I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 16, 2025] Garbage

Back in the 90s Garbage was my favorite band.  I loved everything about them.  I saw them twice when I lived in Boston (and wish I remembered those early shows better).  I’d seen them twice in the 21st century (but was surprised to see that the last time was eight years ago!).

Like a lot of people I don’t like the newer stuff quite as much as the older stuff.  I’m not sure what’s different–maybe it’s just me.  I like individual songs but don’t love listening to the albums front to back as much.

But the individual songs are still great.  And they sounded fantastic as they opened the show with two killer new tracks.  The band sounded huge and Shirley Manson’s voice was great.  She was wearing a leather jacket which she took off after the first two songs to reveal a jump suite with a handwritten Free Gaza on the back.

They handled the loud/quiet transitions on a song like Hold perfectly–even the lights were perfect.

The band members (aside from Shirley) don’t do a lot on stage (I just found out that guitarist Duke Erikson is 74 years old–no wonder this is their last big tour).

After the first two songs, they moved on to Empty–a super catchy song from a few albums back.  Guitarist Steve Marker (only 66) played the opening chords and like last time it was cool being able to hear the different guitar sound the guys had.

Up next was I Think I’m Paranoid and the crowd (understandably) went nuts.  Shirley had us sing along to the bridge, which everyone happily obliged doing.

If you follow Shirley on social media, she is (justifiably) angry about, well, everything going on in the world.  She is a source of inspiration because she is fearless.  Although with her hair pulled back and dark eyeliner on, she looked like she was angry at the audience too.  But the occasional smile at the audience let us know the anger was directed at those responsible for the shit, not us.

They played the first song from the debut with Vow and those two songs reminded me how much I loved those first two albums.

This tour is their last full scale headlining tour of the U.S.  But it was also a tour of their most recent album.  So I was curious to see what songs they would play.  I was kind of surprised to hear Run Baby Run from an album I don’t think about too much.  But it was fun to hear it.

It was also interesting to see how different the setlist was from the last tour (yes, they were openers, but it was still quite a different show).

She also said some really nice things about Philadelphia.  She said they were wandering around the city and realized that it might be the best city in the world–she swore she has never said that about another city before.  Then she told us why this was their last headline tour–they are old (Shirley’s only 59), and tired and grumpy.  Very fucking grumpy.

Things slowed down a bit for The Trick is to Keep Breathing (Steve Marker on keys and touring bassist Nicole Florentino, who added a ton of backing vocals to the show, including the “do do do’s on Breathing).  Then they brought the energy right back up with Not My Idea.  It rocked hard–great crunchy guitars–and she ended it with a few lines from Temptation by New Order (oh, you’ve got green eyes).

Shirley mentioned when some of these songs were from (Not My Idea from 1995), then they jumped to 1998 for Hammering in My Head.  I was really psyched to hear this one which I hadn’t seen live since 1998.  I really enjoyed the end of the song in which she recited the final words with no music, allowing her Scottish accent to really come through as she took the bullet train from “Tokyo to Philadelphia.”

For some reason I thought that Butch Vig had not played at the last show.  But he had.  It was the 2017 tour that he was ill for.  Nevertheless, I was thrilled to see him behind Shirley and behind the kit for the whole show (heavens, he is 70!).

I hadn’t listened to the previous album enough, but I was delighted with the song Wolves which has a great guitar line and lets me know what I’ve been missing on that record.

Beautifulgarbage was a bit more dancey than the other two albums and Parade had a different vibe (with the explosive BOOM! vocals).

Then they played some newer songs.  No Gods No Monsters, Bleed Like Me (a tour debut and a cool, moody song from 2005) and the kicking Godhead (also from No Gods).  Then it was one more from the new album, the puzzlingly named Chinese Fire Horse with the amazing opening “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a fucking minute.”  Great crushing guitars on this one (and fun, la la, la la backing vocals).

And then it was time to dance.  Go Baby Go is one of their poppiest songs (and apparently one of their most popular?).  Shirley gave an introduction to the song that I didn’t know anything about (relating to JT LeRoy!)  They followed it rather perfectly with Push It, a darker dancey song.  It was kind of odd that Shirley sat on the drum riser for this song that gets me pretty pumped.  Although she did get to show off her cool red workboots.  But she must have been saving her energy for Why Do You Love Me, because she walked off the stage (behind the curtain) and then suddenly appeared in the audience!

