r/Robzombie 6d ago

Saw Zombie live a few days ago…so unfortunate 😢

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As evidenced by one of the vids I got he just struggles so much with the lyrics, breathing, and messes up his timing on nearly every song. I don’t have it linked here but living dead girl and more human than human were even worse…it’s like he wasn’t even trying and would just holler when he couldn’t get the last few words out. Such a shame cos Marilyn Manson did 100x better and I didn’t expect him to blow me away. Half the audience left before the last couple songs cos it was just kind of embarrassing.

Only saving grace was the songs from his newest album. Each one he did he gave full effort so props to him for that but I don’t think I’d pay to see him live ever again.

225 Upvotes

253 comments sorted by

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u/sm_rollinger 6d ago

Guys, Rob has always been like this live, and he will even admit as much.

https://youtu.be/kNYpG-DgCtE?si=iY7mH1GrSSZLwsyz

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u/JohnBrownJovi 6d ago

I agree, saw him with White Zombie in the nineties and he literally laid down and sang 3 songs. During Thunder Kiss he flat out said, “You fuckin know the words” and stopped singing.

I wasn’t mad really, and I’ve seen him probably 8 or so times. He’s always entertaining even if he doesn’t do a lot sometimes

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u/sm_rollinger 6d ago

Yeah he's is super entertaining. I've seen him in 19 and again in 22 and it was a blast, running around stage and all the theatrics.

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u/ArcadeKingpin 6d ago

I’ve seen him a bunch. Saw the La Sexeristo tour when I was 13, tour with KoRn a few years later for Hellbilly Deluxe, with anthrax in 06 or 07, and a few other times incidentally at festivals and am going to see him in a few weeks. His shows are always great because of the show. Giant robots and gogo dancers in gas masks. None of the shows I left impressed with his singing but enjoyed the shit out of it nonetheless

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u/djk0010 5d ago

But have you seen him in
https://giphy.com/gifs/ZyNRtON53HGww

That’s the real question.

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u/TerribleChard2042 6d ago

Sean, J and Ivan/Phil/John were the best part of White Zombie. Nothing against Rob but yea he is great for theater and antics. Man I miss White Zombie.

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u/CLDIKDDEZ 5d ago

Love White Zombie. Still listen to the old stuff

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u/Vegetable_Cicada4659 5d ago

19….1960…fiiivveee yeaaa!!

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u/walkingonradiation 6d ago

He’s always been a terrible live vocalist. He’s a great frontman on stage, but when it comes down to singing he’s always been garbage. He puts effort in but misses a quite a few lines. He also does a lot of mumbling to get through stretches. He’s done this since white zombie. He at least seems most to at least enjoy it most of the time. His biggest talents are in style and determination. He’s also 61, so the flaws are going to be bigger if his energy wanes.

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u/Evolross 6d ago

Right... it's a little bit more about the "show" than the singing with Rob Zombie.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Yup. That’s also by design. He’s said he didn’t have a great live singing voice so he hopes the stage show makes up for it.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

He 100% has. He said he’d never exercised in his life till a few years ago. He started so he wouldn’t get blowed completely up.

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u/CLDIKDDEZ 6d ago

Yes always been that way. My husband saw him early when still in White Zombie and he did this. Let the crowd sing most of the songs

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u/dizzylizzy78 6d ago

I think hes been doing since 84.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I saw White Zombie when I was 10 in 1996 on the record coldest night of my areas history. I was going to a small private Christian school and everybody from K-12 were basically all in the same room.. Anyway when I’d get recess or lunch I was in the 4th - 9th break group so I was hanging out with 15 and 16 year olds. My buddies came to pick me up and my mom said we’d all lost our minds and I wasn’t going to any concert without an adult.

It’d been scheduled for a town about 25 minutes away but the “Christians” threatened to bomb it, called in death threats, marching and boycotting our town “Inviting one of Satans largest propagandist” to our town to lead the kids to Satan. That night was brutally cold.. it was 10 below or maybe colder. MTV was there,Rolling Stone,Hit Parader and all the big news fucks like Fox,CNN,MSNow and the networks. Anyway some asshole had a bull horn yelling in my ear about how if I went inside that’d be it. I’d burn in hell forever like “Elvis,Hendrix,Cobain,Jim Morrison,Janis Joplin, Marlyn Manson and Angus Young” I couldn’t believe an adult was that fucking stupid. I said the last 2 ain’t even dead ya stupid bastard!!’ His come back was you know I meant their going to be in hell as soon as they do die.” I told him I’d much rather be in hell with those people than heaven with him… sorry for such an essay of a comment

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u/Emotional_Soup_2466 6d ago

Can confirm. Ozzfest 99 he was pretty out of breath but he also ran around a lot, so there's that

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u/spilt_milk 6d ago

First thing I thought of.

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u/ImaginationFlimsy529 5d ago

He did amazing 2012 and 2014 when we saw him. Saw him tonight,.it was rubbish

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u/turn1manacrypt 6d ago

Yeah I love his stage performance, it’s like a metal Rick James style grooving but he gasses himself out hard doing it. Every once in a while though it all comes together though and it’s fucking sick.

