Editorials
Boardwalk Rock After Dark: Rob Zombie Summons Nightmares on the Shore
By Dave Parsons
Like something out of a movie, the setting sun was casting the golden hour on the Thunder stage, on the first night of the inaugural Boardwalk Rock festival. This spot originally belonged to the epic Motley Crue. Health issues forced them to cancel, and the iconic Alice in Chains stepped up to the plate. As rock sagas go, health issues forced them to cancel as well, and only a week or so before the May 17, 2025, show date. There had to be a flurry of phone calls going out of the Boardwalk Rock offices until out of the rubble rose a figure that would not only replace but could potentially make you forget the cancellations.
It was with the sun setting, and casting major shadows and a bit of a haze on the stage, that the beachfront took a twisted turn into Poltergeist territory. Rob Zombie and his ghoulish crew of a band stormed the stage. It was clear this wasn’t just some last-minute performance. The towering stage props, the multi-level stage, and the band laying down the dark riffs. Zombie doesn’t walk on stage, he takes control of it.
Once the frontman of White Zombie in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Rob Zombie went solo in 1998 Hellbilly Deluxe. Over the last three decades, he’s refined his style, melting metal, B-movie flair, horror-movie visuals, and unapologetic rawness. With 8 studio albums and a parallel film career (House of 1000 Corpses, Lords of Salem), his show is as theatrical as his stage presence. He doesn’t just crash through songs; he sweeps the audience into his midnight funhouse.
Dressed in full stage regalia of studded leather duster, heavily lined eyes, and custom boots, Zombie prowled the stage like a demonic carnival barker. His voice rumbled like static through a broken speaker, snarling with aggressive confidence. Eye contact was never accidental. He has perfected his stage persona through his background as a graphic artist, filmmaker, and fan of horror movies. He doesn’t actually sing, but he more or less narrates morality tales in shifting tones of growls, whispers, and screams.
Zombie’s crew didn’t lean on screens, so they brought atmosphere. The usual large screens had graphics, but smoke cannons belched, flame jets flared, and props came and went. There was no violence…no fights. Just unity, with the massive crowd drawn together under blacklight, distortion, and the divine madness that only Zombie can conjure.
As the final riff echoed down the shoreline, the crowd was still rocking. There was no doubt that Rob Zombie was the act that Boardwalk Rock, didn’t know they needed. As the evening descended into darkness, Zombie shone even brighter, making the time together less of a concert but, and more of a ritual. For one night, the Ocean City beach belonged to the undead.
Rob Zombie Setlist at Boardwalk Rock (May 17, 2025)
- Demon Speeding
- Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
- Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a U.F.O.
- Feel So Numb
- Superbeast
- The Lords of Salem
- The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)
- More Human Than Human (White Zombie)
- Creature of the Wheel (White Zombie)
- Living Dead Girl
- Thunder Kiss ’65 (White Zombie)
- Dragula
