The Freaks on Parade tour landed at Pine Knob Music Theatre Friday, August 30th with Filter, Ministry, and co-headliners Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie.
Rob Zombie never disappoints with his massive stage show featuring a visual feast of LED screens showing clips of horror movies and other often bizarre animations. The show started with Zombie atop a giant skull platform emblazoned with his name and drummer Ginger Fish elevated even higher behind him on a scissor lift. I remember seeing Kiss do this type of thing in the late 70s, when they were pioneers of this type of show.
The 15-song setlist was heavy on the classics starting out with Demon Speeding from The Sinister Urge and the White Zombie song Super-Charger Heaven from Astro-Creep: 2000. There were a couple of tunes from his most recent album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, but he knows what the fans want. Before Playing Thunder Kiss ’65, his oldest hit from the White Zombie era, he asked the audience whether they wanted to hear something new or something old stating, “This is why we don’t play a lot of new songs.” The set finished with fan favorite Dragula.
As much as the Zombie stage show draws from the bombastic Kiss shows of the 70s, it owes even more to the godfather of shock rock Alice Cooper. At 76 years young, The Coop doesn’t appear to have lost anything to age. Slicing through a giant Banned in Michigan faux newspaper headline with a sword and wearing a top hat, Old Black Eyes appears part ringmaster, part pirate, and plays the part to a tee.
Opening with an abbreviated Lock Me Up from the 1987 album Raise Your Fist and Yell, Cooper and his amazing band, all of whom are fantastic musicians and characters in their own right, tore through a 16-song set that spanned the early part of his solo and Alice Cooper Band era. Many of the staples fans come to expect at his shows like I'm Eighteen, Under My Wheels, Feed My Frankenstein, and of course, School’s Out can always be counted on. I rarely want to hear newer music from classic rock acts but honestly, I wouldn’t mind hearing some from Alice because his more recent albums have produced some great tunes.
The set ended with the one-two punch of Elected and School’s Out as always in an election year and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t the traditional stage battle between actors portraying the candidates this time. I guess we have enough of that in real life that you can’t top it with satire.
A nice treat for School’s Out was the bringing on stage of Detroit legend Suzi Quatro. Apparently, Suzi asked Alice to record something with her while he was in town the day before the show, and in return, he asked her to come out for their final song. It was a cool exclamation point to another great homecoming for Vincent Furnier, AKA Alice Cooper.
Opening the night were Industrial Metal Veterans Ministry and Filter with solid performances for the early crowd. Ministry’s eight songs were an even mix of new and old with the first three being brand-new songs from their latest album HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, including opening song B.D.E. (Big Dick Energy). The set ended with Jesus Built My Hotrod from Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs.
Filter entered to a recording of NIN’s Head Like a Hole and started with You Walk Away from The Amalgamut. They then played a couple of tracks from last year’s release The Algorithm and finished with some classics including their big hit, Hey Man Nice Shot for their final song. Frontman Richard Patrick was in fine form and got the party cooking.
Rob Zombie
Demon Speeding
Super-Charger Heaven
Feel So Numb
Well, Everybody's Fucking in a U.F.O.
What Lurks on Channel X?
Superbeast
The Lords of Salem
Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)
Cooper and his amazing band, all of whom are fantastic musicians and characters in their own right, tore through a 16-song set that spanned the early part of his solo and Alice Cooper Band era.
Drum Solo
The Satanic Rites of Blacula
More Human Than Human
(White Zombie song)
Living Dead Girl
Thunder Kiss '65
(White Zombie song)
Dragula
Alice Cooper
Lock Me Up
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I'm Eighteen
Under My Wheels
Hey Stoopid
He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Snakebite
Feed My Frankenstein
Go to Hell
Poison
Guitar Solo
Black Widow Jam
Ballad of Dwight Fry
Killer / I Love the Dead
Elected
School's Out
(with Suzi Quatro) (with Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2” snippet)
Ministry
B.D.E.
Goddamn White Trash
Just Stop Oil
Alert Level
N.W.O.
Alice Cooper
Rob Zombie
Ministry
Filter
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