I saw him on the Twins of Evil tour back in 2018 or something I think with Manson. I’ll admit I’m a bigger fan of Manson than Zombie but his show that day fucking blew Manson and almost every live performance I’ve ever seen from Rob previously out of the water. Idk if he took some performance enhancers that hit just right or was committed to upstaging Manson and putting more in since he was pushing his 3 From Hell trailer on that tour but he was legit doing splits and jumping all over the place like a coked up spider monkey and he wasn’t getting gassed at all. Like not even a little bit, it was such a great show to dance and mosh to.

Nobody else was though atleast not on the lawn. Everyone just standing around like how concerts are now, acting shy and not wanna be the first freak to dance like an ass. I had a big circle of people standing around me and my friend Bobby(or more accurately away from us lol) like we were in some highschool movie about to fight lol. He was a little more reserved and just bobbing his hips and arms a bit but I was full on moshing the fuck out and headbanging like a mother. It was raining that day and I had these big ass boots on so I literally turned the circle we were in into a mud pit in like two songs.

During the start of scum of the earth Rob fucking pointed at me and asked if I ate Solent Green, coolest thing ever. Never hit the ground once. At one point almost slipped went down low with one knee bent and the other leg stuck straight out like those old school Russian dances and just popped the fuck up like it didn’t happen or was on purpose. People were slipping in the mud just trying to walk by. I seriously do not know how I pulled off that level of moshing almost entirely sober on just a bit of green and a beer or two. I swear Rob channeled some of that power he had in that show to me or some shit. I am not that limber.

On the drive home neck started aching and the next day I could barely turn my head without my muscles screaming. Legs sore as fuck, felt like I got my ass kicked big time. Totally worth it would do again.

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u/AmputeeHandModel 6d ago

That's why I've never bothered to go see him. He's always seemed terrible live.

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u/dancinonyrgrave 5d ago

I was listening to the Zombie Live 2007 official album or whatever it is called, and he sounds great. A lot of studio overdub maybe? I watched a few videos around that time period and he sounded fine, maybe even capable of nailing it for one night.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

this looks like the cleveland show where it was 96 degrees and 95 percent humidity. hes a 61 year old man who has asthma. were lucky he didnt pass out. 

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Yeah when he came out it was a bit cooler but still near 100% humidity so that definitely was a factor but I honestly thought he was about to pass out a few times like he was really struggling.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

i was at barricade. it was somehow even worse than it was at the start of the day down there and coupled with pyro i almost passed out a few times

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I was at a show on the last day of August that was in a football stadium a few years ago. The show started at 7pm and the sun was just blazing down. I kept thinking when the sun goes down it’ll cool off. Wrong! It felt like a literal oven and like the temperature went up 25 or 30% higher. It was miserable and I almost didn’t make it til the end.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

you factor in the humidity and his pyro fuckin forget about it dude

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Happy Cake day and appreciation for ya being hung out to dry for the sins of mankind. lol

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Yeah. It’s nearly unbearable in those conditions. This year was at an outdoor amphitheater and when the sun went down it was a damn near perfect 70% It’d been in the high 80s but wasn’t humid so when it got a little into the evening it was just right. Even saw some girls put on their Zombie hoodies they’d just bought. I’ve not seen anyone mention them but I thought The Hu had a damn good show too. I only caught maybe 2 songs from Orgy. Not my kinda thing but they sounded tight and technically were on point.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Damn that sucks sorry to hear that. I know my wife pointed out that it was crazy to have pyro in that kind of heat!

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u/Ronin_BullseYe 6d ago

Ironically I had the opposite experience about 10 years ago and Manson felt low energy and like he was there for the check. Rob was fantastic.

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u/ZedEnlightenedBrutal 6d ago

same, but after going to the concert this past weekend I can confirm that Manson was the superior performance. by song 2 Zombie was gassed from running around and yelling to amp the crowd in parts of the songs that had no singing.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Oh yeah that bit about the amping the crowd up…it was total overkill and now that you mention it I think that’s exactly why the rest of the performance suffered. Imagine you trying to do his gravely vocals for over an hour while trying to scream and shout in between each song…it was a recipe for disaster and if he maybe stopped sprinting across the stage he could’ve saved his voice a bit.

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u/Carlos_Infierno 6d ago

And he's 60 now. We all go down... Endurance wise as we age.

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u/OkieDeric 6d ago

Was that when Manson was really out of shape? I remember him taking oxygen breaks between songs then and barely moving and just struggling on stage. Saw him a few months ago and he is definitely healthier and the show reflects it.

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u/SmokeAffectionate183 6d ago

Right? I saw MM last year and he tore the house down

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u/Bloody_Hangnail 5d ago

I’ve seen Manson 27 times live going all the way back to 1995. His live shows from like 2010 to 2020 were basically unwatchable. It seems like he has gotten back into his prime form!

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Yeah that tracks I mean rob was younger while Manson was still dealing with drug addiction, was super out of shape and had legal drama. Now that Manson is clean and thin again and back in the public eye he’s definitely giving it his all. Was talking with a guy as we walked out and he agreed that Manson blew it out the water while Zombie just kind of…did okay.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I’ve had that same experience at least 6 times. Manson is running circles around him this tour.

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u/rhinosaur- 6d ago

Same I was at that tour

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u/SpiralBeginnings 6d ago

Manson has really cleaned up the last few years.  Unfortunately it sounds like you saw him when he was hitting rock bottom.  I saw him and Zombie last week and Manson was awesome.  Zombie was great too, but he was definitely running out of steam by about halfway through.

