GARBAGE | LIVE REVIEW
Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Sun 14 July
Garbage were the first band I ever went to see, and I count myself enough of a trufan to instantly recognise a 20-year-old B-side when they play it early in the set. They have clearly Still Got It (which may well not be news to anyone who has been keeping up with them). Singer Shirley Manson still stalks and owns the stage in the way she did at Manchester Apollo in 1996, and the band still delivers the same mash up of grungey guitars and moody electronica.
The atmosphere is celebratory. Manson sounds like she means it when she says they’re delighted to be doing their first Cardiff show since 1999, and prefer playing in our scuzzy, studenty Great Hall to the previous night’s venue. Guitarist Duke Erikson’s massive smile and front-of-stage posing speak to a man clearly having a genuinely great time. The scores of fans who’ve glammed up for the occasion, and who sing along throughout the set, clearly feel the same.
So it feels a teensy bit churlish to criticise them for playing songs from albums I haven’t bothered to keep up with, but the set does feel like it sags a little early on in the gaps between the hits. Garbage don’t seem to have mixed it up much since I last checked in. Almost every song features the same formula of doomy, beat-heavy verse, followed by big guitars on the big chorus. Still, I don’t think I’m imagining it when I conclude that Garbage probably wrote their best songs quite some time ago.
But OMG wow – when they play those songs it really does raise the roof. Late 90s singles like Special, Stupid Girl and I Think I’m Paranoid demonstrate that Garbage were a truly great and underrated pop band. Too pop to be properly cool, and too weird to be properly pop. The high point is when Only Happy When It Rains turns the crowd into a forest of raised arms and voices. A true anthem for anyone who’s ever decided to embrace their own negativity. To me it feels like Garbage are back, but I’m starting to realise they probably never really went away.
words ANDREW PAUL REGAN photos KEVIN PICK