Garbage, The Warfield, 9.10.2005

Garbage was amazing last night at the Warfield! I was near the stage on the left side where Steve Marker was playing and right in front of the speaker. My ears are still buzzing a litter, but I think the opening band The Start were louder than Garbage. At least, they were much heavier and not nearly as good. I wasn’t able to take my camera in, though the guy who took me to the check-in area said it was a nice camera. My only photo from the show was the front of the venue after it all happened. Anyways, Garbage hit the stage at 9:15 PM and entered to Johnny Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nail’s song “Hurt.” A very cool entrance… it seems like something Black Rebel Motorcycle Club might enter to.

Garbage opened the show with “Queer” which sounded a little different from usual. They played a lot of great songs from the latest album Bleed Like Me including “Why Do You Love Me”, “Boys Wanna Fight”, “Happy Home”, “Sex Is Not the Enemy”, “Bleed Like Me” (1st song of the encore), and “Metal Heart” – which Shirley introduced with a discussion of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the inefficiency of the Bush administration in handling it, though the song was actually a protest song against the war in Iraq. They played a few songs from Beautiful Garbage, including “Shut Your Mouth” and “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)” – which Shirley introduced by pointing out her parents in the balcony. They flew over from Scotland for the show and she thanked them for letting her grow up with the freedom to follow her dreams.

Of course, they played a bunch of songs from Version 2.0 and Garbage: “Vow”, “Stupid Girl”, “I Think I’m Paranoid”, “Only Happy When It Rains”, “When I Grow Up” (one of the best to dance to) and even threw in ”#1 Crush” during the encore. That really brought me back to high school. I forgot the order of all the songs they played and there was only one setlist that people were fighting over. This is the second Garbage show I’ve been to, and I’m totally looking forward to the next. My first Garbage concert was the second night of the Ballroom Blitz with Queen Adreena opening.