How many bands must play together before it is considered a music festival? If the answer is four or more, a festival has been touring the USA and recently landed in Holmdel, NJ at the PNC Bank Arts Center. The Freaks On Parade tour is one of the strongest bills around with Filter, Ministry, Alice Cooper, and Rob Zombie providing an evening of unparalleled energy.
PNC Bank Arts Center is a large outdoor amphitheater with a capacity of 17,500. It was opened in 1968 and regularly upgraded since. Getting there is easy as there is a dedicated exit off of the Garden State Parkway but leave extra time since traffic can back up, especially on a weeknight at rush hour. There is also a shuttle service available from the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line from the Aberdeen–Matawan station. Concessions are just about everywhere you look and in particular a large array of alcoholic beverages are within easy reach. Much of the seating is undercover, but there are some lawn seats subject to adverse weather conditions. Parking can be some distance from the venue itself, so wear comfortable shoes.
With so many bands playing, things had to start as early as possible to meet the 11:00 pm union deadline and Filter hit the stage a few minutes after six. People were still filtering in as they started their set. With limited stage time, it became a six-song greatest hits collection. Lead singer Richard Patrick acknowledged their role as the warmup act and mentioned that if the audience wasn’t standing by the time they were done then they hadn’t done their job properly. One of the biggest hits “Take A Picture” fell in the middle of the set. With its ethereal sound and familiarity, it did indeed get everyone up and on their feet. “Welcome To The Fold” and then “Hey Man Nice Shot” closed the set and by this time the theatre was full and properly warmed up for the next act, Ministry.
Seeing Ministry play can be a bit of an exhilarating experience. The six-man operation more attacks the stage than performs and massive driving beats are the backbone of their music. Maybe that is why they have gone through so many drummers; they wear them out. This time around, Pepe Clarke Magana (Kyng) filled in for Roy Mayorga, and he was more than up to the task. He must lose 5 pounds during each show. Bravely, the decision was made to begin with some newer songs. “B.D.E” and “Goddamn White Trash” off their new album Hopiumforthemasses (Nuclear Blast Records) were first on the list. This was well received and paved the way for classics like “Stigmata,” “Thieves,” and an encore of “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” Their set was disappointingly short since there is always room for more Ministry, but the evening must progress.
There isn’t much that can follow Ministry on stage so a confirmed legend was conscripted, Alice Cooper. Now this is how you top Ministry, but the gauntlet had been thrown down. Cooper accepted the challenge and threw himself into the show with wild abandon. At 76 years old, Alice Cooper has been on stage since 1964, but at no point during the roughly hour-long set did he slow down even a little bit. Seeing Alice Cooper is to witness a spectacle The show opens with a banner depicting a newspaper with the headline “BANNED IN NEW JERSEY ALICE COOPER”. Performers in grotesque costumes flank the banner and a pair of plague doctors tear through the banner as “Lock Me Up” is transitioned into “No More Mr. Nice Guy”. Every song has the addition of some props and performers playing a part. Confetti cannons shooting fake money, actors getting their throat slit by Jason, and A REAL SNAKE, this is just par for the course during the show. There was a steady stream of guitar picks flying into the audience and Her Majesty Nita Strauss covers every available inch of the stage running and spinning as she plays. By the end of the show, Cooper is tied in a straightjacket, shocked with a cattle prod, and eventually beheaded in a guillotine by his wife Sheryl Cooper who joins him onstage. (That may be how they have stayed married since 1976.) As the show progresses, it is hard to imagine how each subsequent band will top the last performance yet somehow, they do.
Rob Zombie has his work cut out for him now and as they are setting up behind a black curtain hints and flashes of light give away that he is up to the challenge. As the music starts, the curtain drops away to reveal drummer Ginger Fish (formerly of Marilyn Manson) on a riser thirty feet in the air with Zombie twenty feet up on another riser in front of Fish. The entire back of the stage is made up of LED Screens in various shapes and sizes. The result is a constant stream of images accompanying each song. Everything from aliens abducting cows to demons appears on screen. This is not enough though as a ten-foot-tall devil and alien ape puppets dance around the stage, but wait there’s more. Flames erupt from different places and curtains of sparks shower down. Still not enough? How about snow, yes snow, falling from the rafters. All of this combines to create a sensory assault that takes the night over the top.
Amid all of the visuals, there is a steady stream of music coming from the incredible musicians on stage. Loaded at the end with some of the most well-known songs, this picks everyone up and keeps them there to the end of the show. Second to last is “Living Dead Girl” and just because they can, giant balloons are brought out and sent into the audience. Before things wrap up with “Thunder Kiss 65,” which Zombie stopped and started over because he made a slight mistake. He didn’t get where he is by just calling it in. He cares about getting it right and there is no question that he did.
There are only a few dates left in the tour, and if one comes near you it would be wise to go. Rumors say that Al Jourgensen of Ministry might hang up his hat and while Alice Cooper barely shows half of his 76 years, he may feel a need to retire at some point too. Any of these acts are worth your while individually and when combined almost anything is possible.
Rob Zombie setlist (via setlist.fm)
Demon Speeding
Super-Charger Heaven (White Zombie song)
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)
Drum Solo
The Satanic Rites Of Blacula
Encore:
More Human Than Human (White Zombie song)
Living Dead Girl
Thunder Kiss ’65 (White Zombie song)
WRITTEN BY MATTHEW KOCHEK
PHOTOS BY KIM HANSEN @PHARMADIVER
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