The freaks were out in full force on Friday night as Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper brought their headlining tour to Azura Amphitheater. No, we’re not in the business of name calling. This was the “Freaks on Parade” tour. It was a hard rock, metal, and industrial fan’s dream show, thanks to the lineup rounding out with Ministry and Filter. Donning their best steampunk attire, the freaks fanbase showed up in high (gnarly) fashion for the night, which delivered a good old fashioned rock show… you know, the kind where guitarists threw their picks at fans every other minute.
But it went from raining guitar picks to raining actual water when the rain moved in (this is Kansas, so we’ll call this a modest rain shower). Rob Zombie brought the fire to combat the water thanks to his heavy pyro onstage. It felt like he had a platform for every type of song, constantly jumping between the elevated surfaces and proving that he’s an absolutely agile and enigmatic performer. Rob Zombie is, without a doubt, someone you can’t take your eyes off of.
Alice Cooper’s set was like watching a Spirit Halloween store come to life. He burst out of a giant banner that read “BANNED IN KANSAS! ALICE COOPER!” and spent the night diving into what he’s best at: heavy theatrics. What a show! He twirled a baton/cane/sword half the time, donned a handful of different top hats, wore a damn snake around his neck, and was even beheaded at one point (his wife Sheryl cosplayed as Marie Antoinette and plucked his “head” from the guillotine). Did we mention the giant, terrifying Frankenstein puppet that was nearly as tall as the stage? (Guess which song that was on.) We’ll have nightmares for WEEKS.
It’s worth mentioning that guitarist Nita Strauss (Vinita Sandhya Strauss) absolutely stole the show. Imagine how good you have to be at guitar to get the audience to take their eyes off the highly theatrical and exciting Alice Cooper. This woman had the whole damn place eating out of the palm of her hand (when it wasn’t shredding). We’re not worthy!
Ministry can work a crowd like no other. When they came on, it felt like watching a human magnet draw in the crowd as close as possible to the stage. They debuted a new single “Goddamn White Trash” while still satisfying the crowd with as many of their hits as possible crammed into a 40-minute set.
Filter opened the night off with songs off their latest album, The Algorithm. They had fantastic energy and momentum, even if they did have to fight off an overzealous fog machine.
Photos from the night below.