Garbage had a busy 2025, releasing their new album, *Let All That We Imagine Be the Light*, and kicking off what they called their final North American headlining tour. However, the biggest story of the year came from an incident at a festival in Australia. Shirley Manson, the band’s lead singer, had a memorable moment when she told a concertgoer to stop throwing a beach ball.
In a video shared by the band, Manson called the beach ball thrower a “f d*bag.” She later took to social media to express her feelings, saying, “I make NO APOLOGIES whatsoever for getting annoyed at beach balls at shows. I joined a band because I HATED THE F BEACH.”
Drummer Butch Vig noted that most musicians share Manson’s view. “Almost 90% of performers are gonna say, ‘We don’t like beach balls, we don’t want any distractions,'” he explained. “You don’t want people throwing stuff at gigs.”
The backlash from the incident surprised the band. Vig remarked, “The vitriol and the blowback was crazy, it’s like [Manson] was the antichrist! C’mon, it’s just a beach ball!” He found it amusing that the story made headlines in major newspapers the next day.
Looking ahead, Vig suspects that beach balls might make a comeback at Garbage shows. “I suspect in future festivals there will be some beach balls at Garbage shows,” he said. “But that’s alright, Shirley will just roll with it.
