowhead Pond on Saturday that her band was leaving the tour following Sunday’s show at the Great Western Forum. Even that news didn’t generate sparks for the pairing, which in two weeks on the road has failed to meet its potential for either provocative entertainment or transcendent artistry.

Love declared Manson’s show “evil,” and expressed disgust at her co-headliner’s theatrical anti-religion stunts (a flaming cross made of televisions, ripping pages from a Bible) as she explained her withdrawal to Saturday’s Anaheim audience. But there was a disingenuous ring to her comments. Didn’t she know what kind of act she’d be touring with? Other likely factors include Love’s frustration with the crowds’ predominance of Manson loyalists indifferent to her sets (about half of Saturday’s audience, in a Hole stronghold) and reported production cost issues.

During his elaborately staged set Saturday, Manson apologized to his fans “who had to endure that nonsense before us.” Better that he apologize for not delivering on the promise of last year’s album “Mechanical Animals.” Rather than creating a dramatic thread and showing growth for his character, he revisited his familiar themes of resisting authority, delivered with whiffs of decadence. But his brand of depravity came strictly from the Velveeta gold mine--cheesy and artificial.

The shame is that each act could learn something from the other. Love, so determined to gain mainstream recognition, might benefit from some measure of Manson’s show-biz professionalism. Hole’s set was maddeningly inconsistent as it bounced between punk and pop, with Love’s mannered posturing shifting to accompany each style. Manson, in turn, would be wise to emulate Love’s tendency--intentional or otherwise--to let some cracks show in her facade. As it was, for both acts there was too much celebrity skin, and not enough artistic heart.