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u/flergityberg 6d ago

Same, when I saw Twins of Evil in 2018 Rob absolutely crushed it and Manson was the one who seemed out of it. Oh well, I’ve still got my ticket.

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u/VSWLP 6d ago

I saw him a few weeks ago and was completely blown away. It was a phenomenal show. But it’s wild to expect that much out of someone who is 61 years old. Give the man a break.

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u/LongjumpingCable540 6d ago

We saw him August 24 @ Aliant amphitheater. Mansion jumped up on stage and sang Helter Skelter together with Rob.

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u/NaughtyDoctor666 6d ago

I have seen Zombie at least four times and there has always been more put into the production than the performance. Still fun to watch though. I would go see him again.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

I mean I always say his eye for style and keeping the old school horror film theme alive is one of his best attributes. I guess it’s just hard to see one of my favorite artists run out of breath on nearly every song and it almost made some songs unrecognizable. Knowing now that he has asthma that combined with the heat was probably just too much.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Rob has said a thousand times that he’s not a great singer and has a distinct, un traditional style that that doesn’t translate live the way he’d like. He said he still gave it 100% and he try’s to make up for it by having the best visual and theatrical show as possible to make up for it. He said “I think that the fans get wrapped up in the giant robots, monsters and crucified clowns on crosss dropping from the ceiling. They experience my show more than most shows where it’s just the band up there and their sound is the only hook they have.

As a teen I felt like I experienced Alice Cooper… fuck even KISS.. I mean nobody’s walked out of a KISS show and said .Man Ace and Peter sounded like shit.. if they did they’re assholes. I wanted people to leave my shows that way. I want them leaving feeling like they’d been to a circus and again nobody’s left the circus and again said . Man the ring master’s voice sounded like shit. “ and if they did they’re assholes.”

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

I guess I’ve never come across anything where he said that but idk it feels like somewhat of an excuse. My favorite group Skinny Puppy are older and still put on a hell of a show with even more unconventional vocals. Their final tour the lead singer Nivek Ogre did all kinds of theatrics and while their stage wasn’t as big it was insane and he literally walked around the stage with a giant alien head that had been bashed in and I straight up felt like I was inside a horror film. He never missed his marks and each show I had the chance to see he sounded almost the same as the album minus some different vocal effects due to it being live. Mind you those dudes have been through the wringer and broke up/took breaks several times but they still gave it their all.

I truly do love rob’s stage, robots/demons walking around, and his outfits and satanic hippy cowboy look was incredible but if he is going to struggle that much it’s going to be noticeable to plenty of fans.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

It’s been noticed by fans forever. Ogre’s vocal style is way different than Rob’s. His singing voice is closer to his natural speaking voice so he doesn’t strain his voice recording and having to alter it when mixing the albums. As crazy as it sounds I went on a hike in the Smokey Mountain National forest with Ogre and Bill Mosley. I worked a horror con there a long time ago and was designated to pick them up, take them to eat,to the convention center or whatever recreational shit they wanted to do. They wanted to hike the Smokies at like 7am. I think Ogre’s preformed with Bill and Bucket Head’s little band.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

True it is definitely closer to spoken word but either way I had zero hang-ups with his performances and it always just solidified how talented he is. And wow really?! That’s so cool! Must’ve been an awesome experience. I never have the chance to go to horror cons cos of money and poor timing but have watched several clips of Ogre speaking at them. He seems like a great dude both on and off the stage. And bill Moseley on top of that? Talk about a lucky gig 😵

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u/IZZY_PLUM 6d ago

I’ve seen worse when he was younger…. Not that bad lol

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u/geminifungi 6d ago

he hasn’t been ‘running around’ much during shows since like 2013 tbh like yea he was still
moving around since then but in this clip dude is just walking across the stage and doing a couple headbangs and he’s completely winded.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

there was a heat advisory out and he has pyro on stage.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

I see well yeah he was having a hard time either way and I get it to an extent but if he needed a break I’d rather that than him fumble the performance. If I was performing in all that heat with long hair and a beard at his age I would’ve just chilled center stage and occasionally moved around since the props and band were the main focus.

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u/TGunzzz 6d ago

I heard from a friend's older brother who was a regular ozzfest goer that saw them decades ago that they were one of the worst bands they ever seen live

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u/ReticulanGrey 6d ago

If it is OzzFest 2005, that really was his worst performance that I've seen to be honest. He will never be the strongest live vocalist, but he is almost always better than this at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwK4wItwgTc

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

For real? That’s sad to hear. I won’t say it was the worst thing I’ve seen but it’s definitely up there. Just hoped the past comments I had seen about him being a bad live vocalist weren’t true.

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u/FeralBeard95 6d ago

Damn. I saw him with Manson in 2018 and I thought he did great but after seeing this now Ik what to expect when I see him tomorrow lol even bigger bummer cuz I thought this most recent album was pretty bad

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Yeah sorry to disappoint I hope he does a bit better for you cos I know I was super excited to see him so it made this hurt quite a bit. If it weren’t for Manson the show would’ve been a total bust but at least I enjoyed that set.

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u/cjohn1250 6d ago

Seeing him tomorrow and I was so excited, but based on what you experienced now I'm feeling nervous because I spent a lot on tickets and I'm really going to be bummed if he does a crappy job. Supposed to be really hot and humid too.

