Marilyn Manson Scares Up Mayhem, Memories In NYC; Plus Photos

Though it's the second round of Marilyn Manson's "Rape of the World" tour, the current leg might as well be dubbed the "Return of Twiggy" tour. Save for a handful of Tim Skold-era tunes, the second of Manson's two nights at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom was a celebration of the band's screechy (Antichrist Superstar) and glam (Mechanical Animals) days. The pit churned to "Disposable Teens" and stood at attention for a combination of "Coma White" and "Coma Black," complete with falling snow. A particularly animated performance from re-energized Manson and the return of prodigal son Twiggy Ramirez (who Manson called "my best friend") made memories of the last two absinthe-soaked records vanish, and served as a visceral reminder of why people were so scared in the first place.

To see what the show looked like, check out our photo gallery from last night's gig here.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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