Hermitage Green – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, Dan Murphy, of the indie rock band, Hermitage Green, chats about the first concert that he ever went to. You can check the details, after the break.

I was a bit of a metal kid growing up so one of my earliest memories of going to a concert would have to be seeing Iron Maiden at the RDS Arena back in 2001. I set off for Dublin with the rest of my pimply, angst-ridden teenage friends. Maiden put on a stellar show as they always do, but what stayed with me was actually the support slot – the inimitable Marilyn Manson. I had never seen Manson live so was unsure of what exactly to expect from the man who had once courted controversy by masturbating onstage.

His entrance music (a creepy nursery rhyme if I can recall) filled the arena and the stage was pumped full of billowy fog. So much fog that you couldn’t make out anything on the stage. Next thing I noticed was a small light in the centre of the stage that began to swing back and forth like a pendulum. It was pretty eerie, and as the nursery music reached its crescendo, the fog eventually began to clear to reveal the antichrist himself – Marilyn H. Manson. He was dressed for the occasion, perched on top of a pair of stilts wearing a schoolgirl’s mini skirt and a bra. Picture Britney Spears in the Hit Me Baby One More Time video, but except if she had been decomposing for two weeks before shooting it.

After his modest entrance, Manson climbed down off the stilts and began his first song. It was at this point the crowd turned on him. In 2019 we tend to forget that although part of the heavy metal ‘family’ per se, Manson was more akin to the more recent breed of nu-metal. And there was a bit of a schism between this and the old school ‘denim & leather’ metal fans. Iron Maiden fans didn’t care for Limp Bizkit, they hated Linkin Park, and they definitely weren’t interested in watching a grown man who looked like Cher sing songs in a mini skirt and stilts. First came the boo’s, then came the bottles, and finally – came the shoes and watches. Poor Marilyn got through about three songs before slithering off the stage back to his coffin, or whatever they keep him in.

I remember hearing once upon a time that great art should make us uncomfortable. And 18 years later I can definitely affirm that Marilyn Manson succeeded in doing that. I would love to catch him live once more…

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Upcoming Tour Dates:
July 4 – Subterania – London, UK
July 7 – Dubai Duty Free Irish Open – Lahinch, Ireland
July 26 – King John’s Castle – Limerick, Ireland
July 27 – King John’s Castle – Limerick Ireland