Photo Gallery: Garbage at Salt Shed • Chicago
Garbage
Salt Shed
Chicago, IL
September 29, 2025
Photos and recap by Curt Baran
Is this really the end?
Rock and Roll has a notorious tendency to announce “Farewell” tours (like The Who’s hard stare with uncomfortable eye contact) only to embark on repeated road trips. While it’s always a buyer beware, it certainly seems like this might be Garbage’s final bow. Formed in the early ‘90s, the band, consisting of Madison, Wisconsinites Butch Vig, Duke Erickson, and Steve Marker, enlisted singer Shirley Manson from nearby Edinburgh, Scotland, to join their band that didn’t exist at the time.
Their foresight paid off, resulting in a blend of critical and commercial success over three decades.
Manson recently revealed that she can’t envision extensive touring beyond their current North American tour due to two hip replacement surgeries and the new oppressive financial dynamics for touring bands. If this is indeed their final farewell, it finds the band in excellent form.
Their 2025 release, Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, is one of their strongest albums to date. The performance in Chicago left an awestruck audience wondering if Manson is now partially bionic.
As expected, the two and a half dozen songs performed were split between newer material (“Chinese Fire Horse”) and alt-radio-friendly hits (“Vow,” “Paranoid,” “Queer,” “Push It,” and the show-closing “Only Happy When It Rains”). Manson and her now familiar band of former strangers certainly sounded as if they could easily continue for another decade. So, is this another elaborate rock and roll ruse? Intuition suggests this was one to be savored. When the house lights came up, it felt like an air of finality rose to the rafters.
Category: Featured
