Marilyn Manson: The Last Tour on Earth : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The last twelve months haven't been easy for Marilyn Manson. His Rock Is Dead Tour fractured when Hole jumped ship amid rancor and sneers. It went on hiatus after its star sprained his ankle onstage, then derailed completely after Manson's oeuvre was nonsensically implicated in the Columbine shootings. The Last Tour on Earth re-creates that ill-fated roadshow by splicing together tracks recorded everywhere from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The album lacks the immediacy of a one-stop concert, but it does capture Manson's inimitable talent for spectacle. His evangelist-meets-carny-barker spiels about Gawd, rawk and muthafuckin' cops are hilarious, and the sound quality is appropriately huge on lavish numbers such as "Antichrist Superstar," "The Dope Show" and the Bowie-esque "Great Big White World." This isn't exactly the MC5's Kick Out the Jams, and you don't get to see Manson bare his bottom, but it's still good, dirty fun.