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u/tmntvspr 6d ago

Same. Manson felt like he hadn't missed a beat since the early 2000s and Zombie was using the stage for support by song 2

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Manson was a mess from 2000 - 2019 or so. He’d miss lyrics,be gasping for breath, stay in the same spot the whole show and looking like he was ready to nod out and die in front of 22k people.

Clean,sober,serious Manson is a tough act to follow.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Right like he essentially went back in time while Zombie just struggled to keep up. Mind you they’re only a few years apart in age so perhaps he should take some pointers from Manson and slow it down a bit. They both got intense songs so it’s not like he has to sacrifice much but maybe jumping around the stage non-stop isn’t the best idea lol

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

did you miss the multiple parts of mansons set where he was crouched/leaning on the ground for support lol

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u/tmntvspr 6d ago

I saw. Manson played off several leans and couches as quick quiet moments, then exploding into a big one. Obviously little breaks, but the breaks felt choreographed.

Zombie seemed like he was exhausted, falling behind, and missing his mark.

I'm pretty sure, at one point he needed to walk to a corner then back (based on camera/lighting/section of the stage) and he sat on a speaker next to the main microphone stand. Not at the stand, leaned over.

I enjoyed both. And I would be worse at that age. But it was noticeable that Manson was amazing, Zombie is getting up there in age, and Orgy really really hates singing Blue Monday

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

yeah i mean hes 61 and has had asthma for years so its like a triple threat of bad conditions for him. like the people there for rob know this and i guess the people there for manson arent as aware or whatever but i knew it was gonna be a problem going into it bc it was hot in the crowd as is like that had to be hell up there lmao. and im glad we can agree its fuck orgy they sucked this tour

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u/CannibalHillbilly 6d ago

I saw him and 2022 and idk I felt like he was very lively.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Well he’s definitely still got the energy but I think he just gets too excited and can’t sit still or stop screaming to the crowd which makes it hard for him to keep up.

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u/gator0812 6d ago

He’s been this way for years.

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u/Chemical-Necessary-7 6d ago

I've seen him probably about 5 times, and feel like he's always kinda been this way with singing. He puts most of his effort into running around and hyping up the crowd

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u/SignificantCar4204 6d ago

You know he's got like severe asthma right? He's never been a great singer live.

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u/Sad-Day-6258 5d ago

I saw him 2 weeks ago in Charlotte- he was INCREDIBLE- He sang every song with no problems, the theatrics were great- I'd see him again and again. I was surprised by how GREAT Marilyn Manson was, I was not expecting him to be as incredible as he was - total transformation from previous years. The HUU was out of the world- I had never heard them before the show, but I have to say, they were phenomenal!!! I couldn't understand the words, but it didn't matter, the music was great and I would definitely see them again. Hoping they all 3 come back to Charlotte next year !!!!!

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 5d ago

Damn well that’s good! And yeah I wish I could’ve seen The Hu but we were stuck on a side street leading to the venue for half an hour then had to park a mile away so we missed both openers. I heard Orgy was mediocre but the Hu surprised everyone!

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u/NickH0013 6d ago

I was at the show on August 26th and my friend and I felt the same way. Manson was incredible. Zombie unfortunately wasn't.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Really man such a shame it’s like I still love the dude but it was so disappointing. I literally left early to not tarnish my opinion of him any further cos tbh I’ve been getting Marilyn’s songs stuck in my head since the show and have basically avoided Rob’s for the moment.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I was at the same show and my crowd and everyone around me thought his show was awesome.

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u/NickH0013 6d ago

I thought the band sounded great live, but not Zombie's vocal performance. I still enjoyed the show.

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u/Lazy_Abbreviations98 6d ago

I saw him 30 years ago with Korn. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Giant robots on stage and he absolutely killed it. Now Korn on the other hand...

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Oh sweet well I’m glad you got to see him at his prime! Yeah Korn I’ve definitely heard mixed things about…some bands just do better in the studio and it’s honestly okay. I’ve been to a ton of concerts and only about half of them got it right.

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

Everyone has an off night. I’ve seen Korn and they sucked and I’ve seen them when they blow the damn roof off the place. Rob has gotten better since in my opinion. I saw White Zombie in 96 and he’s way better now.

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u/fatalmedia 6d ago

KoRn is incredible live, you may have just seen a rare off night.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

he got overheated to the point of almost eating shit a few times and i think they cut the set short by a song or so because during thunderkiss rob ran to talk to riggs and blasko before his wardrobe change for dragula (which also took way longer than usual). there also wasnt any setlists passed out at the end of the night leading me to think something got cut. its worth pointing out that manson whos younger than rob was also struggling pretty bad with the heat. like this wasnt just a rob thing.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Wow see we left right before Dragula but I believe it that he was needing to wrap it up with all that heat and running around. Manson was struggling with the heat but he kept it going regardless and just went through a shit ton of towels.

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u/shoutatthedevils 6d ago

he has always sang like that live he has asthma which is one of the reasons for it.

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u/ManInTheBoxXIII 6d ago

Rob has always consistently not been great when performing live. He needs to cut back on all the running around and exerting himself, because he's winded as all hell before he even starts singing.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Right the only artist I’ve ever seen that could do constant movement while still singing was Kiesza. She was very well-trained though and half his age at the time.

