Permettetemi di iniziare questa recensione scrivendo una banalità: il qui presente Marilyn Manson o lo si ama o lo si odia.

Infatti sebbene il reverendo abbia smesso di fare paura e di turbare le nostre coscienze da un po' di annetti a questa parte, non si può negare il suo potere di canalizzare l'attenzione di tutti, dai media più frivoli agli esperti musicali più illustri. Per quanto riguarda l'assunto iniziale mi schiero con la prima fazione (seppur con qualche distinguo) visto che il mix tra hard-rock/metal e industrial qui proposto mi ha sempre attirato per la sua orecchiabilità e immediatezza; in più ritengo che il personaggio in questione sia dotato di un timbro vocale e di uno stile nel cantare assolutamente affascinante, senza poi sottovalutare la sua capacità di curare la propria immagine, creandola e modellandola a piacimento, per poi venderla come solo quella meretrice musicale di Madonna sa fare. Insomma un vero one-man band, cosa che tra l'altro lo ha portato suo malgrado a fare piazza pulita di collaboratori di ogni sorta (Twiggy Ramirez insegna...).

L'album in questione è il live che è stato rilasciato nel 1999 a seguito dei "Mechanical Animals Tour" e "Rock Is Dead Tour" e ci consegna una band in gran forma che se da un lato comincia a strizzare l'occhio pesantemente allo show-biz (su tutte la commercialissima "I Don't Like The Drugs, But The Drugs Like me"), dall'altro rimane saldamente legate ai propri esordi non esattamente mainstrem (ad esempio l'immancabile "Get Your Gunn"): per chi scrive il momento migliore nella carriera dei Marilyn Manson.

Nei 70 minuti di musica proposti si ripercorre tutta la discografia fino ad allora esistente della band: si va dai primordi acerbi di "Lunchbox", passando per i vari classici quali "Rock Is Dead", "The Dope Show" e le ultra conosciute "The Beautiful People" e "Sweet Dreams" per finire con la semi-acustica "The Last Day On Earth".

Tutte le canzoni sono interpretate senza sbavature e riescono a rendere perfettamente l'impatto ottenuto in sede live grazie anche alla qualità dei suoni, sì puliti e ordinati, ma non per questo ruffiani o eccessivamente artefatti. Sì, probabilmente è la dimensione live a rendere davvero giustizia alla musica dei Marilyn Manson: vuoi perchè il celeberrimo frontman è quello che si definirebbe un vero animale da palco, vuoi perchè canzoni come "Antichrist Superstar" sembrano scritte apposta per essere suonate davanti ad una folla osannante.

Insomma, un disco di cui consiglio assolutamente l'ascolto se siete tra coloro i quali apprezzano la proposta musicale del reverendo, mentre se vi trovate sull'altra sponda del fiume allora molto probabilmente non sarà "The Last Tour On Earth" a farvi cambiare idea.

Ma si sa (e così concludo nello stesso modo con cui ho iniziato, ossia con una banalità!), i gusti son gusti.

Elenco tracce e testi

01   Inauguration of the Mechanical Christ (02:47)

02   The Reflecting God (05:34)

Your world is an ashtray!
We burn and coil like cigarettes,
The more you cry your ashes turn to mud......

The nature of the leeches! The virgin's feeling cheated!
You've only spent a second of your life.....

My world is unaffected, there is an exit here,
I say it is and it's true.......

There is a dream inside a dream,
I'm wide awake the more I sleep,
You'll understand when I'm dead.......

I went to God just to see.....
and I was looking at me....
Saw heaven and hell were lies.....
When I'm God everyone-
-DIES! SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
ONE, SHOT AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!

Let's jump upon the sharp swords,
Cut away our smiles
Without the threat of death
There's no reason to live, at all,

My world is unaffected, there is an exit here,
I say it is and it's true....

There is a dream inside a dream,
I'm wide awake the more I sleep,
You'll understand when I'm dead......

I went to God just to see....
and I was looking at me...
Saw heaven and hell were lies....
When I'm God everyone-
-DIES! SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
ONE, SHOT AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER......

