Mechanical Animals was a worldwide tour by the band Marilyn Manson in support of their third LP record Mechanical Animals, released on September 15, 1998. The tour extended from late 1998 to early 1999 and was recorded in 1998 for the VHS-format God is in the TV which was released on November 2, 1999.

The Mechanical Animals European Festival Tour was supposed to be the first leg of the tour. This particular leg of the tour consisted of six dates to be played at various European festivals planned as the debut of follow-up material to Antichrist Superstar two months before the release of Mechanical Animals. This leg of the tour spanned from June 25, 1998, until July 12, 1999.

Reportedly, drummer Ginger Fish became ill with mononucleosis. This led the band to cancel the entire summer European leg and postpone the beginning of the tour to October 25, 1998.

Beginning on October 25, 1998, and lasting until January 31, 1999, the "Mechanical Animals Tour" included two legs spanning a Fall to Winter World Tour in Europe, Japan, and North America and a 6 show headlining stint at the Big Day Out Music Festival in Australia.

Background

After declining a headlining slot at the failing Lollapalooza summer music festival (along with numerous other bands) in early 1998 due to delays in Mechanical Animals' release, the band launched the first of their own headlining tours in support of the album. The tour was originally intended to begin on June 25, 1998, with a series of 6 festival dates in Europe lasting until July 12, 1998. However, drummer Ginger Fish became ill with mononucleosis, leading to the cancellation of the entire summer European leg and the postponement of the beginning of the tour to October 25, 1998, in Lawrence, Kansas.

Performance and show themes With this being the first leg of the tour, the stage show was minimal compared to later legs of the tour

Incidents As with the band's preceding 1997 world tour, Dead to the World, the Mechanical Animals Tour met with heavy resistance from civic and religious leaders. The first of these protests occurred on October 19, 1998. A month before a planned performance at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York, local activists began calling for a cancellation of the engagement. According to Associated Press, then-Syracuse Mayor Roy Bernardi attempted to block the venue's permit, citing a "moral obligation to the people of Syracuse", without specifying any reason for his objections. Onondaga County officials also attempted to extort the Landmark into halting the event by threatening to withhold $30,000 in county funds earmarked for the venue, prompting the venue's bookers to consider dropping the show altogether. Despite this, representatives for the Landmark started selling tickets on the day it was planned and the performance took place on the arranged date and venue.

Set list

North America

The Reflecting God Great Big White World Cake and Sodomy Posthuman Mechanical Animals I Want to Disappear Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) The Speed of Pain Rock Is Dead The Dope Show Lunchbox User Friendly I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) Rock N Roll Nigger The Beautiful People Irresponsible Hate Anthem

Europe/Asia

Inauguration of the Mechanical Christ The Reflecting God Great Big White World Cake and Sodomy Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes Rock Is Dead The Dope Show Lunchbox I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) Rock N Roll Nigger The Beautiful People

Broadcasts and recordings

Various shows were recorded on the tour but there was no specific information about which dates. A 40-minute short film was released on VHS entitled God Is in the T.V. following the tour, however it only contained short live clips from various shows. Widely heralded as the band's best tour, their 2012 comeback sparked interest in the release of an uninterrupted live DVD of this tour. It is not known if the full recordings exist of the performances shown in God Is in the T.V.. The only full live recordings available are bootleg from their January 23, 1999 concert in Sydney, Australia during their headlining stint at the Big Day Out Music Festival. The video is of mediocre quality. A rare partial recording of the band's concert on November 16, 1998, in Detroit, Michigan, and unedited aftershow promotional interview also exist.

Tour dates + List of concerts, showing date, city, country, and venue Date City Country Venue Opening Act(s) Attendance Revenue North America October 25, 1998 LawrenceUnited States Granada n/a October 26, 1998 Kansas City Memorial Hall 3,095 / 3,095 $77,375 October 27, 1998 St. Louis Fox Theater October 29, 1998 Milwaukee Riverside Theater 2,466 / 2,466 $57,502 October 30, 1998 Chicago Aragon Ballroom 4,500 / 4,500 $112,500 October 31, 1998 Saint Paul Roy Wilkins Auditorium November 3, 1998 Tulsa Brady Theatre 2,599 / 2,969 $64,975 November 4, 1998 Houston Aerial Theatre November 5, 1998 Dallas Bronco Bowl 3,213 / 3,213 $77,925 November 7, 1998 New Orleans State Theatre November 9, 1998 Atlanta Tabernacle 2,500 / 2,500 $68,750 November 10, 1998 Charlotte Ovens Auditorium 2,565 / 2,565 $61,850 November 11, 1998 Richmond Landmark Theater 2,828 / 3,000 $69,993 November 13, 1998 Camden Sony Blockbuster Pavilion 6,757 / 6,757 $179,061 November 14, 1998 Cleveland Cleveland Music Hall 2,757 / 2,757 $75,818 November 16, 1998 Detroit State Theatre November 18, 1998 Mississauga Canada Arrow Hall 4,647 / 4,647 $89,106 November 19, 1998 SyracuseUnited States Landmark Theatre 2,706 / 2,706 $67,650 November 21, 1998 Poughkeepsie Mid-Hudson Civic Center November 22, 1998 Lowell Tsongas Arena November 23, 1998 New York City Hammerstein Ballroom 3,600 / 3,600 $103,200Europe November 27, 1998 BarcelonaSpain Pavello de la D'Hebron n/a November 28, 1998 Bilbao Pabellon de la Castilla November 30, 1998 Lisbon Portugal Pavilhão Atlântico December 1, 1998 Madrid Spain Palacio de la Commidad December 4, 1998 Milan Italy Palavobis December 9, 1998 Copenhagen Denmark K.B. Hallen December 10, 1998 Oslo Norway Rockefeller Music Hall December 11, 1998 Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Arena December 13, 1998 Hamburg Germany Grosse Freiheit 36 December 14, 1998 Tilburg Netherlands 013 December 16, 1998 Cologne Germany E-Werk December 17, 1998 London England Brixton Academy December 18, 1998 Deinze Belgium Breilpoort December 19, 1998 Paris France Zénith de Paris North America December 31, 1998 Las Vegas United States The Joint n/a Asia January 8, 1999TokyoJapanNK Hall n/a January 9, 1999 January 11, 1999OsakaZepp January 12, 1999 Big Day Out January 15, 1999 Auckland New Zealand Ericcson Stadium n/a January 17, 1999 Gold CoastAustralia Gold Coast Parklands January 23, 1999 Sydney Sydney Showgrounds January 26, 1999 Melbourne Melbourne Showgrounds January 29, 1999 Adelaide Adelaide Showgrounds January 31, 1999 Perth Bassendean Oval

Cancelled or rescheduled shows + List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and reason for cancellation Date City Country Venue ReasonLeg 1: European Festival Tour 1998 June 25, 1998 Roskilde Denmark Roskilde Festival Ginger Fish contracted mononucleosis. June 27, 1998 Burgh Netherlands Waldrock Festival June 28, 1998 Dessel Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting June 30, 1998 Kristiansand Norway Odderøya Amfi July 9, 1998 FrauenfeldGermany Out in the Green Festival July 12, 1998 Zwickau Full Force Open Air

Lineup Marilyn Manson Marilyn Manson: Vocals John 5: Guitar Twiggy Ramirez: Bass Madonna Wayne Gacy: Keyboards Ginger Fish: Drums

Reception

Critical reception Music critic Tim Finn of The Kansas City Star commented that, overall, the show was "far less a spectacle than the Antichrist Superstar tour."

References