April 11th, 2002 by Kevin Spookshow Baby

I know this should be in the music section, and it will be there in time, but we needed an update and this is all I have for now...

Rob Zombie concert - April 7th, 2002 @ The Eagles Ballroom
It was the cliched dark and stormy night for the arrival of what Madison's 94.1 WJJO called "the baddest motherfucker on the planet," Rob Zombie. The king of B-grade horror flick scariness made his appearance in Milwaukee for the Demon Speeding Tour on a perfect night (considering the mood). I, as well as my friends, were very excited to see the concert experience that is Zombie. His music rocks and his stage show is supposedly unbeleiveable, so there was much to be expected at this show. Strike one: the opening band sucked donkey ass. They were horrible industrial poser goth metal that the crowd cheered for once they got off the stage. The next slot was supposed to be filled by goth-punk legends The Damned, but they were not present. Either they were dropped from the tour because they didn't fit the bill or they just weren't there. I wasn't exactly eager to see an old-school punk band, but then again I bet they would have been better than Sinnistar, the openers. It took at least 45 minutes for the crew to set the stage up for Zombie. I'm guessing in an outdoor venue, there would have been more room for explosions and the like, but this was the Eagles Ballroom, so the stage was scaled down. It was complete with skulls and gargoyles, with the drummer sitting on a big-ass 10 foot tall monster head which robots came out of later in the show. There were also video screens that displayed many interesting images that pertained to the songs. But enough of the background... Rob Zombie came out and jumped right into "Demon Speeding," which in my opinion is the best cut off of his new album. Strike two: By the time Zombie got to "Supercharger Heaven " (from his White Zombie days) you could tell Rob couldn't sing worth a damn. He sang half the time, and let the crowd do the rest, which wasn't any better. The band sounded ok, but some renditions fell short of the album versions, such as the superhit "More Human Than Human." I suppose it's hard to capture all the sampled effects Zombie does in the studio, live, but I think the band could have done a better job. At the end of "Return of the Phantom Stranger" the bass was so heavy it tingled in my ear! I just thought I'd mention it because, well, I've never heard bass that deep before. Anyways, the stage show doesn't live up to the hype. Sure, it's very cool with moving robots and flames aplenty. There was even a lone go-go dancer. Maybe I expected to much, I don't know. In my opinion, the best moment was when they performed "Thunderkiss '65." I'm not an old-schol elitist, I have no preference concerning Rob vs. White Zombie. I just think that was when both Rob and his band sounded the best. Another highlight was the blues-y "House of 1000 Corpses," which slowed the pace, but also gave us some glimpses of the movie (of the same name) that Rob is producing. Very cool. I'm sure Ken will have more to say about the moshpits when he gets his review up, but as for me I think they were kind of tame. Not as bad as the infamous "mushpits" of Creed when we saw them in 1999, but still rather lame. Strike three was that ROb Zombie ended the show with a shitty slow song, "Blood, Milk, and Sky." He could've picked something a little more powerful than that. Maybe "Scum of the Earth"?

Grade: C I expected too much and was rewarded with too little. Sorry Rob.

Partial Setlist

Demon Speeding
Dead Girl Superstar
Living Dead Girl
Supercharger Heaven
More Human Than Human
Electric Head pt. 2
Return of the Phantom Stranger
What Lurks on Channel X?
Demonoid Phenomenom
Meet The Creeper
Superbeast
Feel So Numb
Never Gonna Stop
House of 1000 Corpses
Thunderkiss '65
Dragula
Blood, Milk, And Sky

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