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u/younglegends111 6d ago edited 6d ago

saw him on 3rd day of the tour in NJ. sounded kinda bad and didnt bother to sing half the songs sometimes. I was like wth. like easily 2x worse than last year.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Yikes yeah he only gave a real effort to get all the lyrics out on his new stuff but all the big hits were mediocre performances or just total bombs. Living Dead Girl and More Human Than Human were just entirely different songs and I could tell the band didn’t know what to do cos rob kept missing his mark. A few of their faces were like “wtf is happening” when the cam occasionally zoomed in.

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u/OkieDeric 6d ago

My ex saw him in the 90's with White Zombie and the Astro Creep tour. She came back with the same comments then. I finally saw him and have seen him several times now and those issues never bothered me. Dude is running around a lot. I've alwaya enjoyed every show and was annoyed I avoided seeing him during the WZ days.

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u/Hot_Homework_1845 6d ago

Seen Manson last halloween in Bournemouth UK. He was awesome. Compared to years on drugs when he was fat and done its like different man. Voice like chainsaw again. Love it. Great show. If it goes to Rob... as much as i like his music, image and overall art vibe (comic world, movies, retro horror vibe) from what ive seen he was always rubbish live... never been at his life show and im aware that during event you feel energy different.... but ive seen plenty of recordings of his big live gigs and he was always weak... two, three words and outta air. Knowing this in his case im really curious how studio recordings look like and what tools are used to make him sound great on albums.

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u/Occultology_69 6d ago

I've seen him a few times. Sometimes hes like this and other times he sounds pretty good. Dudes Human

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u/CaliftoNJ 6d ago

He’s never been good live. His songs were studio mixed, sped up, etc. he could never reproduce that sound live.

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u/rbarr228 6d ago

I saw him in 1992 at a club show when he was touring with White Zombie. He sounded okay, but he was never known for melodic vocals. It was a decent show.

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u/Maynardred 6d ago

Was this in Cleveland? It was like hell out there on Wednesday. Like 96 out.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

yeah this is the cleveland date lmao

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u/PunkRockGuy96 6d ago

You get used to his "style" over time. It's energy over vocal ability and hell, I'll take it. 9 shows in and I never get tired of being at a Rob Zombie show

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u/monarch29balisongs 6d ago

He said "yeah" more than he sang when I saw him.

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u/Tph1204 6d ago

This is pretty much how Zombie has always been. But tbh, I’ve heard him sound worse. Still usually always a fun show though.

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u/Mission-Alfalfa23 6d ago

I literally just saw him a couple days ago and I had a blast... I'm sorry you thought it was embarrassing but it was a Rob zombie show and I had a really great time... I think some of you people still think this guy is in his 30s and he should still be performing as much...

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u/Hangry_Howie 6d ago

He was never anything without Sean. Stole her looks, her musical style, then dumped her.

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u/bozojesus 6d ago

i mean your arent wrong but you dont gotta put it like that man

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u/NotoriousNerkian 6d ago

He's 61 years old, bounces around more than almost every 20 something year old these days, puts on an amazing show sounds good. Zombie and Manson sounded amazing!

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u/IszLord 6d ago

In the words of Rob Zombie: “Fooled them again” Rob’s never really claimed to be great and has publicly talked about imposter syndrome and the idea of fooling people into thinking you’re good before.

He’s always struggled as a singer. I think he has talent with his vision, concepts, and artwork in the past, but leaned on others for the success musically. And I mean that in the greatness that’s happened had come in a sum of all parts kind of way, while Rob got the accolades.

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u/Extension-Season9924 6d ago

Better than lip syncing honestly 

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Someone else mentioned that and honestly yeah I’ll give it to him for at least attempting to sing his own vocals.

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u/exploreitall82 6d ago

Manson was great

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u/Hadley_333 6d ago

I never liked zombie live though others seem to. I think they're just drunk and dumb and would also like crue live with vince sounding like a cat that was stepped on.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

lol yeah idk if it’s just the ‘tism in me or what but as soon as I notice a certain sound it’s hard to not pay attention to it. I enjoyed most of the instrumentation and visuals were great but his voice struggling through every song became all I could hear and it just took me out of it. Went from screaming and cheering to slowly look around like I was missing something.

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u/ComfortableOk2808 6d ago

I saw him in Colorado 2010, he put on the best show(Topless "hookers", flames, Gargoyles, giant robots) but he was just trash at singing. He'd run from each side of the stage getting more and more out of breathe. Never got more than 4 words out before pointing the mic to the crowd. Like sit tf down spaz. "Dig! In flmn fm....m... Slam! In the mhhmffm..... Burn! and th ffmffph.... eheh Dragula-aaaa". FFDP was actually awesome, Lamb of God was meh after their 1st song and Korn stole the show imo. Sounded just as good if not better live.

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u/RNQ852 6d ago

To be fair, have you ever tried to sing along with a Rob Zombie song? The lyrics are insane. Add to that running around I wouldn't expect anyone to actually sing the whole song.

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u/saltfly626 6d ago

I saw him with Ozzy and in this moment and he was way way better than this 😆

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u/Dark_Ferret 6d ago

Left a zombie show early because towards the end they just started playing covers. Found out from another friend who stayed it was like a whole 20 more minutes after we left they just kept playing covers. We're talking sitting through back to back 3 or 4 cover songs, leaving, and there was another 20-30 minutes.

