Perhaps you’ve head the news that Shirley Manson does not want beach balls at Garbage shows or anywhere near her ever. In a moment that’s now gone viral from the band’s set at Melbourne’s Good Things festival last week, Manson angrily cussed out a man in the audience for handling a beach ball in what we can only assume was a distracting manner. Manson later clarified on Threads: “I joined a band because I HATED THE FUCKING BEACH. I joined a band because I wanted to listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure and be dark and beautiful.”
Those anti-beach ball statements got quite a bit of backlash, and Australian fans are still showing up to the Garbage gig en masse armed with their plastic inflated orbs. So during Garbage’s set at the Brisbane edition of Good Things Festival on Sunday, Manson elaborated on her previous statements, and suggested that those angry people redirect their anger elsewhere. Here’s her speech:
I just have to address your glorious beach balls. They’re very impressive. They’re very impressive, and not only are they impressive, but they are very, very big. So the only thing that kind of shocks me a little is that there’s been more fuss made about me offending beach balls than there has been made about 20,000 Palestinian kids who are now fucking under the dirt. So whilst the press are busy cooking up some kind of crazy Antichrist rhetoric, I would just like to remind you all what actually is important in this life. And maybe a beach ball brings you joy. If I upset you about your blessed beach balls, I humbly apologize. However, I would really like it if the governments of the day apologized for what the fuck is happening in Palestine!
It appears Manson’s actually handling the whole ordeal pretty well, even as balls continue to fly around in the pit at Garbage’s Australian shows. She changed the opening lyrics of “There’s No Future In Optimism” from “if you’re ready for love” to “if you’re ready for balls.” Either way, I think I’m staunchly anti-beach balls now. Fuck beach balls. Free Palestine. See audience clips of Manson’s speech and the ensuing beach balls below.