Each thing I show you is a piece of my death!

No salvation, no forgiveness, (repeated)
(This is beyond your experience.....)
No salvation, no forgiveness, ("FORGIVENESS!" x 7)
No salvation, no forgiveness....

(applause)

(acoustic guitar)
I went to God just to see.....
and I was looking at me...
Saw heaven and hell were lies.....
When I'm God everyone-(exit acoustic guitar)
-DIES! SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
SHOOT, HERE AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SCAR, SCAR CAN YOU FEEL MY POWER?!
ONE, SHOT AND THE WORLD GETS SMALLER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER!
SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT MOTHERFUCKER!

03   Great Big White World (05:24)

04   Get Your Gunn (03:39)

Goddamn your righteous hand

I eat innocent meat
The housewife I will beat
The prolife I will kill
What you won't do I will
I bash myself to sleep
What you sow I will reap
I scar myself you see
I wish I wasn't me
I am the little stick
You stir me into shit
I hate therefore I am
Goddamn your righteous hand
Goddamn ooh Lord, Goddamn ooh Lord
Goddamn ooh Lord, Goddamn ooh Lord

Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your Selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me

I throw a little fit
I slit my teenage wrist
The most that I can learn
Is in records that you burn
Get your gunn, get your gunn
Get your gunn, get your gunn

Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me

I am the VHS
Record me with your fist
You want me to save the world
I'm just a little girl

Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me
Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
But your selective judgements and good guy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me

Get your gunn, get your gunn
Get your gunn, get your gunn...Get

05   Sweet Dreams / Hell Outro (05:38)

06   Rock Is Dead (03:22)

All simple monkeys with alien babies
Amphetamines for boys
Crucifixes for ladies
Sampled and soulless
Worldwide and real webbed
You sell all the living
For more safer dead

Anything to belong
Anything to belong

Rock - Is deader than dead
Shock - Is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that we're fed
So fuck all your protests and
Put them to bed

God is in the TV

Rock! La, la, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la

One thousand mothers are praying for it
We're so full of hope
And so full of shit
Build a new God
To medicate and to ape
Sell us Ersatz
Dressed up and real fake

Anything to belong
Anything to belong

Rock - Is deader than dead
Shock - Is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that we're fed
So fuck all your protests and
Put them to bed

God is in the TV

Rock! La, la, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la, la
Rock! La, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

Rock - Is deader than dead
Shock - Is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that we're fed
So fuck all your protests and
Put them to bed

Rock (Rock) - Is deader than dead
Shock (Shock) - Is all in your head
Your sex and your dope is all that we're fed
So fuck all your protests and
Put them to bed

07   The Dope Show (03:59)

The drugs they say
To make us feel so hollow
We love in vain
Narcissistic and so shallow
The cops and queers
To swim you have to swallow
Hate today
There's no love for tomorrow

We're all stars now in the dope show
We're all stars now in the dope show

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
That want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind

We're all stars now in the dope show
We're all stars now in the dope show

They love you when you're on all the covers
When you're not, then they love another
They love you when you're on all the covers
When you're not, then they love another

The drugs they say
Are made in California
We love your face
We'd really like to sell you
The cops and queers
Make good-looking models
I hate today
Who will I wake up with tomorrow?

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
That want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind

They love you when you're on all the covers
When you're not, then they love another
They love you when you're on all the covers
When you're not, then they love another

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
That want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind
Go blow your mind

We're all stars now in the dope show
We're all stars now in the dope show

08   Lunchbox (08:38)

Bring me down
On we plow
The big bully try to stick his finger in my chest
Try to tell me, tell me he's the best
But I don't really give a good goddamn 'cause

I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well
I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well
I got my lunchbox and I'm armed real well

I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me

I got my pencils in my pocket, try to put me down
Wanna go out, gotta get out to the playground
Gonna throw down at the playground
I wanna go out

Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker gonna get my metal
Next motherfucker

Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow
Pow, pow, pow

I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me

Yeah
I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me

I wanna grow up
I wanna be a big rock and roll star
I wanna grow up
I wanna be
So no one fucks with me

09   I Don’t Like the Drugs (but the Drugs Like Me) (07:34)

10   Antichrist Superstar (05:18)

You built me up with your wishing hell
I didn't have to sell you
You threw your money in the pissing well
You do just what they tell you

REPENT, that's what I'm talking about
I shed the skin to feed the fake
REPENT, that's what I'm talking about
Whose mistake am I anyway?

