Although my heart beats for Heavy Metal I always had and still have mind and ears open for every other kind of good music, no matter what genre or style. GARBAGE is such band I loved to listen to back in the 90s. Shirley Manson is such a strong woman, with an attitude and a charismatic voice. I, of course, loved the first two records and then somehow lost sight of them. And I never saw GARBAGE playing live. Imagine how stoked I was to see this flaw finally to be eliminated ;)

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And the reason for this tour is a special one: the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking and self-titled debut album. Dubbed as 20 Years Queer Tour GARBAGE embarked on an exclusive USA and European tour, only playing a handful of shows. The one and only show in Germany took place on Halloween, in Cologne, at the • Palladium •, where Garbage was played in its entirety for the first and last time ever. As excited as I was and knowing about all the road works and traffic jams around Cologne, I started early. As for that the ride went pretty smooth. The Palladium was well-filled, but not sold out. The audience is motley, fans of all ages and from all sub-cultures. Some were nicely dressed in Halloween costumes.

It was up to the :: DUTCH UNCLES :: to entertain the audience till Garbage would enter the stage. Surely a difficult task and indeed only moderately solved. Despite its name the guys ain't any Dutch, they come from Marple, near Manchester and play some kind of Indie Pop with some Wave influences. The band basically lives from the distinct voice and the eye-catching dance style of fronter Duncan Wallis. Nice, but nothing that would kick you out of your socks. There was no spark jumping over. Sound and lights were average and the crowd acted reserved. I only saw a few dancing and giving feedback to the band. After 30 minutes the DUTCH UNCLES left and the audience quickly poured out of the hall and even faster in again to be as close as possible to the stage.
Setlist: Face In, Decided Knowledge, Fester, Threads, Achamoloon, Flexxin, Upsilon, Dressage

Two days ago :: GARBAGE :: still played in Washington, DC, and now they were about to get onto stage in Cologne for the first European and the one and only German show. During the change-over pink balloons were kicked into the audience – well received for some entertainment. Ah, and then… a curtain was pulled, hiding band and stage but used as a screen for an anniversary video, with Alien Sex Fiend as musical introduction. Afterwards the curtain fell and GARBAGE started their set with Subhuman, dressed in Halloween dresses. The band was in best mood but looked tired. Jetlag I guess. Also technically the band had to struggle through some issues but Shirley Manson bridged them really charming telling stories from the band’s or her own past. She, for example, apologized for being not so lady-like, while referring to her Punk roots and downed a Whiskey ;) To almost every song she told anecdotes, not always G-rated but moving. And Shirley didn’t dare to let us know her attitudes she stands and fights for. What a great lady! Charismatic and strong-voiced!
As already mentioned, this tour is dedicated to the band’s debut. GARBAGE did not only play all regular album songs (of course not in order as they appear on CD and as special live versions) but also all B-sides from the singles, plus two cover versions and tracks from following albums. An excellent setlist I think, keeping up thrill and dynamics between the smash hits and quieter songs. But the best thing was the announcement that a new record is already finished and that we probably meet again next year :)
So, what’s left to say? It was an awesome evening! A great show and a wonderful Shirley Manson! Period! Let’s see, if we meet again…
Setlist: Alien Sex Fiend + 20 Years Queer Video Intro, Subhuman, Supervixen, Queer, Driving Lesson, As Heaven Is Wide, The Butterfly Collector (The Jam cover), Not My Idea, Trip My Wire, Milk, Fix Me Now, My Lover's Box, Sleep, #1 Crush, Stupid Girl, Dog New Tricks, A Stroke Of Luck, Only Happy When It Rains, Vow // Kick My Ass (Vic Chesnutt cover), Girl Don't Come, Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!), Push It

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography