Rob Zombie Unleashes New Tunes, Welcomes Glenn Danzig At Los Angeles Club Gig
Welcome back Rob Zombie! Hollywood has missed you. Sure, Los Angeles fans have been able to catch Zombie in recent years, traveling out to the far reaches of the L.A.-area 'burbs for amphitheater shows, but upon the announcement that Zombie would be playing the historic Roxy on the Sunset Strip, his first Hollywood club gig since 2009, the response was overwhelming. Tickets sold out a minute after they went on sale and there was a feeling going in that this would be a show not to be missed.
Playing a club, Zombie decided against some of the major stage props that have adorned his amphitheater gigs in recent years, letting the focus fall squarely on himself and the incredible band that's been with him over several album and tour cycles now. From the opening moments of "More Human Than Human," the crowd began to throw up their arms, hopping along to the thumping beat. Fan favorites like "Dead City Radio" and "Superbeast" kept things jumping early, though Zombie did ask the crowd to put away their cell phones for a bit, hoping to engage the crowd more.
By the fourth song, Zombie was plenty warm, ditching his flashy fringed jacket, and with the lights down between songs, you could see his star-spangled bell bottoms glowed in the dark a bit. Meanwhile, bassist Piggy D brought out his Frankenstein bass with red demon eyes, the first of several distinctive instruments played by the bassist and his guitar counterpart John 5 throughout the night. Other instruments of note included Piggy's rather giant wooden cross bass, John 5's bright light guitar and 5's yellow lava lamp guitar. And while Zombie's high energy, leave-it-all-onstage performance was enough to command the audience's attention, both Piggy and John 5 kept fans locked in throughout the night as well with their own eye-catching antics. Whether it be Piggy's charismatic gestures, engaging audience members from his post or John 5's mix of makeup and masks as he bounded about delivering killer licks, Zombie's band match his knack for entertaining.
A false start on "Thunderkiss '65" sent fans into a frenzy, before the booming power of Piggy D's bass and Ginger Fish's drumming took over. During this song, Zombie made his first trip of a few into the crowd, with the audience engulfing him to rock along to the track.
With a new album on the horizon, Zombie decided to work out a few new songs onstage for the first time. The current single, "Well, Everybody's F--king in a UFO," was first and found the singer twirling around the stage, caught up in the fun nature of the track. But it should also be noted that the other songs that received their live debut during the performance -- "The Hideous Exhibitions of a Dedicated Gore Whore," "Get Your Boots On! That's the End of Rock and Roll" and "In the Age of Consecrated Vampire, We All Get High" -- all fit seamlessly into the set, receiving positive responses from the crowd. "Get Your Boots On," in particular, should be a live favorite for years to come, while "We All Get High" had fans mouthing along almost immediately to words for a song that hasn't really been released yet.
As expected, familiar favorites like "Living Dead Girl," "Never Gonna Stop" "We're an American Band" and "Sick Bubblegum" all earned big responses. Zombie also brought out surprise special guest Glenn Danzig for an adrenaline fueled-cover of Misfits' "Vampira" prior to the conclusion of the body of their set. After getting the blood pumping, the two legends embraced before Zombie finished out the body of the show with "Dragula."
The band exited the stage, and for a brief second it looked like that would be it as the curtains began to drop. But the chanting crowd was heard and a stagehand quickly rushed out to nix the curtain before it dropped for good. A look at the set list taped to the stage revealed that "Dragula" was supposed to be the finale, but the band members huddled to discuss, then delivered three impromptu encore songs. "Scum of the Earth," "Meet the Creeper" and "Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga" finished out the night on a high note.
Zombie, John 5, Piggy D and Ginger Fish left the sweaty audience sufficiently rocked and no doubt knocked off any rust before their upcoming tour. Check out our photo gallery from the show at the top of this post and take a look at a few fan-shot videos below. Then be sure to circle April 29 on your calendar for the release of The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser and get out to one of Zombie's shows at these locations.
Rob Zombie With Glenn Danzig, 'Vampira'
Rob Zombie, "Get Your Boots On! That's the End of Rock and Roll"
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