It's back to the old school for Garbage, road-testing their new material in concert halls they've long outgrown and which are, unsurprisingly, packed to the rafters. It's also premiere time for Shirley Manson's new 80s rock chick look, complete with Fran Healy finn haircut and braces. Sadly, they're minus Butch Vig, who's contracted Hepatitis A and is convalescing on the other side of the Atlantic, although the band pull out the stops to ensure his presence isn't missed.
An opening salvo of 'Push It', 'Special' and 'I Think I'm Paranoid' indicates that this isn't going to be the usual "Let's play you our new album and reward you later with some hits" type of intimate gig. Which is fortunate as the tracks aired from 'Beautiful Garbage' pale in comparison when shoulder-to-shoulder with their sleek, dynamic predecessors - all hackneyed rock riffs thrown at the wall to see which would stick and allow songs to be written around them. Only forthcoming single 'Cherry Lips' has the zest and drive of the best moments of their previous two albums.
Luckily, things are rescued by the appearance of bona-fide classics like 'Vow', '#1 Crush' and 'Only Happy When It Rains', the band's superb interplay and Manson's part-naughty child, part-pouting femme fatale stage persona. At the climax of 'Supervixen' she's on her hands and knees doing press-ups. By contrast, she earlier collects a letter from the front row, opens it up and thanks the recipient before carefully depositing it on the drum riser.
The contradictions of their frontwoman reflect the dichotomy at the heart of Garbage. Their finest songs take the best elements of pop - great choruses, memorable riffs - down a floodlit alley to whisper dark thoughts in their ear. Their lesser moments conjure up every duff rock band that thought having a female singer with an amazing range and feisty gob would be enough to bail them out. They still give good gig, the time for resting on past glories will soon expire.
