Many people have been wondering why Kanye West would collaborate with Marilyn Manson given that fifteen women have recently accused him sexual, physical, and mental abuse. Kanye is a master at manipulating controversy. To him, headlines are headlines and as long as the album he’s promoting is in the article he doesn’t care how it gets there. A Manson feature also opens Donda up to a demographic that otherwise wouldn’t give a shit about a Kanye West project. And it’ll work, because Manson’s fans are fucking crazy and would follow him blindly into hell.
I witnessed Manson’s hold on his audience firsthand when I worked his concert at PNC Arts Center. After I proved that I could hold my own in a sea of drunks on the lawn, I was asked to start working the barricades. The barricades are that little steel fence in between front row and the stage. So me and about four other guys were the only ones standing in the way of about 15,000 from mobbing a celebrity mere feet away. I was in the barricades for the Manson concert, so I had a front row seat to the circus.
More and more frequently we find ourselves separating the man from the artist. When I compartmentalize the accusations from the performer, I have to admit that he puts on one hell of a show. Now it isn’t my cup of tea, but working the amount of shows I have, I can appreciate the pagentry and performance. Manson is an artist who knows exactly what his fans are looking for and he delivers it…and then some. His set was filled with pyrotechnics, freakish outfit changes, and multiple sacrilegious ceremonies. The crowd ate it up.
Quite literally in fact. At one point, when Manson found himself at the edge of the stage, his fans began to bumrush the front row. Seeing the chaotic reaction to his mere proximity, he decided to start launching loogies into the crowd. Now, a normal crowd would revolt, be outraged, if it was me I’d pelt him in the fuckin head with my tall boy. But not Manson’s crowd. I shit you not, they were trying to catch his phlegm in their mouths. Like little newborn birdies.
Speaking of newborns. That wasn’t the only strange behavior displayed by Manson’s underlings. The artist himself stopped mid-song to address a couple about 11 rows from the front. He pointed out how fucked up they were for bringing their newborn baby to his concert. And I mean newborn, this thing was like fresh out the oven. The baby had nothing to protect themself besides their idiot parents and noise cancelling headphones that obviously didn’t fit. However loud you think a Marilyn Manson concert is, it was louder. Instead of feeling ashamed, the parents proudly raised their child like it was baby Simba. The crowd went nuts.
The crowning or damning moment I suppose, involved myself. It started when Manson dragged himself to the edge of the stage. Laying on his back with his head hanging off the edge and serenading his minions upside down, is where I fucked up. I don’t know what possessed me to look over at him but we made eye contact. He was maybe five feet away and began singing at me. It was like I was hypnotized, I couldn’t look away. Professionalism be damned. Until Manson made a licking gesture at me that freaked me out so much that it made my neck snap back to the crowd. Big mistake. It was like he could smell my fear after that.
About two minutes later the roar of the crowd began to rise and the spotlight became a little too bright. I could tell that both of these sudden changes were directed at me. Manson mid-song decided it was a good idea to lurk up behind me and start humping my head. The crowd roared with laughter. I was focusing on keeping my cheeks from turning bright red as I saw my face start to pop up on every single giant monitor. There was nothing I could do. I just had to stand there at attention looking like an idiot and wait for the gyrating to subside.
I was super pissed at the time, I was like 22. Looking back at it now it was pretty funny. I guess that was to be expected from an artist rumored to eat birds on stage and removed his ribs to suck his own dick. But the only thought going through my mind as I was getting my head humped off by Marilyn Manson in front of thousands of strangers was “This $11 an hour is bullshit.”
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