20-something me would have had a heart attack if Shirley was that close to me.  Actually I don’t think she was all that close, but still, she was close to some people.

They ended the set with The Day That I Saw God, my favorite song on the new record.  Duke was on keys for this one and Steve played the soaring guitar solos.  There’s something about the way that Shirley repeats Tramadol that is really affecting–Shirley really showed off how great her voice was on this one.

After the encore break, they played two songs that got the crowd totally amped up (as an encore should0.  First it was Stupid Girl and then I’m Only Happy when It Rains which the crowd sang louder than just about any show I can think of.

I did think it was odd that Shirley left as soon as the song ended, but she dd say everything she needed to before hand.  It also gave the rest of the band a moment to thank everyone and throw sticks and picks to the front row.

It was a great show and the fact that they didn’t play a whole bunch of songs that I would have loved to hear and yet I still had a great time and I loved the setlist shows how great their catalog is and what a great band they are.

I’m certainly bummed that they won’t be headline touring again, but I understand why they aren’t.  If they do come back as a support act, I would certainly see them (depending on the headliners).

And Jim Powers posted a video of the whole show

 

9/16/2025 Franklin Music Hall	7/28/2017 Count Basie Theatre	7/27/2016 Starland Ballroom
Laura Palmer’s Theme [TAPE]	No Horses Ø	Supervixen
There’s No Future in Optimism ∇	Sex Is Not the Enemy ⇔	I Think I’m Paranoid ⊗
Hold ∇	#1 Crush	Stupid Girl
Empty ≅	Empty ≅	Automatic Systematic Habit ≥
I Think I’m Paranoid ⊗	I Think I’m Paranoid ⊗	Blood for Poppies ≥
Vow Φ	Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)	The Trick is to Keep Breathing ⊗
Run Baby Run ⇔	Blackout ≅	My Lovers Box Φ
The Trick Is to Keep Breathing ⊗	Special ⊗	Sex is Not the Enemy ⇔
Not My Idea Φ	Queer Φ	Special ⊗
Hammering in My Head ⊗	Even Though Our Love is Doomed ≅	Beloved Freak ≥ [aborted]
Wolves Ø	The World Is Not Enough	Beloved Freak [take two, aborted] ≥
Parade ♥	Stupid Girl Φ	Even Though Our Love is Doomed ≅
No Gods No Monsters Ø	Only Happy When It Rains Φ	Why Do You Love Me ⇔
Bleed Like Me (tour debut) ⇔	Push It ⊗	Control ≥
Godhead Ø	Vow Φ	Blackout ≅
Chinese Fire Horse ∇		Bleed Like Me ⇔
Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) ♥		Push It ⊗
Push It ⊗		Vow Φ
Why Do You Love Me ⇔		Only Happy When It Rains Φ
The Day That I Met God ∇		Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) ♥
encore		encore
Stupid Girl  Φ		Sometimes ≅
Only Happy When It Rains Φ		Empty ≅
		#1 Crush

 

5/26/1998 Avalon (Boston)	10/30/1998 Roseland Ballroom (NYC)
Push It ⊗	Temptation Waits ⊗
Dumb ⊗	Not My Idea Φ
Queer Φ	I Think I’m Paranoid ⊗
Special ⊗	Special ⊗
Fix Me Now Φ	My Lovers Box Φ
My Lovers Box Φ	Hammering in My Head ⊗
Hammering in My Head ⊗	Thirteen (Big Star cover)
Medication ⊗	#1 Crush   ———–
Stupid Girl Φ	Vow Φ
Temptation Waits ⊗	Stupid Girl Φ
Trip My Wire ———–	Wicked Ways ⊗
Vow Φ	Queer Φ
#1 Crush  ————–	Push It ⊗
I Think I’m Paranoid ⊗	Only Happy When It Rains Φ
When I Grow Up ⊗	You Look So Fine ⊗
Only Happy When it Rains Φ	encore
encore	Supernatural (Vic Chesnutt cover)
Thirteen (Big Star cover)	Milk Φ
Girl Don’t Come Φ	When I Grow Up ⊗
You Look So Fine ⊗

∇ Let All That We Imagine Be the Light (2025)
Ø No Gods No Masters (2021)
≅ Strange Little Birds (2016)
≥ Not Your Kind of People (2012)
⇔ Bleed Like Me (2005)
♥ Beautifulgarbage (2001)
⊗ Version 2.0 (1998)
Φ Garbage (1995)