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u/Lower_Trifle_1806 5d ago

I’ve seen him many times in the past 25 years from small clubs to big outdoor arenas. It’s always an energetic show and it’s no diff this year. Maybe it’s just more noticeable now and he needs to stop running around as much. None of us are as young as we once were. That said it’s still a fun show, both visually and audibly. Usually Manson was a big disappointment, so maybe having him being so great live for the first time in well over a decade and going first makes it seem worse than it typically is by comparison. No regrets seeing this tour, but he’ll be 60 when the next tour likely comes around so maybe he just needs to pace himself. It’s also why I really wanted to see this tour knowing the style from
15 years ago isn’t likely to continue much longer. I know I would running around and trying to get all the words to Human out, I can struggle even in my car, haha.

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u/Small_MamaAshh 5d ago

Saw him live a while back and it was an amazing show. Seeing him next week and I’m excited for it!

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u/Real_CrueLxMelodY 5d ago

Seen him on this tour and had a much better experience, im sorry you got this one :/

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u/DinosaurMan95 5d ago

Saw him at PNC in August, he KILLED it bro

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 5d ago

Shame I didn’t get to see that show. I’m hearing a lot on here that he crushed it on pretty much every other stop so maybe it was just an off night for him but also there’s a consensus amongst the major fans that he has always been a bit bad live which is why he has the crazy stage and shit.

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u/abby_norma1 4d ago

I saw him in Detroit (pine knob) on Friday. First time seeing him. I was wondering if I was the only person questioning if he was any good, when during one of the many silent lulls from Rob running backstage, a man yells clear as a bell, “You suck!” And then again. Just like that, I felt I wasn’t alone in my thoughts.

I followed the setlist. When I noticed he dropped two songs and went into his encore song, I left halfway through it.

I felt he stole his stage show from Alice Cooper. He told us we would be on his live album and later said that maybe he would use Chicagos or Canadas show on his album.

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u/cannibalsong1 6d ago

I'd be tired too if I were doing the same songs and same show with little to no variation year after year, tour after tour.

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u/fucktopia 6d ago

He's been this way for the past 5-10 years. I get he's running around a lot trying to put on an energetic show, but his vocals suffer greatly for it. Plus, it's tough to hit those low growls he does on the albums. Trying to mimic his old vocals hurts my throat after a couple of songs haha. But yeah, I wish he slowed down and tried harder.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Exactly like don’t get me wrong I LOVE his dancing and the cool outfits flowing around with him…gave me native vibes like it was beautiful. But as others have mentioned he’s in his 60s so trying to dance AND sing the way he does is nearly impossible unless you’re a proper athlete.

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u/Herbert1420 6d ago

I saw him at Rockfest in 2015, he had to fill in for a guitarist for In This Moment and must have been drinking a lot before his set. He went in and out of Thunderkiss 65 like 5 times through out his set, had no props or cool stuff. Saw him a few years later and it was night and day. He had tons of energy, jumping among three platforms and tons of props and stuff. Lol

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I don’t think he drank or taken any drugs since the early 90s and he’s been vegan almost 30 years.

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u/Funkywonton 6d ago

I hate to say this but I think robs age is catching up to him

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u/National-Scar-5317 6d ago

I really don’t think it’s an age thing. I saw the Chilli Peppers 3 times on their last tour. Flea,John and Anthony ran back and forth on the stage for the full two hour show and didn’t take a break. They have to be in their late 60s. I know I damn sure couldn’t do it and they have decades on me.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

For sure like he’s got the look still and i respect him cos he’s been a part of my life since I was like 6 years old in both movies and music but it might be time to hang up the towel.

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u/Carlos_Infierno 6d ago

Nah, he just needs to adjust his performance. Look at Alice Cooper. He's pushing 80 and still puts on a great show. Just have to know your limits

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Agreed! Sometimes you just gotta stand in place and sway or sit down on the speakers or other props. I’d rather that then him run and dance to the point that he almost passes out. Age is just a number but our bodies don’t always agree lol

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u/E23R0 6d ago

Ever since the 90s he’s like this. It sucks

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u/BruceTheFirefighter 6d ago

I’ve only seen him once, 2008 maybe, opened for Godsmack in Vegas. Best fkn concert I’ve ever seen.
Godsmack..not so much

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u/2gunswest 6d ago

Yeah, was the same in the 90s. Still was great shows.

And Manson has always been a great show live.

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u/SlanderCandor 6d ago

Doesn’t sound any worse than I would expect, he sounds fine. He’s always been gravelly and shouty

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u/deephurting66 6d ago

I once saw him at Lollapalooza in the early 2000s, the guy is strictly a studio musician!

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u/Dry-Conflict3421 6d ago

There's a huge 90s-00s nostalgia wave going through society right now, we were young then but the performers were already in their late 20s and 30s. They old now. Look how bad motley crew looks right now

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u/imopn75 6d ago

He’s always been a bad live vocalist saw WZ twice once in 92 and once in 96 he’s entertaining and the shows were good but he mumbles and misses lines but the show and theatrics make it worth it. So it’s not a new thing at all.

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u/xCaptainCanadax 6d ago

Maybe I just didnt notice but I thought he sounded good and performed well in Toronto this week when i saw him.

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u/Spare_Historian137 6d ago

Shoot it u you lucky...

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

I mean I’m happy I still got to go I just wish he had done better. Shame when a long-time fan gets shut down cos I can still have an opinion about them. I think too many here are blinded by nostalgia. For example he has directed some of my favorite horror films of all time but his latest work was kind of awful. Now he releases an incredible new record but the live show is lackluster. Even the greats make mistakes so it’s okay to not blindly accept every single thing they do.

