Rob Zombie at The Wiltern… Yeeeah!

by chris cunningham

I rode the bus to concert. Damn right. Proud of it. Why not spend $1.25 instead of $10 for parking. Anyway, Matt and I texted back and forth to coordinate where he was sitting so I could meet up with him. After Lacuna Coil was finished the lights came up and I was able to find him. Really that’s the beauty of the text page at a concert. You can’t really speak on a phone so sending messages is perfect. I didn’t really dig Lacuna Coil so I was just sitting in the lounge area and people watching until Rob was ready to go on.

Rob Zombie’s funny. Remember that hilarious Billy Squier video Rock Me Tonight? The one where he’s dancing all fey and apeshit around the room? That’s Rob Zombie on stage! Kinda a goofy way about him. He wasn’t even wearing big black boots. They looked like Converse AllStars. What’s going on?!? Rob Zombie is actuallly Billy Squier! That’s cool Billy, I dig your new direction then.

So Rob comes out and does new stuff, old stuff, inbetween stuff. Between you and me I was there for Dragula. Just play that one damn song and I’ll go home happy. Oh, and Astrocreep. Maybe Devilman too. Yeah, that would be good. He delivered. Giant puppets came out and walked around the stage with their arms falling about. Kinda like the big Eddie at an Iron Maiden concert. Then in a really cool awkward moment, Rob started berating the security for bullying some people. The show came to a screetching halt and it got all weird and political. The poor security was standing right below Rob while having to act like they’re not getting verbally assaulted by the very person who’s paying their nights wage. Yea for awkward concert moments!! I think we ended up getting ripped off a few songs because Rob was too busy talking and they ran out of stage time.

After the show Matt wanted to grab a bite to eat so we stopped and ate at some place called Young Dong. Yeah, I know. That takes the prize for unfortunate restaurant names. I’m afraid to even Google that to see if they have a website. But even if the food was crappy (which it was), we would now be able to say we had some Young Dong for dinner. So after a show at the Wiltern don’t forget to get yourself some Young Dong. They’re right there around the corner waiting on Wilshire. All the Young Dong you desire. I can say with certainty that after trying Young Dong it’s really not my thing.