I’ve been hyperventilating all summer waiting to see if I’d be able to cover the “Freaks On Parade 2023 Tour” playing at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC.

Rob Zombie

Wait a minute. Before I get going, I’d like to mention the new material each of these bands has released or is releasing soon and can be enjoyed and accessed thru their websites:

Rob Zombie: “The Lunar Injection Koolaid Eclipse Conspiracy”

Alice Cooper: ‘ROAD”

Ministry, out soon: “HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES

Filter: “The Algorithm”

The force was with me, and INDRA Magazine was kind enough to assign me to cover this phenomenal event! Holy Smokes! What a line-up! Never miss the openers! Filter’s Industrial hard rock took me right to my roots back when I worked at the Punk hair salon “Londinium Moda” in Cleveland back in the day. Whenever hear this genre of music I’m back there, mowing Mohawks and clubbing in The Flats drunkenly transversing the dark, wet, shiny streets in the early hours of the morning.

Filter

Ministry

My third time covering Ministry, I find the band hypnotic as the band seems to go inside my head while I watch founder Al Jorgensen move in and out of the smokey atmospherics of the stage. Oh, and Ministry has this brilliant publicist which sends out everything we need to know. So well in fact, I’m just gonna share it with you too:

Born in 1981 in Chicago, Ministry has been the lifetime passion project of founder Al Jourgensen, considered to be the pioneer of industrial music. In its early days, Ministry was identifiable by its heavy synth-pop material in line with the new sounds and technology that were being developed in the ‘80s. Ministry’s output began with four 12” singles on Wax Trax! Records in 1981 before the first LP With Sympathy in 1983 via Arista Records. As time progressed however, so did Ministry, quickly developing a harsher, and more stylized sound that the band soon became infamous for on seminal albums Twitch (1986), The Land of Rape and Honey (1988), and The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989). With the release of Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and The Way to Suck Eggs (1992), Ministry hit an all-time high in the mainstream musical realm and received its first Grammy nomination. In total, Ministry has been nominated for a Grammy award six times. Eight more albums would follow before an indefinite break in 2013, only to be unearthed again in 2018 with AmeriKKKant, continuing to reflect Jourgensen’s views on the frightening state of society and politics. The 2021 album Moral Hygiene marked a new creative era of Jourgensen and the band. Ministry’s 16^th studio album, HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, will be released in early 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

MINSTRY BAND LINEUP:

Al Jourgensen – vocals/guitar

Cesar Soto – guitar

Monte Pittman – guitar

Paul D’Amour – bass

Roy Mayorga – drums

John Bechdel – keys

Ministry

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper was kind enough to allow me to photograph his show a second time here in Raleigh. I see this guy as being very, very ethical. He’s not greedy squeezing every penny out of his fans, but produces the finest, biggest show the stage will hold. A totally magical presentation, full of his hits and then more of his hits! 

Alice Cooper takes me back to the drive my best friend Roger took me on in his yellow Beetle back in ’73 after our last day of high school.  Roger being a musician himself, immediately cranked up the radio to 11 when “School’s Out” came on. We sang together at the top of our lungs. Rest in Peace Roger!

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie ripped my face off! What a power to behold! The driving madness of his performance is second to none and I’m sure each and every fan felt drenched in his awesome dominance of the stage.

When you read this guy’s bio you begin to understand his mastery of performance and delivery. Involved with many aspects of entertainment not only as a performance artist and grammy nominated musician, but as a producer, writer and director of feature films.

Stacking this brilliance all together in a show and presentation of which overwhelmed the stage, the “Freaks On Parade Tour” is a not to miss event. Get there, quick!