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Rob Zombie first made his mark with the band White Zombie, a flamboyant
hybrid of punk and hard rock. After hits like "Thunder Kiss '65," several
awards, and platinum success with White Zombie, Rob Zombie moved on to an even
darker side, writing music under his own moniker.
That darker side spawned mainstream favorites “Living Dead Girl” and
“Dragula," which drew a
great response during his performance at Pittsburgh's own X-Fest at the
Post-Gazette Pavilion. And, while Zombie must be applauded for the classic
horror inspired decadent appearance of himself and his band, this show in
particular still seemed to be lacking between the stripped-down stage and
minimal enthusiasm behind the music that evening.
True,
there was an amusing drive for crowd participation during his most recent hit
"Never Gonna Stop," and the band continued to hit heavy on Zombie's latest album
The Sinister Urge (Geffen) with additional selections off the release that
included “Demon Speeding,” “Dead Girl Superstar,”
and "Feel So Numb." But,
disinterest came with disappointments like the missing television screens which
would have supported a sneak preview of footage from the long anticipated debut
of Zombie's film "House of 1000 Corpses."
When
wet and frozen fans are told to just imagine "death, destruction, and shocking
scenes of horror" its no surprise that all but the die-hards lose interest.
But as darkness finally rolled in, the band seemed more at home under the stormy
sky. A simple issue of ambience that could have been resolved had they not been
scheduled to appear prior to yet another faceless band of Pearl Jam descendants,
Puddle of Mudd.
Obviously,
the stripped down set is not as entertaining as a full stage show and yet
another night of terrible Spring weather made matters worse, but Pittsburgh
fans can still look forward to what promises to be the wildest festival show
of the summer as Rob Zombie hits the road with the famed Ozzy Osbourne.
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