Words by Jon Chattman Words by John Wisdom It sounds hokey to say (but I’m saying it anyway), it was a “Special” night when Garbage hit the Capitol stage on Oct. 20. The band played one of the final shows on their “20 Years Paranoid” tour, which pays homage to their classic second album Version 2.0. The tour, like the 20th-anniversary edition album released earlier this year, featured the entire original album as well as awesome B-sides. It was apparent from the very second Butch Vig (drummer and legendary producer in his own right), guitarist Duke Erikson, guitarist Steve Marker (the pride of Mamaroneck), and goddess frontwoman Shirley Manson took the stage, the crowd was ready for a memorable night as was the band, who as with all other shows, brought their A-game. The evening, which featured 23 songs, was full of surprises and the expected highlights were just that but there were countless unexpected moments that stole the show. Right off the bat, I’ll say this: Manson sounds exactly the same, and the band is as tight as ever. The band ran through 2.0 tracks like “Temptation Waits,” “Special,” and “Sleep Together” in epic style, and I don’t use the word “epic” like hipsters do. I seriously mean it. The crowd ate it up. Surprise deep cuts off the album seemed to really get the audience going like “Dumb,” which has never sounded better, and “Wicked Ways,” in which Manson incorporated verses of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus. I could go on about how good the songs sounded - the cuts off the record and B-Sides like “Afterglow,” a Big Star cover of “Thirteen,” and the danceable “Get Busy with the Fizzy,” but instead I’ll focus on the rapport the band had with one another throughout. Playful is the best way to describe it. Whether it was Manson practically hugging Vig throughout half of “Push It,” doing a butt bump with Marker during “I Think I’m Paranoid,” or playfully messing around with the keyboards as Erikson played “Fizzy,” they were having a blast, showing how throughout their ups and downs, they’re so much more than a band. They’re family. True to form, Manson was very outspoken throughout the show. She spoke out on women’s rights (she gave a scarf of hers to a fan recognizing her own awareness that she hasn’t fully respected the African American feminist struggle), the president, and at one point, made fun of herself for breaking down in tears. She couldn’t pinpoint why she was crying exactly, but noted since this tour was coming to an end, it may have finally caught up to her. Afterall, Manson has called 2.0 the “quintessential Garbage record.” There’s a reason for it. There’s not a bad song on it. It went platinum. It scored Grammy nods. It’s timeless. And to end this review with a hokey line that also name checks a song of theirs, on this night at The Cap, like so many in the band’s rich history, they looked “so fine.”