Photos By: Rachel Frank
By: Matthew Burke
Some bands age painfully, while others age wonderfully. So despite the fact that half of Garbage is in their 60’s, the full, original line-up delivered a youthful performance at Humphrey’s Concerts By the Bay. While arriving a tad late, the erotic single “Queer” off Garbage’s self-titled debut album could be heard beyond the entrance of the outdoor venue and sounded great. The lack of energy in the crowd caught my eye as I walked through the front gate, but luckily Garbage distributed plenty of enthusiasm to make up for the crowd’s deficiency.
The quintet performed liked they have been around for 20 plus years, with lead singer Shirley Manson rolling around on the floor showing off her sex-appeal that still heavily exist in the 49 year-young Scottish native. Backing drum tracks from Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind), and electronic ambiance that has Garbage unique and tasteful, bled through their set. The 22-song setlist consisted of an array of b-sides and tracks from their 90’s albums (playing their debut in full) all the way up to their most recent album, 2012’s Not Your Kind of People. The group took breaks between songs to tell funny quips about song meanings and Manson’s rebellious past. It seemed to loosen everyone, as the crowd started to move and sing along more.
Single “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)” off of 2001’s Beautiful Garbage received the most enthusiastic response, as the the night drew to an end with “#1 Crush” which left everyone happy to scamper towards the merch booth.