After a tense week of scrutiny, Garbage address the beach ball drama at Palais gig

2 months ago 10

MUSIC
Garbage ★★★★
Palais Theatre, December 11

To begin with, some backstory. On December 5, Garbage appeared at Good Things, the alternative music festival held annually in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Sometime during Garbage’s set, a festival-goer started tossing around an oversized, inflatable beach ball.

Shirley Manson took to the Palais stage after a tense week touring Australia.

On the scale of one to truly egregious festival behaviour, this does not rate especially high – but for whatever reason, on this particular day, Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson was incensed by it. She singled the man out. She called his actions disrespectful. She insulted his hat (“ridiculous”). She commented on the size of his penis (“small”).

The incident went viral, as these things tend to, and for the last week, Manson has been the subject of intense scrutiny from the media. Her subsequent attempts to explain herself have not been particularly well-received. In the court of public opinion, Shirley Manson has been found guilty of d---head behaviour.

All of this is to say that the atmosphere going into the band’s headline show was slightly tense. Was Manson’s mood still sour? Would she – as Ryan Adams did a few months ago – write off her entire Australian fanbase? With the show at the Palais Theatre, one of the city’s few coastal live music venues, would the mere proximity to the beach trigger a stress response? And most urgently: would anyone try to smuggle in a beach ball?

No one tried to smuggle in a beach ball at Garbage’s Melbourne concert.

Garbage takes to the stage like a band that has something to prove. Manson performs with simmering, volatile energy, belting out songs from the recently released Let All That We Imagine Be the Light and hits from the band’s extensive back-catalogue (#1 Crush, Stupid Girl, Only Happy When It Rains) with equal aplomb.

She briefly addresses the media storm – saying that everything has context, that she has nothing but love for the true fans, and that she stands by her stance on beach balls – then moves on. What matters tonight is the music.

Of course, the fans who attend headline shows are a different breed than those drawn to the festival circuit. They are here for this band, this music. No one is here to undermine a singer who has had to endure sexism, ageism, gruelling tour conditions, dwindling remuneration, increasing competition from AI-generated music and crippling, performance-induced injuries. The mood is generously supportive. There’s not a beach ball in sight.

It’s been over a decade since the band last played these shores and they deliver a consummate show. The evening showcases what Garbage does best: heavy riffs, chewy hooks and fiercely defiant lyrics, underpinned by Manson’s commanding presence.

In an era of sanitised, politically limp, algorithmically optimised expression, it’s refreshing to see a frontwoman be so unapologetically herself. After 30 years kicking against the pricks, Manson maintains the rage.
Reviewed by Nadia Bailey

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