American shock rocker Marilyn Manson is scheduled to perform on Thursday at the Taipei Show Hall 2 (台北展演二館), and it appears he has a sizable cadre of Taiwanese fans waiting to see him.
According to promoter Very Aspect Culture Group (有象文化), nearly 90 percent of the 6,000 available tickets have already been sold.
Taipei is one of the early stops on Marilyn Manson’s (also the band’s name) Hey Cruel World tour, which the group kicked off last week in Australia. The tour continues through the summer in the US and Europe.
Photo Courtesy of Very Aspect Culture Group
Manson, 43, is also gearing up for the May release of his eighth full-length studio album, Born Villain. Judging from the promo video posted on his Web site, the new music is simply Manson doing what he does best.
The video for the song No Reason flaunts the typical theatrical elements that once made him a controversial figure: a creepy ghoulishness and fascination with dark sexual fantasies and graphic violence.
In the mid-1990s, Manson was denounced by conservative politicians and Christian organizations, which often picketed his concerts. He and his band started to enjoy mainstream success with their 1996 album Antichrist Superstar, a nickname Manson reportedly embraced for himself.
But for all the controversy Manson attracted — in the US, critics hastily blamed him for the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 — his music struck a chord among a large swath of hard-rock fans, many of them teenagers. To date, he has sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
Marilyn Manson’s unique brand of rock ’n’ roll initially adopted the heavy, industrial sound that emerged in the 1990s from bands like Nine Inch Nails (frontman Trent Reznor produced Antichrist Superstar). Compared to the monotone sludge of thrash metal, the band’s music had a blunter, darker edge. Manson later experimented with glam rock and even hip-hop, and has collaborated with Eminem and Lady Gaga.
Manson’s performances at festivals in Australia last week received mixed reviews, particularly from the indie music Web site musicfeeds.com.au, but things could shape up differently in Taipei.
Thursday’s show will be Manson’s first ever appearance in Taiwan, and the ghoulish rocker will have a concert hall full of excited fans ready to greet him.
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