Rob Zombie

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

Aftershock 10/12/19

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Larry departed first thing this morning and the rest of us woke up still a little buzzed from the day before. I wanted to get something in me before the hangover set in and sometimes beer does not always go down easy in this situation so when Ken said he was going to the store I requested a bottle of Jager or Fireball but because Ken is Ken we ended up with a bottle of both.

H09909 was the first band on the bill for the day that I wanted to check out based on me seeing the end of their set a few years back when they opened for Ministry. They were alright but for some reason we just were not feeling it.

Stone Temple Pilots was up next. The last time I saw Stone Temple Pilots was at this very festival four years ago with Chester Bennington singing. Fast forward to 2019 and now sadly both Chester and Scott Weiland are dead but the other guys in the band wanted to move on so I was naturally curious to see how well STP Version 3.0 would sound with the new singer Jeff Gutt. It turns out not so bad. Gutt’s voice is more suited to these songs than Chester’s ever was and he never seemed to try to imitate the massive personality that Scott was.

SETLIST: Down, Wicked Garden, Vasoline, Big Bang Baby, Big Empty, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Roll Me Under, Dead & Bloated, Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Sex Type Thing

Had it really been three years since I last saw Marilyn Manson? Yes and ironically enough it was when they opened for Slipknot. Since that last time they released the album Heaven Upside Down and dismissed Twiggy from the band due to rape allegations but even that was two years ago. This time Marilyn Manson himself seemed like he may have been a little drunk but that certainly did not stop him from tearing up the stage with a good mix of super aggressive songs like “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” and “Antichrist Superstar” with more accessible staples like “The Dope Show” and “The Beautiful People.”

SETLIST: Irresponsible Hate Anthem, This Is The New Shit, Rock Is Dead, The Dope Show, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Say10 (preceded by “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”), Antichrist Superstar, The Beautiful People

It was funny that Rob Zombie was billed as the headliner for the night right after Marilyn Manson since Zombie now has John5 playing guitar and Ginger Fish playing drums. I have seen Zombie several times and noticed that having these two guys as a part of his band seemed to rejuvenate Zombie to the level of energy he used to display when he was still in White Zombie and the early days of his solo records. “Electric Head, Part 2” was just the swift kick in the ass I needed and besides that familiar crushing riff in “Thunder Kiss ‘65” was easily my favorite moment of the set and possibly even day. Unlike the day before we all managed to stay together this time and get back to our hotel with enough time to shut it down so we could do it all over again one more time.

SETLIST: Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, Superbeast, Living Dead Girl, More Human Than Human, Get Your Boots On! That’s the End of Rock and Roll, Electric Head, Part 2: The Ecstacy, In the Age of the Consecrated Vampire We All Get High, Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a U.F.O., Pussy Liquor, Ddd, Thunder Kiss ’65, Helter Skelter, Dragula

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

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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 10th to November 2nd 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

 

Ozzfest 8/27/02

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Main Stage: Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Rob Zombie, P.O.D., Adema, Black Label Society, Tommy Lee

Second Stage: Down, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Soil, The Used, Chevelle, Mushroomhead, Seether

Where to start here? All that really needs to be said is two words: Ozzfest and Gorge. I believe the first band playing that day I really wanted to see was Down. The day was overcast but Down came out and darkened the day even more with their version of Rock N’ Roll. They were touring for Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow that had come out in March. I wish I could remember seeing Chevelle and Seether but I think they happened to be on when I wanted to be at the main stage. The other strong memory from this show was System of a Down playing a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind.” Toxicity had come out almost a year before this show so by this point they were huge. I do not remember a lot of talking from them on this night. They just came out and let the music do all the talking that was necessary.

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Ozzfest 7/18/99

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Main Stage: Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus, Godsmack, System of a Down

Second Stage: Fear Factory, Static-X, Slipknot, Puya, Drain STH, hed (pe), Apartment 26, Flashpoint

This was the first Ozzfest that had come in my proximity. Ozzfest had been going since 1996 and kind of filled the summer void that Lollapalooza had left. I was pretty excited about this show because every band on the main stage was a band I wanted to see even though I had already seen some of the bands before. A girl in one of my classes named Tawni turned me onto System of a Down. I was lucky enough to sit next to her in my math class and we had similar musical musings. My cousin Earl really liked them too and gave me their first album on CD for my 21st birthday. They were the first band on the main stage and touring for their eponymous album. Claude strikes again though. Bless his soul but the guy’s just not all there sometimes and this time he didn’t quite comprehend the importance of leaving at a specified time. Long story short we arrived just in time to see the last 3 songs of System of a Down’s set. By we I mean Earl and I only because we ran all the way down to the floor from the moment we arrived inside the Pearly Gates. I believe Roscoe was also with us? The next band up was Godsmack who was also touring for their eponymous album. They were on it. They played pretty much their whole first album. Primus was next and let me just say that Les Claypool is a badass. They were still a few months away from releasing Antipop so they technically touring for their EP of cover songs Rhinoplasty. This is probably about the time in the show we started shifting from the first stage to the second stage all the way up on the hill. We saw Static-X up there, who was on tour for their new album Wisconsin Death Trip! We also saw Slipknot who had just unleashed their debut eponymous album on the world a few short weeks earlier. I wasn’t really into them at the time but did find it quite entertaining to see nine guys dressed up in fucked up masks rocking their ass off and just flat out going crazy onstage. Back to the mainstage was Slayer whose newest effort at the time was Diabolus in Musica. I love their fat ass guitar riffs but at the time just could not get with Tom Araya’s voice. Next up was Deftones. This was the third time I was lucky enough to see them and they were nothing short of amazing. Deftones are a hard act to follow but Rob Zombie somehow managed. It had only been three months since the last time I saw him but I think this performance was much better. Maybe it was just because I knew Korn wasn’t following him this time. The closing band was none other than Black Sabbath! I’m not talking about that shit with Dio, I’m talking about the real Black Sabbath with Ozzy. I was as excited about this as any other band of the day. Never in a million years did I think I would ever get the opportunity to see a band that was huge in the 1970’s. I really got into Black Sabbath when I was about 16. It started with the album Paranoid and then I bought the whole catalog one album at a time. They did not disappoint me. Ozzy was still as crazy as he was made out to be, Tony Iommi was razor sharp on his riffs, and the rhythm section was holding down the groove. Little did I know that this would not be the last time I would see them.

Korn/Rob Zombie 4/10/99

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So I finally got to see Korn! If you’ve been paying attention then you should remember how important this was. Roscoe and I drove down to Portland to meet up with Rose and her brother Jason. I remember being kind of drunk on Rum 151 going into this show. We had floor tickets and Rob Zombie opened with his newly reassembled band, after having divorced his bandmates in White Zombie, going solo and releasing Hellbilly Deluxe. All I remember about Zombie is his pyrotechnics were insane and he had a huge robot come on stage with him at some point. Korn came out and ripped me a new one. The thrill of finally seeing them for the first time and being drunk turned out to be the perfect mixture. They were still on tour for the album that finally broke through to the mainstream, Follow the Leader.

KORN SETLIST: Blind, Need To (Alive), Twist/Chi, Freak on a Leash, A.D.I.D.A.S., Lowrider/Shoots & Ladders, Shot Liver Medley (featuring Justin, Engine No. 9, Ball Tongue, Divine, Proud), Kill You, It’s On, Got the Life, Dead Bodies Everywhere, My Gift to You, Faget, Earache My Eye