And the bands play on.

Marilyn Manson and Hole made the third stop of their joint North American tour on Wednesday night at Seattle's Key Arena, where they provided a post-flannel show that safely put memories of that city's "grunge movement" to rest.

While Marilyn Manson's fiancee, Rose McGowan, got her groove on from behind the soundboard and an extremely blond Eddie Vedder joined the crowd, his group's set reveled in its Who-like decibel levels.

Courtney Love, who was raised in nearby Olympia, Washington, and had established a home in Seattle with Kurt Cobain prior to his death, made it clear during her set and in an interview backstage that she had mixed feelings about coming back -- and facing the city's flannel-riddled past.

"Grunge is dead," Love said, "Grunge is over, okay everyone? I'm here and we're here to soothe [things] and to help everyone move through this. And it was like the grunge receptical."

Manson was also in particularly good spirits in the wake of his and Love's onstage antics the previous night, and joked with MTV News about dominating the audience in a region considered to be a stronghold for Hole.

"It's a pretty good audience balance you know," Manson told MTV News,"with about 85 percent Manson, about 15 percent Hole. Somewhere around there. [Courtney Love] provides the female icon and I provide sort of a quasi-male icon."

The Hole-Marilyn Manson is currently in the middle of a two-day break, but will return to the road with openers Monster Magnet for a concert on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon.
 
 
 

MTV.com, March 5, 1999