Garbage performing live at Ashton Gate in Bristol (Jessica Bartolini / Live4ever)
Rescheduled from a more central location which wasn’t ready in time, Bristol City’s football stadium played host to Garbage and support band The Horrors on a grey Friday night last week. Whilst not an obvious choice, it worked brilliantly as a venue.
Rather than taking place on the pitch, the gig instead took place in the foyer of one the main stands. Being an echo chamber, the sound was excellent and there was plenty of space for punters, equipment, merchandise stands and bars. If the closing of venues throughout the UK continues with such military precision, other football stadia around the country would do well to follow Ashton Gate’s example.
Resplendent in a shiny black leather jacket with trousers to match, at 6’4 Horrors frontman Faris Badwan immediately demanded attention as the Southenders took to the stage, but once the music commenced he had to compete. The Horrors have steadily built up an impressive setlist over their 12 years in operation; Still Life sounds as positive and life-affirming as it ever has, Who Can Say is all Mary Chain brutality and Sea Within A Sea, the platform on which their career was built (rightly, everyone now ignores the pantomime-goth of their debut), now has added muscle.
But it’s the newer songs from last year’s fine album V that stand out. Machine’s industrial thump batters the synapses, and Ghost’s slow build is genuinely chilling. However, nothing can compare to the glorious, ecstatic Something To Remember Me By, surely selected as set closer as nothing else could possibly follow it.
If anyone’s game to have a go though, it’s Shirley Manson. After a gentle easing in with soft b-sides Afterglow and Deadwood, Garbage exploded into life with Temptation Waits. Even with the producer of Nevermind in the band, Garbage is very much Manson’s vehicle; she knows it herself, acknowledging the crowd with references to the last time they played Bristol, followed with ‘did you miss me?’, but that’s to no-one else’s chagrin. The woman is a born star.
She was vivacious and vibrant as she prowled the stage during The World Is Not Enough, confronted the crowd for I Think I’m Paranoid, quite literally under the spotlight for the entirety of the gig as the rest of the band operated in the shadows, but ‘twas ever thus. A good egg, she also showered The Horrors and fellow Scots Honeyblood with effervescent praise, and overall seemed genuinely pleased to be here.
Ostensibly to commemorate the 20th anniversary of second album Garbage 2.0, the set spanned b-sides and cover periods from that era as well as the aforementioned Bond theme. As such, there was no place for their anthems Stupid Girl and Only Happy When It Rains, which was a shame, but there was ample replacement in the form of some well-chosen covers; Big Star’s Thirteen and Can’t Seem To Make You Mine by The Seeds. Snippets of Personal Jesus and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams were bolted on to Wicked Ways and You Look So Fine respectively.
Before ending, as all gigs should, with a David Bowie cover (Starman), Manson gave a speech about the uncertain world we live in, which is par for the course nowadays, but left with one crucial message: “We’ve been doing this for 25 years. Let me tell you, getting old is f***ing cool.”
If they can keep these blistering performances up, there’s no reason to doubt her.