Garbage Rocks New Haven with 30 Years of Hits

Alt-rock band Garbage headlined a two-hour concert in New Haven on Sunday night so spectacular that no one would have guessed that lead singer Shirley Manson was struggling with apparent vocal issues.

And though Manson spent much of the concert apologizing, the audience couldn’t have loved her more: The College Street Music Hall show, part of band’s Happy Endings tour, brought original members Manson, Butch Vig (drums); Steve Marker (guitar, keys); and Duke Erikson (guitar, bass, keys); together for a dream set on what is possibly the band’s last U.S. tour.

Los Angeles glam-meets-doom rock band Starcrawler kicked off the night with a 30-minute set of rock n’ roll bangers, mixing heavy guitar and bass riffs with soothing harmonies from lead vocalist Arrow De Wilde and lead guitarist Henri Cash. The band was as fascinating visually as they were musically, between their matching Pepto-Bismol-pink backline to their swaggering gestures. Their sound drew comparisons that ranged from Sonic Youth to the New York Dolls, with Cash changing guitars every other song or so while De Wilde writhed, crooned, and screamed into the mic. And while the audience favorite was clearly a cover of the Ramones’ “Pet Semetary,” I am personally obsessed with their angsty 2022 hit “Roadkill” (see video below):

Garbage hit the stage at 9 p.m., with Manson clad in all-black, fronting a band that included touring bass player Nicole Fiorentino, whose sweet backing vocals gave the band’s iconic hits and more recent releases a little extra oomph. Kicking off their set with “There’s No Future in Optimism,” the band didn’t get very far before Manson started apologizing for how her voice sounded, pleading with her sound engineers to make adjustments to compensate. Yet while Manson seemed slightly ill at ease, pacing the stage between songs, few, if anyone, seemed unhappy — everyone just wanted as much Garbage as the band could give them.

Crowd favorites overwhelmingly came from Garbage’s first three records — their self-titled 1995 debut, Version 2.0, and Beautiful Garbage. “When I Grow Up” sent Gen X-ers clad in fishnets and Doc Martins bouncing, while Garbage devotees sung every last word of hits like “#1 Crush” (which Garbage hadn’t played more than a handful of times on this tour), “I Think I’m Paranoid,” and “Queer.” I was over the moon when the band played one of my favorite B-sides, the intense techno-rock banger “Hammering in My Head.”

[SEE RELATED: Garbage’s Debut Album Turns 30: Why it’s Still a Favorite]

And while I don’t usually love a lot of talking between songs, Manson’s little stories came off as charming. I laughed as she recalled being stoned while recovering from surgery, feeling a divine presence as she came up with the lyrics for “The Day That I Met God.” I appreciated the advocacy for mental health as she recited the inspiration behind the lyrics for “The Trick is To Keep Breathing.”

By the time the band encored with “Stupid Girl” and “Only Happy When it Rains” — Garbage’s first, and possibly their two biggest, hits — I felt grateful that I made the last-minute decision to go see them, although few of my mom friends seemed interested in joining me, or trekking 30 minutes to New Haven on a Sunday night. Reflecting on the concert, I would have most certainly regretted not seeing this show. And more than anything else, I certainly hope it isn’t their last one within an hour’s drive of where I live.