October 6th, 2010
Independence Event Center
Independence, MissouriMurderdolls don’t need flashy strobe lights or LCD screens to get their point across. All they need to do is pummel the crowd with some addictive punk rock. For just over a half hour, Murderdolls performed a setlist conprised of tracks from their debut and sophomore releases. Their set wasn’t bogged down by flashy visuals, the band’s energy and aggression was enough to get the crowd off their feet. In fact, earlier that day, Wednesday had told me that they wouldn’t be “using anything but our backdrop” as stage dressing.
After Alice Cooper’s set, I asked no less that twenty people if they saw the opening band. All but 3 had, and one of them was pissed they missed seeing Murderdolls play. The majority of the people I spoke with were impressed with their set and a few could even place Joey Jordison as Slipknot AND Rob Zombie’s drummer.
No one that I had the chance to talk to had anything bad to say about Murderdolls all to brief performance. Except the chick who was grossed out by Wednesday picking his nose and then licking off his finger.
setlist;
intro/The World According To Revenge
Chapel of Blood
Slit My Wrist
Die My Bride
My Dark Place Alone
Drug Me To Hell
Nowhere
Mutherfucker, I Don’t Care
The arena’s lights were shut off around a quarter of ten. This was all it took for the crowd to errupt into screams. Peircings the enamorous screams were the chords of Sawdust In the Blood. The intro for Educated Horses, Zombie’s 2005 release, was mixed with Call of the Zombie, Sinner’s inc and the first part of White Zombie’s Electric Head pt 1. The curtain was torn away from the stage to reveal a twisted world of fantasy and nightmare. Fires blazed in urns along the back of the stage. The LCD screens were bordered with sinister, grinning jack-o-lanterns. Morbid skeletons screamed in silence from behind the two smaller video monitors at the edge of the stage on both the left and the right sides. The main attention was focused on the center of the stage. Behind Rob’s mic stand, a grotesque, six armed skeleton, a giant robot towered over the stage. It’s eyes glowed an eerie blue and each hand held an illuminated lantern. As the beginning of Jesus Frankenstein echoed through out the arena, fog billowed across the stage and spilled onto the main floor. The robot’s giant frame was then set ablaze and outlined in flame. The back screen was scolling Z, O, M, B, I, E, ZOMBIE.
Joey, who is performing double duty ont his tour, playing guitar for Murderdolls and rumming for Zombie, was the first to enter and took his place behind an enormous drumkit. Blood red smoke streamed from either side of the stage, noxiously spewing into the air. John5 came strolling on from stage left. Piggy d, from stage right, soon joined the chaos. The robot’s chest plates slowly creeped open and out of the darkness walked Rob Zombie. This man knows how to make an entrance. John5, Piggy and Rob all wore their Total Skull face bandanas and Spiked SS helmuts, adding the eerie presence already felt on the stage. Piggy d had deer antlers sewn on to the shoulder pads of his furl lined jacket. Rob was wearing his elongated, skeletal-robotic arm and used it to intensify the chorus of Jesus Frankenstein, thrusting it into the air during the song’s chorus. The first special guest of the evening, in the form of an emaciated, screaming banshee, joined the mayhem of the stage. She slowly paced back and forthe at the rear of the stage and then slipped quietly into the darkness and fog.
The energy level continued to rise during Superbeast and so did the arena’s temperature. Flames shot 15 feet into the air during Superbeast. The heat was so intense I could feel it from in front of the barricade. I can’t imagine how Joey wasn’t roasted alive being that close to the pyro. The LCD screens flashed their hypnotic images and HELL YEAH during the song’s chorus. Scum of the Earth was no less intense but had a great crowd reaction, including a louder sing-a-long during it’s chorus. There are no words to describe how epic it is to stand mere feet in front of Rob Zombie while he’s performing. Nor can I put into words the intensity behind John5’s eyes when he pauses from thrashing and looks straight into your soul. Piggy and John took the time to race back and forthe between each other, almost colliding once.
Living Dead Girl may have took it down a notch but it was good to have a beather. This was the first crowd favorite for the ladies and all the Foxy Foxys were shaking their ass to this working girl’s anthem. That breather was short lived though as More Human Than Human followed and the crowd erupted into various moshpits and pulsating bodies. More Human is arguably Zombie’s most recognized track and turned the crowd into a seething mass of sweaty bodies. Zombie’s Robot counterpart soon joined out cast. The Robot came trutting across the stage and engaged in a kung-fu style kick-fight with Zombie.
A fan does not simply attend a Rob Zombie concert, you become a part of it. Zombie took the time to ask the crowd if “anyone is addicted to twitter?” A few of us rose out hands proudly. Then Zombie called-out Piggy d, who “apparently has nothing better to do but tweet during our live show.” Piggy could only shrug his shoulders and hang his head in shame. It was now time for a competition. Boys against the girls. Who was louder? “This next song has a simple chorus and I want you all to sing along. When I say ‘ROCK’ you say ‘motherfucker’.” And so it went. Zombie shouted “rock” and we all screamed “MOTHERFUCKER”. “Release the balls,” Zombie demanded and the band crashed into Sick Bubblegum. Yeah, he said balls. Those huge, inflated bounce balls you can get at Target and Wal-mart. Watching the crowd play with them was like looking into a giant popcorn popper. I’m bummed I didn’t get one myself.
