Marilyn Manson in Bergamo between shadows, intensity, ritual and speed

The evening of November 25, 2025 marks a return that continues to dividewhich separates those who choose physical presence and those who instead exercise a form of conscious absence, fueled by four years of accusations, acquittals, protests and a debate that continues to go beyond music. The cancellation of the concert last October 29th in Brighton, the result of an online campaign and a formal appeal against the presence of men accused of abuse in performance venues, remains a shadow over this tour. But there are also those who, as in Mexico, decide to defend not only “freedom of expression”, but also launch an appeal of “cultural justice“. The one in Bergamo is the second Italian date after Milan last February and is part of a phase in which Marilyn Manson, after the charges of domestic violence were dropped in January, returns to expose his figure, still controversial, to the judgment of the public. The structure hosting the concert, the ChorusLife Arena inaugurated a year ago and still in the adjustment phase, welcomes the public with a freezing temperature that makes it unnecessary to remove coats and with acoustics that do not always uniformly reflect what happens on stage.

At 9pm sharp, as scheduled and after opening for Dead Poseythe room goes dark while “Sacrifice of the mass” runs in recording. The stage lights up in red, hidden by a black cloth, and when “Nod if you understand” explodes with the clear hits of the drums, the scene opens. Marilyn Manson is already at the center of the scene: he is wearing a tight black suit, marked by a harness that adds a sadomasochistic touch, while his pale face is engraved with a very dark lipstick that curves into a ferocious grin. The eyes, sunk in eyeliner, complete an image that is both a mask and a distinctive sign. “It’s good to be back, Bergamo!“, shouts the American singer to the audience, placed between the stands and the parterre. The jets of smoke begin to rise upwards and the lights draw geometric crosses that transform with each song. Next to the performer, 56 years old, born Brian Warner, there are Tyler Bates on the guitar, Gil Sharone on the battery, Reba Meyers on second guitar — the first female in the band’s history, greeted online amidst support and criticism — and Piggy D.born Matthew Montgomery, on bass. Manson’s voice maintains its imprint, its timbre that does not lose depth, but in the performance of the venue some nuances emerge discontinuously: in “Sacrilegious”, in particular, the extension seems to give in to small inaccuracies that could derive more from the technical limits of the acoustics than from interpretative lapses.

The lineup alternates classics and new songs from the latest album, “One assassination under God – Chapter 1”, in an alternation and intertwining of “Disposable teens”, “Angel with the scabbed wings”, “Great big white world”, “One assassination under God”, “This is the new shit”. The main line of “Long hard road out of hell”, “I wanna live, I wanna love”, stretches out like a mantra, which accompanies the momentary exit of the singer to leave room for an instrumental interlude. When Manson returns for “Sacrilegious”, a black jacket covered in rhinestones opens a new section of the concert. Shortly afterwards comes the usual curtain — “I’m Marilyn Manson and I love drugs” — which introduces “The dope show“, while the furry turquoise warmer replaces the previous dress. “As sick as the secrets within” keeps the gaze focused on a present that seems to ask for answers to every stage gesture. And then his famous cover of “Sweet dreams (Are made of this)”, which comes from a torch pointed at the singer’s face, like an interrogation addressed to himself and the spectators, before the opening of the song transforms the Arena into a collective karaoke, in full Marilyn Manson style.

With the red lighted cabaret-style sign falling from above, the finale takes shape starting from “mOBSCENE“, before another warhorse. Then comes “The beautiful people”, inevitable in a Manson concert, to precede the two encores of the evening. In “Tourniquet” the artist enters the stage with a headband microphone and on the iconic metal crutches-stiltswhich since their appearance over twenty years ago remain a symbol of Manson’s circus-grotesque aesthetic. After a final, short pause, “Coma White“brings a fictitious snowfall that falls on an already freezing Arena, to the point of seeming part of the scenography. The exit arrives all too quickly at 10.20pm, after an hour and twenty minutes who do not seek explanations but produce a story in which gesture, voice and perception clash with a venue still to be perfected, with a figure that continues to generate opposite reactions and with an audience that chooses to participate anyway, in presence, in the return of an artist who navigates his past while testing his present.

Here’s the lineup:

Sacrifice of the Mass (registered)

Nod If You Understand
Disposable Teens
Angel With the Scabbed Wings
Great Big White World
One Assassination Under God
This Is the New Shit
Long Hard Road Out of Hell
(Interlude) (registered)

Sacrilegious
The Dope Show
As Sick as the Secrets Within
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Cover by Eurythmics

mOBSCENE
The Beautiful People

BIS 1

Tourniquet

BIS 2

Coma White