TORONTO - There's something about Marilyn Manson in 2007 that seems, frankly, kind of dated to me.

Maybe it's because I've been with him since the beginning of the early '90s and have seen all his ghoulish tricks before - the corsetted waist, the dictator set piece, the bible burning, etc. Or maybe it's just that the shock-rocker always made way more interesting artistic statements than he did any kind of lasting industrial rock music.

Whatever the case, Manson's 90-minute-set last night at the Molson Amphitheatre which drew close to a sold out crowd - with thrash metal veterans Slayer making up a strong double bill - definitely had its moments but wasn't always riveting stuff. Sure, the theatrically-bent Manson knows how to make an entrance - with red lights, billowing smoke and pummeling drums drawing attention to his outstretched silhouetted frame behind a giant curtain - as he launched the evening with If I Was Your Vampire from his latest record, Eat Me, Drink Me.

But there was lots of dark down time between songs with pre-recorded audio supposedly keeping the audience occupied as his minions changed either Manson's clothes, sets or props, the latter which ranged from from an oversized chair to a platform that raised him high above the crowd to a red velvet rope-enclosed boxing ring.

For me, the people watching doesn't get much better than it does at a Manson show with the goth-and-glam set dressing up in their best shiny black outfits in honor of the occasion.

I even saw a black hearse in the parking lot.

It was almost more interesting in the seats than on the stage as Manson and his four-piece band tore through each song at ear-shredding levels, causing the young crowd to rise to its feet from the opening song.

Highlights included older tunes like Disposable Teens, his cover of the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams, The Dope Show, The Fight Song and The Beautiful People with very little from Eat Me, Drink Me, standing out.

Even less powerful in concert was his new single, Heart Shaped Glasses, the video for which stars Manson's 19-year-old girlfriend, the onetime squeaky-clean Evan Rachel Wood (Once And Again).

While it's been rumored they are actually having sex on camera for the clip, the two are also seen in a convertible while Wood puts a knife in her mouth and Manson takes pictures.

Eventually, the couple drive off the edge of a cliff in the car.

Wood, who inspired the music on Eat Me, Drink Me, is said to be the reason the 38-year-old musician left his wife, burlesque star Dita Von Teese last December after one year of marriage.

And if his romantic entanglements weren't scandalous enough, Manson was also named in a lawsuit filed last week by his former keyboard player who claimed the shock rocker had duped him and other bandmates out of millions of dollars in order in order to buy human skeletons and masks made of human skin, among other things.

It all just sounds like another day in the life of rock 'n' roll's latest boogey man, for whom there's probably no such thing as bad publicity.