Cut the head off
Grows back hard
I am the hydra
Now you'll see your star

Prick your finger it is done
The moon has now eclipsed the sun
Angel has spread his wings
The time has come for bitter things

Prick your finger it is done
The moon has now eclipsed the sun
Angel has spread his wings
The time has come to..

REPENT
I shed the skin to feed the fake
REPENT, that's what he's talking about
Whose mistake am I anyway?

Cut the head off
Grows back hard
I am the hydra
Now you'll see your star

The time has come it is quite clear
Our antichrist is almost here (x3)

Cut the head off
Grows back hard
I am the hydra
Now you'll see your star

halliluyah! halliluyah mother fucker!

11   The Beautiful People (04:32)

And I don't want you, and I don't need you
Don't bother to resist, or I'll beat you
It's not your fault that you're always wrong
The weak ones are there to justify the strong

The beautiful people, the beautiful people
It's all relative to the size of your steeple
You can't see the forest for the trees
And you can't smell your own shit on your knees

There's no time to discriminate
Hate every motherf-ker that's in your way

Hey, you, what do you see?
Something beautiful, something free?
Hey, you, are you trying to be mean?
When you live with apes, man, it's hard to be clean

The worms will live in every host
It's hard to tell which one they hate the most
The horrible people, the horrible people
It's all anatomic as the size of your steeple
Capitalism has made it this way
Old-fashioned fascism
Will take it away

Hey you, what do you see?
Something beautiful, something free?
Hey you, are you trying to be mean?
When you live with apes, man, it's hard to be clean

There's no time to discriminate
Hate every motherf-ker that's in your way

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people

Hey, you, what do you see?
Something beautiful and something free?
Hey you, are you trying to be mean?
When you live with apes, man, it's hard to be clean
Hey, you, what do you see?
Something beautiful and something free?
Hey you, are you trying to be mean?
When you live with apes, man, it's hard to be clean

The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people
The beautiful people, the beautiful people

12   Irresponsible Hate Anthem (04:43)

I am so all-american, I'd sell you suicide
I am totalitarian, I've got abortions in my eyes
I hate the hater, I'd rape the raper
I am the animal, who will not be himself

Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it

Hey victim, should I black your eyes again?
Hey victim, you were the one who put the stick in my hand
I am the ism, my hate's a prism
Let's just kill everyone and let your God sort them out

Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it

Everybody's someone else's nigger
I know you are so am I
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers
I don't need to chose a side

I better, better, better, better not say this
Better, better, better, better not tell
better, better, better, better not say this
Better, better, better, better not tell
I hate the hater, I'd rape the raper
I am the idiot who will not be himself

Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it

Everybody's someone else's nigger
I know you are so am I
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers
I don't need to chose a side

American, I cannot see anything
American, I cannot see anything
American, I cannot see anything
(?)

Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck it
Fuck, fuck, fuck

Everybody's someone else's nigger
I know you are so am I
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers
I don't need to chose a side

13   The Last Day on Earth (04:29)

14   Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes (03:59)

The boy's got a head like an atom bomb
Hang him from a cross like the number one son
And he's been waiting so long
To get it on

The boy's 15 but he's 16 gauge
Wants to break out from his Jesus cage
He's already torn out the last page
It's the 'latest rage'

(Chorus x2)
Violence for the people
They always eat the hand that bleeds
Violence for the people
Give the kids what they need
Kill your God, kill your God
Kill your TV

The boy's purified by the quitter gods
Burning up his cross like a revelation (revelation)
And his glass jaw opens
Like a puppet head

(Chorus x2)

This is what you should fear
You are what you should fear
(x7)

(Chorus)

Kill your God
Kill your TV
(x4)

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