Mechanical Animals Tour

Mechanical Animals was a worldwide tour by the band Marilyn Manson in support of their third LP record Mechanical Animals, released on September 15, 1998. The tour extended from late 1998 to early 1999 and was recorded in 1998 for the VHS-format God is in the TV which was released on November 2, 1999.[1]

Mechanical Animals
Tour by Marilyn Manson
Promotional poster for the November 16 performance of the Mechanical Animals Tour
Associated albumMechanical Animals
Start dateOctober 25, 1998
End dateJanuary 31, 1999
No. of shows52 (planned)
46 (completed)
Marilyn Manson concert chronology

The Mechanical Animals European Festival Tour was supposed to be the first leg of the tour. This particular leg of the tour consisted of six dates to be played at various European festivals planned as the debut of follow-up material to Antichrist Superstar two months before the release of Mechanical Animals. This leg of the tour spanned from June 25, 1998, until July 12, 1999.

Reportedly, drummer Ginger Fish became ill with mononucleosis. This led the band to cancel the entire summer European leg and postpone the beginning of the tour to October 25, 1998.

Beginning on October 25, 1998, and lasting until January 31, 1999, the "Mechanical Animals Tour" included two legs spanning a Fall to Winter World Tour in Europe, Japan, and North America and a 6 show headlining stint at the Big Day Out Music Festival in Australia.[1]

Background

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Marilyn Manson during the Mechanical Animals Tour

After declining a headlining slot at the failing Lollapalooza summer music festival (along with numerous other bands) in early 1998 due to delays in Mechanical Animals' release, the band launched the first of their own headlining tours in support of the album.[2] The tour was originally intended to begin on June 25, 1998, with a series of 6 festival dates in Europe lasting until July 12, 1998.[3] However, drummer Ginger Fish became ill with mononucleosis, leading to the cancellation of the entire summer European leg and the postponement of the beginning of the tour to October 25, 1998, in Lawrence, Kansas.[4]

Performance and show themes

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With this being the first leg of the tour, the stage show was minimal compared to later legs of the tour

Incidents

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As with the band's preceding 1997 world tour, Dead to the World, the Mechanical Animals Tour met with heavy resistance from civic and religious leaders. The first of these protests occurred on October 19, 1998. A month before a planned performance at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York, local activists began calling for a cancellation of the engagement. According to Associated Press, then-Syracuse Mayor Roy Bernardi attempted to block the venue's permit, citing a "moral obligation to the people of Syracuse", without specifying any reason for his objections. Onondaga County officials also attempted to extort the Landmark into halting the event by threatening to withhold $30,000 in county funds earmarked for the venue, prompting the venue's bookers to consider dropping the show altogether. Despite this, representatives for the Landmark started selling tickets on the day it was planned and the performance took place on the arranged date and venue.[5]

Set list

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Broadcasts and recordings

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Various shows were recorded on the tour but there was no specific information about which dates. A 40-minute short film was released on VHS entitled God Is in the T.V. following the tour, however it only contained short live clips from various shows. Widely heralded as the band's best tour, their 2012 comeback sparked interest in the release of an uninterrupted live DVD of this tour. It is not known if the full recordings exist of the performances shown in God Is in the T.V.. The only full live recordings available are bootleg from their January 23, 1999 concert in Sydney, Australia during their headlining stint at the Big Day Out Music Festival. The video is of mediocre quality. A rare partial recording of the band's concert on November 16, 1998, in Detroit, Michigan, and unedited aftershow promotional interview also exist.

Tour dates

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List of concerts, showing date, city, country, and venue
Date City Country Venue Opening Act(s) Attendance Revenue
North America
October 25, 1998 Lawrence United States Granada n/a
October 26, 1998 Kansas City Memorial Hall
October 27, 1998 St. Louis Fox Theater
October 29, 1998 Milwaukee Riverside Theater
October 30, 1998 Chicago Aragon Ballroom
October 31, 1998 Saint Paul Roy Wilkins Auditorium
November 3, 1998 Tulsa Brady Theatre
November 4, 1998 Houston Aerial Theatre
November 5, 1998 Dallas Bronco Bowl
November 7, 1998 New Orleans State Theatre
November 9, 1998 Atlanta Tabernacle
November 10, 1998 Charlotte Ovens Auditorium
November 11, 1998 Richmond Landmark Theater
November 13, 1998 Camden Sony Blockbuster Pavilion
November 14, 1998 Cleveland Cleveland Music Hall
November 16, 1998 Detroit State Theatre
November 18, 1998 Mississauga Canada Arrow Hall
November 19, 1998 Syracuse United States Landmark Theatre
November 21, 1998 Poughkeepsie Mid-Hudson Civic Center
November 22, 1998 Lowell Tsongas Arena
November 23, 1998 New York City Hammerstein Ballroom
Europe
November 27, 1998 Barcelona Spain Pavello de la D'Hebron n/a
November 28, 1998 Bilbao Pabellon de la Castilla
November 30, 1998 Lisbon Portugal Pavilhão Atlântico
December 1, 1998 Madrid Spain Palacio de la Commidad
December 4, 1998 Milan Italy Palavobis
December 9, 1998 Copenhagen Denmark K.B. Hallen
December 10, 1998 Oslo Norway Rockefeller Music Hall
December 11, 1998 Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Arena
December 13, 1998 Hamburg Germany Grosse Freiheit 36
December 14, 1998 Tilburg Netherlands 013
December 16, 1998 Cologne Germany E-Werk
December 17, 1998 London England Brixton Academy
December 18, 1998 Deinze Belgium Breilpoort
December 19, 1998 Paris France Zénith de Paris
North America
December 31, 1998 Las Vegas United States The Joint n/a
Asia
January 8, 1999 Tokyo Japan NK Hall n/a
January 9, 1999
January 11, 1999 Osaka Zepp
January 12, 1999
Big Day Out
January 15, 1999 Auckland New Zealand Ericcson Stadium n/a
January 17, 1999 Gold Coast Australia Gold Coast Parklands
January 23, 1999 Sydney Sydney Showgrounds
January 26, 1999 Melbourne Melbourne Showgrounds
January 29, 1999 Adelaide Adelaide Showgrounds
January 31, 1999 Perth Bassendean Oval

Cancelled or rescheduled shows

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List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and reason for cancellation
Date City Country Venue Reason
Leg 1: European Festival Tour 1998
June 25, 1998 Roskilde Denmark Roskilde Festival Ginger Fish contracted mononucleosis.
June 27, 1998 Burgh Netherlands Waldrock Festival
June 28, 1998 Dessel Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
June 30, 1998 Kristiansand Norway Odderøya Amfi
July 9, 1998 Frauenfeld Germany Out in the Green Festival
July 12, 1998 Zwickau Full Force Open Air

Lineup

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Marilyn Manson

Reception

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Critical reception

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Music critic Tim Finn of The Kansas City Star commented that, overall, the show was "far less a spectacle than the Antichrist Superstar tour."[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c MTV News Staff (1998-10-28). "Marilyn Manson Kicks Off Tour". MTV. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  2. ^ Fischer, Blair (1998-04-03). "Cruel Summer: Lollapalooza '98 Canceled". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  3. ^ NME Staff (1998-05-25). "Marilyn Manson Cancel European Tour". NME. TI Media. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  4. ^ MTV News Staff (1998-06-24). "Marilyn Manson Cancels European Tour". MTV. Viacom Media Networks. Archived from the original on 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  5. ^ MTV News Staff (1998-10-19). "Marilyn Manson Tour Draws First Protests, Syracuse Show May Be Blocked". MTV. Viacom Media Networks. Archived from the original on 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2011-03-21.