From hell it came! Twins of Evil Tour 2012 feat. Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie

With or without make-up on their faces, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie have one thing in common: Both gentlemen like to provoke and provoke plenty. Each of the two names already arouses the urge to throw terms like "legend", "titanium" or "superstar" around. The "King of Provocation" Manson and the "Master of Horror" Zombie have teamed up for a joint world tour of horror. Joining forces touring Europe as the "Twins of Evil", they also stopped for a concert in Basel and attracted a very diverse audience to the St. Jakobshalle. After seeing Rob Zombie last year had seen in Lausanne in the rather small shop «Les Docks», I finally got the opportunity to experience one of his big shows. I love zombie for his horror roots and genre flair and luckily Rob Zombie is starring in this «Twins of Evil Tour»!

After the two had their last performances in French-speaking Switzerland - Rob Zombie last year in Lausanne and Marilyn Manson at the Festi Neuch in Neuchâtel - they have now come to German-speaking Switzerland. To me, Manson is sort of an evolution of Alice Cooper. Some time ago, Marilyn perfected what Alice had presented: polarizing with topics that shock many people, also in terms of make-up, i.e. the external appearance. But can an artist still really outrage who is played all the time on MTV? Not in my opinion. The former protégé of "Nine Inch Nails" frontman Trent Reznor has been a little quieter lately. The last three albums could no longer commercially build on the success of their predecessors.

After a somewhat restrained Metal DJ interlude as an opening act, the curtain falls and Marilyn Manson stands on the stage. "Hey, cruel world" from the current disc and the old knocker "Disposable Teens" make the prelude. People go along well, the sound is loud and oppressive. «mOBSCENE» is the first highlight of the show. After each song, Mr. Manson changes his wardrobe, the whole thing is of course pretty bizarre and broken, but also a lot of fun. In addition to some new songs, there is a mix of his hits, from which "Coma White" in particular stands out, in which artificial snow falls from the ceiling. «The Beautiful People» ends after an hour with confetti rain an amazingly good show, light and sound at their best and the front psycho was, despite previous fight in Zurich and damaged ear, apparently in a good mood.

Marilyn Manson - Coma White @ St.Jakobshalle Basel

I was also enthusiastic about his show in that everything was perfectly staged. The set changes just as often as the actor changes his clothes. The program seems to me as if one were working through a program point by point. Without showing big emotions or getting in contact with the eyewitnesses of the show. Marilyn Manson disappointed me vocally. I didn't expect a top performance, but I didn't expect him to sing so badly, he was probably hoarse or something and that in Ricola Land. But it was noticeable that the sound in the St. Jakobshalle was really damn good, with Metal, everything sometimes merges into a booming pulp, not with the Twins of Evil.

setlist:

1. Intro: Suspiria
2. Hey, Cruel World ...
3. Disposable teens
4. The Love Song
5. No reflection
6. mOBSCENE
7. The dope show
8. Slo-mo-tion
9. Rock is Dead
10. Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode cover)
11. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythmics Cover)
12. Coma White
13. King Kill 33 °
14. Antichrist superstar
15. The beautiful people

The fact that the conversion phase took more than 30 minutes is easy to understand in view of all the stage structures. During this time, a huge curtain hides the stage, which is adorned with a black and white picture of King Kong. What is noticeable is that many people are apparently only there because of Marilyn Manson, and after the show they retire and leave the front rows. Absolutely incomprehensible to me, because the real king of horror is still to come, but all the better for us and some other connoisseurs, who thus slide further forward with Rob Zombie.

The zombie intro begins at around 21:30 p.m. A giant robot is on stage, bassist Piggy D and with drummer Ginger Fish and guitarist John5, two former members of Marilyn Manson are also on stage with Rob Zombie, the band gradually joins in and as the first bars of the opener « Jesus Frankenstein», the robot opens and Mr. Zombie Himself climbs out. To the best sound, he climbs onto one of the numerous platforms and joins in the song – a cylinder on his head, the well-known mechanical claw on his arm, which he repeatedly stretches towards the hall ceiling. All my hopes of him saving the night were pinned on him. And I was not disappointed. He dances across the stage, bases his show on "Jesus Frankenstein" and picks up the audience with "Superbeast". So after two songs he manages what his colleague before didn't really manage to do until the end.

I have to mention again that the sound is so good that it really puts you in a good mood. The riffs boom at an official volume from the PA and this time the good Rob has his entire show with him (last year in Lausanne there was only the slimmed down version, since there would hardly have been enough space) and that means a bunch of LED screens, pyros, confetti, pillars of fire and all kinds of robots, monsters and animals on the stage. The LED canvases visually show sequences that match the respective songs, the top zombie whirls over the boards like a dervish or makes direct contact with the first rows.

"Living dead girl" appears relatively early in the set, followed by the old White Zombie classic "More human than human" - hits on the conveyor belt. And there is a new gimmick for every song - be it a robot or an oversized devil greeting from the stage. The drum solo is really good with this sound - the double bass is pounding in the stomach area. In "Mars needs Women" Rob drives back and forth on stage in a monster moon mobile and in "Sick Bubble-Gum" big colorful balloons dance over the heads of the audience. Everything with a wink and never meant seriously. Zombie and John5 rocked the place and Rob especially spun from side to side. During a guitar solo he even takes a trip across the hall. After an extravagant guitar solo, the troupe covers "School's out" by Alice Cooper, Rob's great role model, and then says goodbye to the stage. The fans reached out with a long and, above all, loud "Zombie, Zombie!" However, they call an encore. But after "Dragula" it was definitely over.

Rob zombie live

After a little more than an hour, Zombie was through with his gig and I got another great live experience! Rob Zombie's show as a whole was a hell of a movie, the man knows how to keep the audience happy. Thanks Rob, you really convinced me once again! Hopefully Rob Zombie will visit us every 1 - 2 years now! The biggest drawback of the evening, however, was that both concerts were actually much too short. Because with the many songs that both bands have written, more than 80 minutes would have been appropriate. But that seems to be becoming more and more common with American bands. Nonetheless, an extremely worthwhile, if short concert evening.

setlist:

1. Intro: Sawdust In The Blood / Sinners Inc.
2. Jesus Frankenstein
3. Superbeast
4. Meet the Creepers
5. Living Dead Girl
6. More Human Than Human (White Zombie Song)
7. Theme for an Angry Red Planet
8. Mars Needs Women

Drum solo

9. Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)
10. Sick bubble gum
11. Scum of the Earth
12. Lords of Salem
13. Thunder Kiss '65 (White Zombie Song)

Guitar solo

14. School's Out (Alice Cooper Cover)

Encore:

15. dragula

After the show in Basel there was only one concert in Bologna, Italy and then the tour was over, with 33 appearances in 10 countries, just like this little report and, fittingly, I would like to go with the Close quote about the tour end of the band. Let's do this again soon!

So that's all folks as a certain Porky Pig would say at the end of a certain series of famous cartoons. The Twins of Evil tour has come to a close. The tour gear is being packed, robots are going back to storage, tired and weary souls return to the comforts of their beds. 10 countries were visited with 33 shows played. Every city welcomed the show with raucous cheer and invigorating energy. Even when Rob apologized to the Birmingham UK crowd for his croaky voice, the crowd still bayed for Zombie and left the show with smiles from ear to ear.

Thank you to everyone that came out; to those who flew across countries, traveled for hundreds of miles on the road, came out night after night through snow storms and cold, wind and rain. To those who came not once nor twice but many many times, to the fans met on meet and greets, or who hung around before and after shows to say hi.

Thank you. Let's do this again soon!

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