Rob Zombie / Alice Cooper / Ministry / Filter at Azura Amphitheater, Bonner Springs KS (2023-09-15)

Freaks on Parade, a show for the (literal) ages, and the most entertaining rock bill of the summer season–

Shock rock, hard rock, and industrial rock forces all came together at Azura Amphitheater in suburban Bonner Springs, KS as the Freaks on Parade Tour made an area stop, with an impressive top-to-bottom roster featuring Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry, and Filter.

As mentioned, this was a show for the ages as well, literally, as the combined ages of the front men was over 250, so these weren’t spring chickens on stage, but rock veterans, bringing an experienced presence, and each an armload of familiar songs and radio hits. The merging of these sub genres also made for great people-watching between acts- while all flew the rock flag, it was relatively easy to spot where their strongest allegiances were and predict the act they were there to see the most.

Ohio industrial rock band Filter opened the evening, with a too-short thirty-minute set, emerging out of a billowing smoke cloud, on to the large and open stage. Singer Richard Patrick regrouped with his band to put out their eighth studio album, and first since 2016, The Algorithm (on Golden Robot Records) released just last month.

The band is understandably proud of the new material, which fits in well to their catalog and stays true to their sound, beginning their live set with three selections from the new record, including its lead single, “For the Beaten”. From there, it was more familiar songs, with the crowd taking a tip from hit “Take a Picture” by grabbing their phones to do just that, or video the song. Patrick reminded us we were all at a rock show, despite the early start time, and had the crowd at their feet and singing along, for their closing and best-known song, 1995’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot”.

The industrial rock pioneers would be up next, Chicago’s Ministry, led by the always entertaining and 64-years-young Al Jourgensen who still and strongly keeps on going, despite rumors that things might be coming to an end. In fact, it’s the opposite that’s true, with upcoming sixteenth studio album Hopiumforthemasses due out next March 1^st.

Jourgensen stalked the stage as his two guitarists (one with a KC Chiefs t-shirt on to make fast local friends) flanking him, churned through a mini sampler of the highlights of this longtime band’s career. The set gained a steely momentum as it progressed, culminating with Jourgenson playing guitar from his illuminated pulpit, and a Black Sabbath cover, leading into their hits, “N.W.O.” and “Just One Fix” and a preview of the upcoming album with new single, “Goddamn White Trash”.

Since going and remaining sober, and with his solid backing band that’s been together for the last decade, the master of Shock Rock Alice Cooper has been reliably excellent at almost every show, and has his smartly chosen setlist and still-dramatic stage show, down pat. This co-headlining slot allowed him a slightly shorter than normal 65-minute set, but Cooper and band (led by the expertly shredding Nita Strauss) made the most of their time, working in familiar hits and routines (the Frankenstein monster, the straight jacket, the guillotine, the snakes, and more) he has become famous (or infamous) for.

Entering out of a clever “Banned in Kansas!” custom backdrop during the opening “Lock Me Up”, the show’s pacing was impeccable and well staged, leaving the crowd barely a moment to catch their breath between all those familiar songs. Relatively newer songs like “Hey Stoopid” and “Poison” pleased the Gen X’ers that (re) discovered him on MTV in the ‘80s, and Strauss shone during her solo and “Black Widow Jam”, trading licks with fellow guitarist and Hollywood Vampires member Tommy Henriksen.

Shedding the straight jacket, Cooper climbed up a flag-draped podium for “Elected” and ended things in white tails and top hat on a celebratory “School’s Out”, taking the time “Before my little brother comes out…” to thank the crowd for all the years of their support. Cooper’s latest release, “Road” is out now, as is 50^th anniversary vinyl reissues of classic albums, “Killer” and “School’s Out”.

What started as a light sprinkle, had transformed into a steady rain for headliner Rob Zombie’s set, loaded with so much audio-visual equipment, there may have been a brief worry of a possible short circuit, but the band and their diehard fans were determined to rock undeterred.

Zombie is of course, a film director as well as rock showman, and that was extremely evident in his set design, with digital screens of all shapes and sizes and synced video clips making for an immersive and impressive A/V overall presentation; so much so, that Zombie and band would sometimes get lost in all the visuals, a part of the overall spectacle.

The band is out in support of their most recent album, 2021’s creatively named The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy beginning the set with some newer material and seemingly energized by the rain, to rock even harder. 2013’s “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown” was set among visuals of massive subwoofers and an oversized devil like figure made its way out mid-set (a nice companion creature to Cooper’s monster).

The visual barrage of images continued, some from Zombie’s own films, as he scores his own soundtrack, such as on the title track to “House of 1000 Corpses” and the Ginger Fish drum solo on an elevated riser, was accented by trippy green psychedelic rectangles on-screen going in and out.

Despite the continuing rain, fans were on their feet cheering along to late set highlights “Living Dead Girl” and two White Zombie classics. Zombie even teased playing a 3hr set in the rain (he heard Taylor Swift did) before “being told” of the penalty fine of $10,000 per min. for going over the curfew time. The space between set and encore was filled by Zombie’s own trailer for The House of 1000 Corpses re-release before he re-appeared high on a giant apparatus, bathed in red lighting for the closing “Dragula”.

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Five hours later and with rain still coming down, the show had breathlessly come to an end. The Freaks on Parade ruled this night and the concert itself (dubbed “Rock the ‘Dotte” by rock station 98.9 as a nod to Wyandotte County the venue resides in) was a success, thanks to all acts- Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry, and Filter- consider the ‘Dotte completely rocked.

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