Garbage kicked off farewell tour in Orlando with renewed fire

Alt-rock legends Garbage kicked off their U.S. tour here in Orlando this week, which was great news! Not-so-great news: This is, in the band’s word, their final headlining U.S. tour. Garbage frontperson Shirley Manson laid it all on the line from the stage.

“We as a band have just decided that things are getting stickier and stickier for us to go out and do a long-ass tour, it just feels like, it’s difficult, and the forces of the world, basically it’s just really difficult for bands. Due to streaming and all that, it’s really fucked with the economics of the music industry, and it makes touring very difficult. And we are old, we are angry and tired.”

That business out of the way, the band played a set brimming with ferocity and energy that would put much-younger groups to shame. The setlist was a dizzying dive through the 1990s rockers’ full discography, including “Not My Idea,” “Hold,” “Parade,” “How I Met God” and “Only Happy When It Rains.”

And hopefully you got there early enough to see young rockers Starcrawler, who really tore the house down.

Starcrawler at Hard Rock Live Credit: by Jim Leatherman