Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and the Murderdolls
On October 16, I was in Worcester, MA, for a concert. The concert that I was attending was called the Halloween Hootenanny: Gruesome Twosome Tour. The tour featured the bands Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and the Murderdolls as the opening act. While I was in Worcester, there was also a horror convention going on at the same venue called Shock N’ Rock, which I attended before concerts doors opened. One perk of the VIP ticket package for the concert, was a 3 day admittance pass to the convention. The convention had merchandise of horror movies and TV shows, Metal and theatrical horror show memorabilia, clothing, magazines, comics, and macabre themed toys of dolls and bears. There were also guest appearances of film directors and bands for autograph signings.
After attending the convention, it was time to wait in line for the concert. People had already lined up around 3pm; some dressed up in their horror gear of zombie face paint and blood, or rocky horror themed costumes. It was very cold for autumn, even if dressed warmly, everyone including myself was shivering. The doors of the venue opened at 6pm, but there were some delays by security. The security insisted that lines separated into male and female lines, so people in the line ran to their gender door, to meet the request. Afterwards the security examined tickets, refusing to admit anyone with a FYE sponsored ticket, and redirected them to the ticket office behind. The security patted down each person, and confiscated chains or metal accessories deemed dangerous for the show. The crowd was then directed through metal gates, where staff took the tickets and refused to let customers keep the stub as a souvenir, they just threw them into large clear garbage bags. Once past the metal gates, the crowd was instructed to receive an arm bracelet and waited to be let into an opening where security once again checked them, before let into hallway of the stadium.
Concert goers were open to either sit in the stadium or walk through the bleachers to the general admission near the stage. The opening act for the show was the Murderdolls, who were dressed in their scary theatrical makeup and costumes. The lead singer pushing the crowd to chant to the song, and swinging his umbrella prop with the word F*CK duck taped. Alice Cooper’s Band was on next and a back drop of a skull with a top hat was let down. He was energetic and in constant motion; he hung himself on a gallows, did a guillotine act of his head being cut off, pretended to strangle a nurse for a song, and pretended to be poisoned with an oversized syringe. Balloons, filled with confetti, were thrown out toward him, which he popped with his cane. Animatronics Ogres or Cyclops lunged onto the stage behind him. Halfway during the shop, he threw plastic necklaces and Alice Cooper money into the crowd. The crowd eagerly fought over them, while the guitarists threw their guitar picks into the fray. The last and longest performance was that of Rob Zombie, who stayed past 11pm, even after security warned him it was already an 1 hour past curfew. During his show large LED display boards played black & white horror classics scenes, The Peanuts Halloween Special, and military scenes. Fire shot out high from carefully controlled urns and more monsters animatronics came out. Rob Zombie played heavy metal music to a retro video collection of 1950s horror movie clips, while running onto the sides of the stage or to high platforms. Confetti was shot out from tubes along the stage. His band threw out large rubber playground balls into the crowd–them to punch up into the air. The guitarists threw out guitar picks to the crowd at front of the general admission. Rob also threw black witch hats to the audience to catch. At the finale of his show, the band came out with Halloween pails of candy and threw it out for people to have.
My suggestion to fans is to get there early for front row spot and catch a lot of souvenirs, because that is where I was at the show. Meet and Greet autograph packages are not for your typical fan, it is expensive for your average family event. A plus is, general admission ticket price were reasonable and included admission to the horror festival. This is by far the best selection. Another plus side was that the audience was civilized, and little crowd surfing took place. A third plus side is that the train station is a ten minutes walk from the venue. I would suggest having a back up plan if you miss your train ride, while waiting for autographs after the show. I received a ride back to Boston with a new concert buddy around my age, which was heading in the same direction. Good things can happen if you share interests, and I am very grateful for her kindness and others that I met at the show. On the minus side, souvenirs were pricey, security at venue doors take a long time, and lastly there are not many stores or restaurants in the neighborhood if you decide to get a bite to eat.
By Jennifer Wong
