Powerman 5000

Freaks on Parade 8/12/22

It is rare that I want to see every band on the bill, especially when four bands are playing. This was that rare instance. Bob, Kyle and I decided that making the drive up to Irvine on a Friday was a much better option than doing the hometown show in Chula Vista on a Sunday. This allowed us to get loose and enjoy ourselves a little more than we would have on a “school night.” None of us had ever been to the Fivepoint Amphitheatre that was built in 2018 to replace the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre I had previously seen a handful of shows at. Capacity is only 11,730 so even though our seats were near the back we still did not seem that far back. That of course did not stop me from trying to weasel our way into better seats but more on that later….

The aptly labeled “Freaks on Parade” tour started with Powerman 5000. There was a time when I really liked this band but the only remnant left from that band is Rob Zombie’s little brother Spider One. I guess if there is only going to be one member of the original band left the singer is the preferable person since actual instruments are easier to approximate than the vocals. They were alright but things just have not been the same since everyone else left. All members jumping up and down in unison just came across as very contrived. I still enjoyed it but that was mostly due to the setlist they chose. We did get away with sitting in the best seats in our section thanks to my sweet talking the security guard so that was a bonus too.

SETLIST: Footsteps and Voices, Nobody’s Real, Invade, Destroy, Repeat, Horror Show/Seven Nation Army, Bombshell, Supernova Goes Pop, When Worlds Collide

“Static-X” was the last band I saw before the pandemic lockdown. I put “Static-X” in quotation marks because this of course was without Wayne Static who passed back in 2014. Instead, this was the original lineup with a character named “Xero” filling in for Wayne. They did a damn good impression last time and this time was just as good if not better. Of course it did not hurt that the entire setlist with the exception of “Cold” was taken from the Wisconsin Death Trip album. We tried to sneak into better seats before they came on but failed as security at this amphitheater is tighter than most.

SETLIST: Bled For Days, Wisconsin Death Trip, Sweat of the Bud, Love Dump, Cold, I’m With Stupid, Push It

Though both Mudvayne and I were at Rockfest 2000 this was before they were on my radar so I really only saw them once over 20 years ago at Ozzfest 2001. They put on a pretty fierce show back then so I was excited to see if they could match that level of performance after all this time. They did in spades. Chad Gray and company never broke character and took us into the darkness, both proverbially and literally. The songs held up nicely and the band played tight yet loose, which produced a very natural sound for such a brutal brand of music. Welcome back!

SETLIST: Dig, Under My Skin, -1, Severed, Death Blooms, Internal Primates Forever, Determined, Not Falling, Nothing to Gein, Dull Boy, World So Cold, Happy?

I was no phantom stranger to seeing one Mr. Rob Zombie as I was privileged enough to see White Zombie three times back in the day and Rob Zombie solo four times before this but I had not seen Zombie since Aftershock 2019. Though I miss White Zombie I love seeing him because he has both John 5 and Ginger Fish so it is essentially like seeing Marilyn Manson at his peak with a different singer. Rob Zombie himself has always been a mixed bag in the previous times seeing him but on this particular night he sounded great. Overall, the sound from where we were was not great but the atmosphere created by the full moon and good company more than made up for it. At one point they played a good portion of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and convinced all of us in the crowd that we were going to be treated to the whole thing but then they ripped into “Thunder Kiss ’65.” You got us good fucker!

SETLIST: The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition), Superbeast, Meet the Creeper, Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass, Living Dead Girl, More Human Than Human, Scum of the Earth, Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy), Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a U.F.O., House of 1000 Corpses, Thunder Kiss ’65/ Blitzkrieg Bop, We’re An American Band, Shadow of the Cemetary Man, Dragula

Powerman 5000 2/15/19

So here I am going to my second concert in three days. This time was to see Powerman 5000 commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the album Tonight The Stars Revolt! by performing it in its entirety. This is the album of theirs that caught my attention and still holds a special place in my musical heart so even though Spider was still the only original member left from that period playing with four randoms I did not care. On top of that I had not seen them in over five years.

After drinking a six pack of my favorite Fat Tire and eating one of Ingrid’s gummies I was off to Brick by Brick to meet up with my coworker Wayne who decided to go at the last minute. Wayne showed up less than five minutes after I did and found me at the bar trying to order a beer right as the opening band was bidding the crowd farewell. We had just enough time to get a tallboy PBR, make our way to the bathroom and secure a spot at the back edge of the soon-to-be mosh pit before Powerman came on. I don’t actually like PBR, I just think it’s funny to drink a tallboy PBR.

Long story short the band did not play the album as expected/advertised but instead played a lot of other stuff that was not on Tonight The Stars Revolt! The fuckers tricked me. They made me think that they would be playing all if not most of the Tonight the Stars Revolt! album but instead for all intents and purposes played three songs from the album. Fuckers. To make matters even more confusing they decided to play covers of “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie and “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes instead of “Good Times Roll,” which is the only cover song on the album they were supposed to play. You’re doing shows to commemorate an album but then spend less than 25% of the show actually playing songs from the album?

Overall it was still a pretty awesome show. This was the kind of performance that translated to a small club but probably would not have fared well with the stadium crowd. Brick by Brick is the perfect sized gritty rock joint with leaking roof and all that captures the energy in such a way to make you feel as though there are far more people in attendance. I enjoyed “Bombshell” and “Supernova Goes Pop” the most but am still really bummed they did not play “Operate Annihilate.” At the end of the day I just think they missed a huge opportunity to reintroduce this badass album to people.

