Marilyn Manson finally got to perform in Calgary, 12 years after the shock rocker was first scheduled to appear in the Alberta city. His controversial stage antics and lyrical subject matter proved to intense for Larry Ryckman, former owner of the Calgary Stampeders football team and owner of the Max Bell Arena ,where that 1997 show was to take place, and the concert was derailed forcing Manson to skip the tour stop.

This time around, in support of his latest musical offering, The High End of Low [Interscope, 2009], Manson had his chance to be heard.

A sold-out audience at the Jubilee Auditorium – which has a capacity for just over 2,500 – screamed in delight as Manson and his band hit the first few notes, following opening act Die Mannequin, a trio from Toronto, Ont.

From on stage and behind a huge black curtain, the band induced an intense intro of lights and music, while the crowd chanted, growing ever louder until the cheers became an inaudible but thunderous roar of anticipation, then erupted as the fabric of their concealment came crashing down, and Manson dove into the first single off the new album “We’re From America.”

The impact was felt by fans – many of whom were already rushing the stage from the Jubilee’s assigned seating – and the whole place was a circus of energy. And the ringmaster of it all himself sounded nothing short of awesome, save for a few technical glitches that left the vocals a little too quiet for the first part of the opener.

I wish I could say that for the rest of the show. I wish I could say that this was the best show I’ve seen in a really long time, that I’m glad that show in ’97 never happened because I was seeing this now.

But I can’t.

Mind you, there were plenty of singalongs to classics like “Disposable Teens” and “Irresponsible Hate Anthem,” anthemic choruses and the likes, even the burning of what may or may not have been the bible that pissed people off so bad in this prairie town over a decade ago…

But it was all a little anticlimactic, and I certainly wasn’t left saying – to quote one of Manson’s latest tunes – “WOW.”

Yeah, yeah, I know that’s not what the song means, but you catch my drift.

Clocking in at just over an hour, Manson started to wane about half way through, taking more and more breaks at the end of songs to disappear back stage while his bandmates played them out, went frequently off key, and sounded out of breath as he wandered the stage looking like everything was forced.

Maybe it was his supposed Swine Flu taking an early toll; perhaps he just decided to show up that day by simply making an appearance. Either way, I should have just stayed home and listened to the CDs, but then I would have missed the energy that came from the audience, one of the most forgiving I have ever seen or heard.