Skip to content
Reviews

Marilyn Manson and Slayer Slaughter the West Coast

Compared to what would come — showers of heart-shaped confetti and elaborate costuming, dismembered robots and sex-drenched androgyny — Slayer seemed downright stoic as they blasted through last night’s (Aug. 21) set of old and new tunes at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Amphitheater. Except for the flying elbows and bouncing beer bellies that swirled at the front of the stage all night, the Slayer performance had few things in common with headliner Marilyn Manson. In fact, Manson’s writhing antics seemed a bit overplayed following the elder statesmen of metal. As he slithered and crawled through a set of material from his recent Eat Me, Drink Me there was a heavy dose of satanic posing and elaborate costume changes (prize fighter, neo-fascist, goth buccaneer, etc.) but less convincing fury. Manson’s thrills came by ripping the head off a scantily dressed robot on “Just A Car Crash Away” and humping air through a “Sweet Dreams/Lunchbox” medley, but the weak calls for an encore from the spent crowd proved the evening belonged to the openers.

We asked: What would the lovechild of Marilyn Manson and Slayer be like?