Marilyn Manson cut the fake rifle from his act and rocked the sold-out Hollywood Palladium Monday night

While performing in front of a massive festival crowd at Glen Helen Amphitheatre in San Bernardino during his turn of the two-day Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, rocker Marilyn Manson pointed a fake rifle, strapped with his microphone, at the audience.

Though the crowd, filled with Manson devotees and metal lovers alike, seemed largely unfazed and shrugged the stunt off as mostly being “lame,” it ignited a national media firestorm since it came on the eve of a mass shooting at a church in Texas where 25 people and an unborn child were brutally gunned down. Manson later explained his reasoning for the addition of the prop as being an “act of theater” and a statement about how easy it is to obtain semi automatic weapons, adding “My performance was not meant to be disrespectful or show any insensitivity.”

Monday night, during his hometown, sold-out stop at the Hollywood Palladium, Manson left most of the theatrics behind and instead just delivered a stellar show. Now at 49, he’s certainly not as shocking or as provocative as he was when he hit the mainstream in the mid-’90s with “Antichrist Superstar.” That said, he’s also not an old dog that’s lost his bite. Manson and his band have recently released some of their best work in over a decade with the last two albums, “The Pale Emperor” in 2015, followed by last year’s “Heaven Upside Down.”

The Palladium appearance was so much better than his show in San Bernardino. Manson, who at the time was freshly recovering from having his double pistol stage prop crush him during a performance in early October, breaking his right leg in two places, hadn’t quite figured out how to work a medical boot and a wheelchair into his act. The transitions there were rough with lots of lag time in between songs.

Now, however, he’s got it figured out. His wheelchair is more of a Gothic mobile throne, though nothing as gaudy as Dave Grohl’s now legendary rock ‘n roll throne. Unlike in San Bernardino, Manson seemed to also be able to put weight on his leg again as he stood for a good portion of the evening, having his two male “nurses” coming out to assist him in quick costume modifications for different songs.

He leaned heavily on his newer material, bringing the fire, but leaving out the fake rifle this time, with “We Know Where You (Expletive) Live,” the catchy “Kill4Me,” the cleverly written and clear audience favorite, “Say10” and he added a new song to the tour, “Tattooed in Reverse.”

The only inclusion from the bluesy “The Pale Emperor” was “Deep Six,” though something like “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” or “The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles” probably would have gone over well on this night, too.

Fans, mostly clad in black, danced around screamed back the lyrics to hits such as “Mobscene,” “The Dope Show,” “Disposable Teens” and some of Manson’s oldest material, including “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” and “The Reflecting God.” The band, shrouded in red and purple light and a thin layer of fog, teased the crowd with its cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” The audience cheered as the anticipation grew and Manson emerged sitting on a gurney, holding a light to his face as he snared along to the song.

The crowd participation and the loud applause wasn’t lost on Manson, who early on noted, “It’s good to be home, I don’t feel weird saying I love y’all.” For the encore, Manson appeared with a hooded jacket in a solo spotlight and sang “The Nobodies” as confetti fell like snow around him. With the roaring response afterwards, Manson thanked his hometown fans, calling them “the best crowd ever,” before ripping into “The Beautiful People,” to close out the night.

Marilyn Manson’s The Heaven Upside Down Tour

When: Monday, Jan. 15

Where: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles

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