Demon Speeding, another fan favorite, followed and continued to build on the ever increasing energy of the crowd. The pyro continued to burst during the chorus and the crowd was bouncing a foot off of the floor. After a breif interlude, Joey Jordison was given his chance to shine with a drum solo. If you’ve never seen Jordison drum before, know that he’s the fastest man alive, no matter which band he’s playing with. Even after his opening set with Murderdolls, Jordison was at 110%. Mars Needs Women followed Joey’s intense drum solo. Into the first chorus, Zombie and the boys were joined on stage by the Martian Death Machine.
Zombie then took the time to introduce the next song. “A song that people always ask us to play live. No matter where we go. ‘When are you gonna play it?’ A song that was in a little movie called House of 1000 Corpses for about 30 seconds. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Pussy Liguor.” The smooth grooves of this fan favorite filled the arena. Some of us were not completely familiar with the song, while others knew every word. Pussy Liquor’s heavy bass line gave Piggy D a chance to showcase his talents while John5 strutted around the stage. The trailing chords of Pussy Liquor bled seemlessly into Super Charger Heaven. While originally done by White Zombie, the average age of the crowd wasn’t old enough to have had the chance to see Zombie perform the track with his original band. THis was something that Rob made a point to mention. “Some of you might not be familiar with a band called White Zombie,” Rob commented. He left a long enough pause for the crowd to scream our approval. “We don’t want to waste your valuable concert going time, so you tell us if you want to hear John5 play this,” and 5 played the theme for the Munsters, “or this,” and john kicked into the opening chords of Thunder Kiss ’65. This was the moment so many of us had been waiting for. As much as we all love Rob’s solo career, so many of us hold a special place in our hearts for White Zombie and Thunder Kiss is one of those classic tracks. During the song’s outro, cannons placed at both sides of the stage sprayed the crowd with chicken feathers.
Soon the spotlight shifted to John5. 5’s guitar solo’s are always memorable. This man has played for and worked with everyone from Rob Halford to Avril Lavigne and Garbage to Marilyn Manson and has released 5 solo albums. While everyone’s attention was on John5, Zombie took his spotlight and hopped into the crowd, making a full loop of the arena. 5 then busted into a metal version of Michael Jackson’s Beat It and whether or not anyone will admit it, more than a few people were singing along. Joey, Piggy D and Rob then joined the guitar God on stage and broke into a cover of Alice Cooper’s Schools’ Out.
The arena then went dark again for the 5th time tonight. The enormous LCD screens adorning the stage flashed to life and began playing Zombie’s contribution to Grindhouse, the theatrical trailer for Werewolf Women of the SS. The musical version followed suite and I swear I could hear members of the crowd howling along with the lyrics. While the WWotSS video looped in sequence, the stage darkened again. While our eyes were glued to the LCD screens playing snippets of Herman Munster racing his Dragula, this gave the stage crew enough time to move an enormous, Demonic looking podeum onto the stage. As soon at the opening chimes of Dragula started, the arena burst to life with flashing strobe light and huge jets of pyrotechnics. Soon the crowd was covered in chicken feathers and confetti. Zombie and his band of merry men exited the stage as the crowd screamed his name. But the show wasn’t over yet. Those true fans who stuck around were treated to an exceptionally creepy version of House of 1000 Corpses. It was the perfect end to a ghoulish evening.
We may not have gotten to hear What?, American Witch or Never Gonna Stop but not many of the shows on this tour got to hear SUper Charger Heaven. It’s too bad though that not a single track off of Educated Horses, except for Sawdust In The Blood, was played regularly during this tour. It’s musicians like Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper who turn their live shows into more than just a concert. Short videos of various horror movies played during the entire set. It’s an event. Crowd participation is required. After all, it’s not a Rob Zombie concert until you’re covered in confetti and chicken feathers.
setlist;
Intro (Call of the Zombie, Sawdust In The Blood, Sinners Inc.)
Jesus Frankenstein
Superbeast
Scum of the Earth
Living Dead Girl
More Human Than Human (White Zombie cover)
Sick Bubble-Gum
Demon Speeding
– Joey’s Drum Solo
Mars Needs Women
Pussy Liquor
Super-Charger Heaven (White Zombie cover)
-John5’s Munsters’ Theme
Thunder Kiss ’65 (White Zombie cover)
-John5’s guitar solo (Beat It)
-Rob Zombie walks through crowd with Spotlight
School’s Out (Alice Cooper cover)
-Theatrical Trailer for Werewolf Women of the SS
Werewolf Women of the SS
Encore 1;
-Herman Munster video intro
Dragula
Encore 2;
House of 1000 Corpses