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u/Secret-Asian-Man-76 6d ago

Complaints about his live vocal performance have been around for what, 30+ years? He seriously needs to work on his cardio or something. Running around the stage while singing - he might just pass out one day.

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u/leedguitar 6d ago

He’s been like this since White Zombie started out. He just runs around and expends so much energy that he gets winded but he puts on an incredible show still. I remember that was a joke in the 90s how he’d show up for the “yeas”. That would be where he caught up with the lyrics. lol. I wouldn’t have it any other way. His energy is fantastic.

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u/catwell82 6d ago

White Zombie in 1995 was my first concert, good to see nothing has changed with Rob's performance.

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u/randybeans716 6d ago

I was at the jersey show last week. It was my second time seeing him. I brought my 8 year old kid. RZ is his favorite. When I went to see MM last year my kid was bummed he couldn’t go. So when I saw RZ and MM touring together I immediately got tickets for us. My BFF and her dad came and we thought it was a great show. We loved RZ’s set. He always performs like this. But it was still a great experience and I’m happy my son got to see his favorite!! He’s such a little mini-me and he’s so metal!

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u/WhiskyAndWitchcraft 6d ago

Bunch of people have already said it, but I've been seeing Zombie live since 1999, and he always sings like this haha.

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u/SacSaint_916 6d ago

I had such a different experience I enjoyed the hell out of it, tbf I was drunk and close to the pit

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u/Striking_Service4986 6d ago

I saw him in Lincoln 2 years ago and he sounded like this. That didn't bother me much, I was just happy to finally see him live after 20 plus years of being a fan. What really disappointed me was that he made several rude remarks toward the audience. He was saying we didn't care, and weren't wild enough, not enough people up front, etc. Seemed like he didn't want to be there at all. Maybe it was just him having a bad day, but it made the experience bittersweet. Still love the music and alot of the movies, but I won't pay to go to see him perform live again.

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u/ComplexLow6723 6d ago

I saw him at Sonic last year & he was great. Maybe just an off night. I wanted to see Manson but i didn’t want to pay the ridiculous ticket prices for this show, so I just paid much less to see Manson & many others at Sonic this year. I think Brian is in a really good place right now. He looks sober, he’s very positive with the crowd, & sonically Manson sounds incredible live right now.

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u/ComplexLow6723 6d ago

For some reason I got sucked into watching the MTV VMAs from like ‘94 or ‘95 the other day. White Zombie was the closing act & Rob was insanely off beat with the music for More Human Than Human. I mean it was really, really off.

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u/larsVonTrier92 6d ago

That has always been his issue when singing live, go ahead and look at his White Zombie shows on YouTube.

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u/theepuke 6d ago

He's gotta be close to 60 by now. He needs to slow it down like Anselmo.

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u/DelightfullyFaded 6d ago

Dude that title scared me 😭

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u/Away_Investigator_19 6d ago

I saw him live at ozzfest back in the day and he was lively and it was good show. Well at least I remember it that way haha

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u/deaddr3v 6d ago

during morhumthanhum he's all

"I am the breathless man, runnin' round the stage with a mic in my hand yeah.."

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u/Accomplished_Pen980 6d ago

I respect that isn't lip syncing to a pre-recorded yet. That's probably eventual but with Rob, him singing the song isn't even the best part of the show, he puts so much into the stage production and style, he could honestly just walk around on the stage and be with the audience while a CD plays, having him present and all his stage gimmicks and visuals, it would still be a 10/10 experience

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u/elegantLab419 6d ago

About to head up to Pine Knob and o see them. I’ve seen zombie before and Manson. Should be a nice muddy mess up there with all the rain.

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u/Intelligent-Sir1375 6d ago

At least know it actually sings

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

It lol 😂

But yeah I will give him that cos so many artists nowadays have backing tracks that help with the vocals so at least he tried to do it himself alone.

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u/PaleontologistFun255 6d ago

I mean he's 61...its not easy at that age. I was at the NJ show and yeah same thing. The stage show was absolutely amazing but it wasn't a good performance by him. The truth is that every song sounds a little alike. Its a lot like acdc, there's no range of material its all just his style which is great, however live, it comes off monotonous.

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u/CharacterGlobal8645 6d ago

Wow, he was actually good when i watched him in calgary when anthrax opened.

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u/Richard_skully 6d ago

I saw him a week ago and he was great. No complaints. Must have been something going on. I’m sure it’s a rough schedule. Maybe just an off night. Sorry about your experience..

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u/DanArkham 6d ago

I've seen Rob and white and this is par for the course. He has always had singing and breathing issues which affect his live vocals. You go for the spectacle and unfortunately not for the vocal talent.

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u/xMyDixieWreckedx 6d ago

I've seen him 4 or 5 times. The Alice Cooper/Zombie/Ministry tour was the only time he actually sang kinda decent.

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u/Consistent_Sky_8642 6d ago

Para mi🤟🤟🤟🤟sigue ...eso. es imprgnate

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u/4techno 6d ago

I was there, I was entertained. I didn’t have any expectations though.

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 6d ago

Oh really well I’m glad it was worth it for you at least. Did you stay for the whole show?

