Garbage, Edinburgh Castle review: 'dramatic and otherworldly'
For Shirley Manson, this gig appeared to be a personal milestone, writes David Pollock
Before Garbage – fronted by Stockbridge’s homecoming Shirley Manson – played on Saturday night, the crowd were treated to the reformed Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, which Manson later described as “the band I grew up and cut my teeth with”. The undervalued Edinburgh veterans sounded great in this context, to a reception which will hopefully set them up for a more enduring comeback of their own.
For Manson, this gig appeared to be a personal milestone. Her family were in attendance, and there were real tears as she recalled telling her ailing father she was going to be playing the Castle before he died late last year.
The song Right Between the Eyes, she explained, was her kicking back against sexism and misogyny aimed at Courtney Love, but now directed at “any of us with a vagina”; Have We Met (The Void) came with a lengthy preface about an ex cheating on her; Chinese Fire Horse was dedicated to their managers, who backed Garbage when they were dropped 20 years ago.
This intimacy of feeling accompanied a dramatic, otherworldly show. They were serenaded on by a pipe band and all wore kilts, Manson’s a striking black rig. From the blunt, melodic opener There's No Future in Optimism, their set ground its way satisfyingly through fan favourites like Paranoid and Stupid Girl, their basslines gratifyingly thunderous.
Their 1995 debut hit Vow and a sombre cover of the Cure’s Lovesong were played, alongside the gothic punk-pop of Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) and When I Grow Up. Push It was recast as a heartfelt “anthem for shitty times”.
“My beautiful city of Edinburgh,” she exclaimed at the end, clearly feeling the emotion. “I could not be more proud.” With a damp haar swirling around a band which has spent the summer baking at European festivals, I'm Only Happy When It Rains was the perfect way to finish.
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