SETLIST: Nobody’s Real, Invade, Destroy, Repeat, Hey, That’s Right!, Super Villain, Footsteps and Voices, Relax, How to Be a Human, Horror Show, Bombshell, An Eye Is Upon You, Supernova Goes Pop, Sid Vicious in a Dress, When Worlds Collide

Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare 11/2/13

Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare was billed as the ultimate Halloween music and horror event that was set to run every Thursday through Sunday from October 10^th to November 2^nd at the Fairplex (redubbed FEARplex) in Pomona. Each night featured music performances and the grand finale on closing night was Rob Zombie headlining with Powerman 5000 and Eagles of Death Metal opening. Each ticket also came with access to three haunted house attractions based on Zombie’s films.

Bob drove Marvin, Ken, and I to meet up with Jason at the shithole Pomona motel fairly close to the Fairplex grounds that we were staying at. This was one of those classy places where the person checking us in was behind bulletproof glass. They must have had party problems in the past because we were grilled about partying and there were prominent “No Parties” signs everywhere. We argued a loophole since were technically just pre-gaming…

Immediately upon entry we were spit out into The Great American Nightmare’s “Blood Boulevard” that lead to the haunted houses and was laced with food and beverage vendors, a DJ, classic horror films being played and freak show characters roaming about. It was nice that the haunted houses were included with admission but the lines were so long that we would have had to miss one of the bands to enter.

A few beers later and we were in to see Powerman 5000. This was only my third time seeing them and the last time ironically enough was on Halloween of 2003. Spider was the only band member left from those days, which definitely contributed to me not seeing them since 2003. They were good and thankfully for the most part stuck to “older” stuff since I was unfamiliar with anything after Transform.

It was about four songs deep into Powerman’s set that Jason and Ken got into a scuffle. We were hugged up against a wall to our right and the next thing I know some chaos started to my left. I did not think twice about it until five minutes later I looked over and saw Ken flying through the air with fists of fury. Everything quickly dissipated but another five minutes after that Ken came up to me and said, “Dude Jason got popped good. They kicked him out, won’t let him back in and he possibly needs medical attention.” I walked to the back of the venue to see Jason pleading his case to be let back in even though he had this look about him like he did not quite know where he was. Apparently someone was fucking with Marvin so Ken grabbed a guy by the neck and Jason was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter the amount of pleading they were not letting Jason back in so Ken joined him outside since he felt partially responsible.

Eagles of Death Metal were on next. I was excited to see them again because the only other time I saw them was the partial set I saw at Street Scene in 2008. Still no Homme on the drums but these guys were a perfect in-between for Powerman 5000 and Rob Zombie because they are more of a feel good brand of rock and roll.

Before this concert I saw Rob Zombie twice with White Zombie and three times after he went solo, but the last time had been 11 years prior to this at Ozzfest 2002 so this was my first time seeing with John 5. John 5 is one of my favorite guitarists from his stint in Marilyn Manson so I was pretty excited for this. Irony struck again because Ginger Fish also used to play with John 5 in Marilyn Manson but was now the full-time drummer for Zombie. Rob Zombie was the only one out of the night’s lineup that actually had newer music to pedal, having released the excellent Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor album six months before this. Getting to see “I, Zombie” live again was the shit. After we somehow all made it out alive and un-arrested we reconvened at a nearby 24-hour breakfast joint to celebrate another “successful” outing.

SETLIST: Teenage Nosferatu Pussy, Superbeast, Meet the Creeper, I, Zombie, Living Dead Girl, The Star-Spangled Banner, We’re An American Band, More Human Than Human, Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, House of 1000 Corpses, American Witch, Scum of the Earth, Enter Sandman, Thunder Kiss ’65, The Lords of Salem, Dragula

Paranormal Party 10/31/03

This was a special Paranormal Party because it actually took place on Halloween and Halloween is hardly ever on a Friday. The band this year was Powerman 5000 who I had just gotten to see about four months earlier. One cool thing about the Crystal Ballroom is the band plays in a corner on a stage that is not very elevated so you can go right in front of them. It feels a lot like seeing a band in a small club, which just enhances the energy of the entire place that much more. Long story short my buddy Marcus and I were pretty drunk and had a blast. Every member of Powerman 5000 was in costume. I don’t remember what we were dressed up as but Marcus ended up pissing into a cup in front of the stage right before they came on because he did not want to work his way back to the front. It sounds cool until you realize he dropped said cup full of piss and everyone on the floor was now sliding around in it. If that’s not Rock N’ Roll then I don’t know what is.

Endfest 6/21/03

I know I went to this show with Jason but I cannot remember if Lucinda drove up with me from Portland for this or not. Endfest was an annual festival put on by the Seattle radio station 107.7 The End. I made to trek to see four bands. I ended up seeing three…Powerman 5000 was the first band playing that I wanted to see and they played the second stage. I had been a fan since the album Tonight the Stars Revolt! but never got the chance to see them until this concert, which was about a month after they released the album Transform. They played their set with a lot of enthusiasm and I remember thinking that they should have been playing the main stage but I guess that would have created too much of a challenge to change gear between each band. Cold was supposed to be the first band on the main stage but right before Powerman took the stage someone from the radio station informed us that Cold would not be playing because the bassist broke his hand. That meant the next band up was Staind. I had seen Staind four times prior to this but I was still excited to see them again because they had just released a new album called 14 Shades of Grey about a month earlier. Closing out the show with no shortage of pyrotechnics was Godsmack. They were touring for their album Faceless that had been released just a couple months prior to this show. Although I had seen Godsmack three times prior to this, it was the first time I saw them with their new drummer Shannon Larkin. This band was made for the big stage and took full advantage of their headlining slot, tearing through the hits and deeper cuts that I do not normally get much of at a show like this.