Garbage, Brixton Academy, gig review: A truly treasured experience

The band name might be synonymous with rubbish, but the memories of tonight are to be treasured

This gig, the first of two dates at Brixton as part of a short European tour, entitled “20 Years Queer”, is momentous: it’s the first time alt-rock group Garbage have played this venue for 20 years and it celebrates 20 years of the band’s self-titled debut album, the one with the pink feather cover art and hits like “Only Happy When it Rains” and “Queer”, that spoke loudly to anyone anywhere that classed themselves as an outsider back in 1995. The album launched Garbage into the international rock scene as a lyrically interesting and innovative band and 20 years on they’re still going, with a new album planned for 2016. But despite their longevity, this band haven’t done it all yet; there are two unique moments in tonight’s gig. One, is that Shirley Manson plays the song that launched her career, when she went from Edinburgh to Madison, Wisconsin to audition to be the singer in Garbage and they asked her to write the lyrics to a melody they’d composed. She had never written anything before yet magically came up with “A Stroke of Luck”, one of the enduring songs on the first album. Secondly, she forgot to wear any knickers. “I’ve never said this before and this is a bit weird but I need someone in our crew to get me a pair of underpants,” she announced to the 5,000 capacity crowd, “My family are here and I got distracted and I forgot... I bet this never happens to Beyoncé,” she said in her Scottish burr, as a wind machine made her black skirt flutter precariously.

For hardcore fans, moments like this are the stuff of dreams, and the diverse crowd nod appreciatively as, once her pants are firmly in place, Manson prances about the stage, giving life and energy to obscure B-sides and classic tracks hewn by time into momentous rock anthems. The dark, eerie twang of “Queer” comes early in the set, it’s the third song, mirroring the tracklisting of the original record, swiftly followed by the shouty B-Side, “Girl Don’t Come”, which is only matched by Lily Allen’s “Not Fair” in its anger at addressing equality in the bedroom. Other fanciful asides from the main album tracklist include a rumbling cover of Paul Weller’s “The Butterfly Collective”, which was the B-side to the “Queer” single, here it’s layered with anarchic guitars, and 49-year-old Manson makes her flexible and bombastic vocal into a whine to mirror the distorted keyboards. Her voice is plaintive on “Milk”, becoming a needling purr for “Fix Me Now”.

As the evening goes on, lesbians kiss, metalheads slap backs, Goths smile and punks jump up and down a lot. The band round off the night with an encore of songs from their latest album, Not Your Kind of People, including “Automatic Systematic Habit” and “When I Grow Up”. For an album that many people spent moping along to alone in their bedrooms when it was first released, it’s surprisingly vigorous when heard live. The songs seem to acquire an extra, joyful dimension. Maybe that’s down to this being a communal experience, with all those who felt like outcasts and found solace in the band’s first album being able to band together now, knowing they’re not alone. The band name might be synonymous with rubbish, but the memories of tonight are to be treasured.

Setlist

Alien Sex Fiend

Subhuman

Supervixen

Queer

Girl Don't Come

As Heaven Is Wide

The Butterfly Collector (The Jam cover)

Not My Idea

Trip My Wire

Milk

Fix Me Now

My Lover's Box

Sleep

A Stroke of Luck

#1 Crush

Stupid Girl

Dog New Tricks

Only Happy When It Rains

Vow

Encore: Kick My Ass (Vic Chesnutt cover)

Driving Lesson

Automatic Systematic Habit

When I Grow Up