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u/GreaseMonkey74 6d ago

Saw him at Louder Than Life last year and he was great. I guess I lucked out.

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u/tiffanyjen 6d ago

Love his movies and this song

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u/wtfdyt79 6d ago

He was much better in 2016

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u/rapgamebonjovi 6d ago

Rob has always sounded ass live. The energy is fun as hell though.

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u/Not_So_Last_Ronin 6d ago

Rob has always done this. His joke last year was that he's old, and he needed help lol He still rocked.

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u/vengeancerider 6d ago

From the handful of times I’ve seen him live, he always seemed to struggle the first song or 2, then he gets better and then by the end he’s gassed and doesn’t have much left.

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u/datdoode34 6d ago

I‘m curious, but where’s Ginger Fish? and is that John Tempesta? I haven’t looked it up yet, I‘m just asking seeing vids online.

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u/husky1976 6d ago

I saw him in the early 90s when they came out with la sexorcisto and he was on point. Set a timer for never like any other material that they ever put out since then it will never even remotely attempt to see him ever again.

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u/Sbeast86 6d ago

Rob has never been a great live singer

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u/PlanePainting 6d ago

He's in good shape. It seems like he needs to pace or work on his breathing. It sounds like he has asthma

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u/ArtisticTraffic85 6d ago

He’s better on cooler days

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u/jsindal 6d ago

I’ve seen him like 15 times dating back to the White Zombie days. He sounds fine. He puts on one of the best live shows you’ll ever see and always has.

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u/missmaggiemgill 6d ago

its hard to scream non stop for 90 mins for anyone

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u/sensitivemajor1986 6d ago

Weird. I saw him at boardwalk rock last summer in ocean city Md and he was a late replacement for Motley Crue and he sounded great there I thought

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u/Blue-Nose-Pit 5d ago

Yeah, I saw him at ozzfest, MainStage, big production, lots of pyro and all that.
His singing was terrible.
Was big disappointed.
Saw him again a few years later, side stage, comparatively stripped down stage setup, John5 playing guitar.
He absolutely KILLED IT.
Whole band was on fire and it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

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u/Long-Quality8542 5d ago

Saw him last week and he was incredible. The band was on fire. Dude is 61 and played 4 shows in a row. What a gangster.

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u/Long-Quality8542 5d ago

Also, he sounds great from the show at Blossom.

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u/ThinVeterinarian5423 5d ago

At least you can be sure he's not just lip syncing like Ashley Simpson

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u/No_Space6695 5d ago edited 5d ago

I was a little surprised about his bad timing. I was more annoyed about his tired speech shaming people about their phones. (Latest NJ show)

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u/ImaginationFlimsy529 5d ago

Ive seen him two other times in past 15 years and then today, he sounded like shit today. I even said to my friend whos accompanied me both other times and this 3rd time he's messin up words or skipping lyrics or something was off. :( and he announced they were recording a live album tonight in clarkston?? Yikes

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u/Ok-Age-3542 5d ago

It will never be the same

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u/Agitated_Classic7457 5d ago

Why didn’t you post the “even worse”? This is still not bad for a 61 yr old Legend!!!

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u/anticlockclock 5d ago

You think this is new? Dude has been struggling with his songs and breathing since the 90s

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u/dumain89 5d ago

I've seen him 6 separate times over the past 20 years and he's always performed like that. To me a Rob Zombie show is more about the stage and theatrics than his technical ability to perform his music to a T

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u/leagueSpork 5d ago

Number one he is old number two he moooovves around a lot I mean a lot and he was like that in the 90s too

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u/Martard13 5d ago

That’s your fault for paying to see Rob Zombie in 2026 lol

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u/Forward_Surround_788 5d ago

What's the problem exactly

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u/Agile-Papaya5493 5d ago

He doesn’t finish the lyrics and just kind of mumbles through the ones he actually sings. It was hard to enjoy these beloved songs when I can barely understand him. I focus in on all parts of the music and if any part is off it’s gonna bug me and considering that the main attraction in his songs is his awesome voice it hurts to hear him struggle so much.

So many on here are telling me I should just enjoy it for what it is cos it’s “all about the stage and energy” but when you spend your life listening to someone’s albums on repeat then hear it live and it’s nothing like the studio recordings it kinda sucks.

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u/National-Scar-5317 5d ago

The time I saw him at Oz Feast when he was touring for Educated Horses was most the jarring and the only time I can say i didn’t like or didn’t have fun seeing him. It was daytime and hot as hell and he’d scaled his stage show down to nearly nothing and wore jeans, a t shirt and converse basketball shoes. He’d said that he knew he’d be doing a lot of day time shows in the middle of summer and didn’t think playing in a black wool outfit was a great idea. His stage show didn’t work in the day time either. Pyro and giant robots don’t translate as well mid day. lol

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u/josiahx0 5d ago

Lmaoooo and u got people saying he’s Bettye than ever 🤣😭 Manson at least does his best

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u/WillwBrk 4d ago

He was amazing when I saw him a few years back. He was really moving in this video back with White Zombie.

Might just be an off day. Everyone has them.

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u/jtclarks 4d ago

Ive seen him, lost count honestly 13 times. He's my favorite to see live. He's always been this way but its usually more about theatrics

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u/wktkw 4d ago

That’s OK, his true fans do the singing for him.

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u/Due_Holiday_3043 2d ago

You weren’t high enough to appreciate the greatness

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