GarbageThe omens weren't real good. C'mon, it was a Monday and all. And the head-scratching and navel-gazing over various wrinkles of the previous day's Soundwave Festival – not the least that they didn't get to play at all – were still bumping around the various (anti-)social media and their own heads.
But seven-odd years after what turned out to be the final tour of their first incarnation – “Or we would have shot ourselves in the head” as Butch Vig explained later in the evening – this is a slightly different Garbage. All black clad, accept for the slashes of red in Duke Erikson's tie and Shirley Manson's pulled-back hair and not quite Cherry Lips. This was a band here to do business. Manson remained a transfixing centre of attention as they pounded straight into the newest album's Automatic Systematic Habit's dirty little secrets and a sinuous Queer. She stalked the stage, rather than the appearance of last time like she was running away from something. In singlet and skirt over tights, she looked like she'd just come from the local goth gym. Her moves were like a boxer; loose yet muscled, pugnacious. They whipped through a half dozen songs before she even stopped to greet the audience. Like Butch Vig's toast later, the “We love your country” aphorisms did appear genuine – for recognising the band in the first place, as well as continued support. And, of course, that accent where a pronouncement that they may well be “Fookin' lazy cunce” almost made you want to be one too.
The music has changed slightly, too. The sound came in slabs as it stretched elements like Erikson's and Steve Marker's collection of shiny guitars, taking their turns at flight in the ones we knew, like I Think I'm Paranoid and a soaring Special, which somehow morphed into snatches of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams toward its end. As Stupid Girl roared and dive-bombed, they remain a consummate modern rock band; the technology and humanity still in proportion. Waving and smiling as they left the stage, they succeeded in making that Monday better – maybe not least for themselves.
