Rob Zombie horrifies at Download 2011

Singer returns to Donington after more than a decade away

Anna Hyams - 13 June 2011

Zombie’s entrance through the chest of a giant silver robot is a taste of the insanity to follow, as he launches into a brutal ‘Jesus Frankenstein’ and careers about the stage. Though Rob Zombie’s appearance is nearly half an hour late, the soggy crowd soon forget their grumpiness and bounce to ‘Scum of the Earth’ especially as new fans are encouraged to join in with the giant screens giving subtitles to the buzz-words, like a backwards, filthier, rock karaoke.

As well as much-loved classic ‘Living Dead Girl’, Rob managed to fit in three White Zombie tracks as a special treat for old-school fans, ‘More Human Than Human’, ‘Super-Charger Heaven’ and the Guitar Hero hit ‘Thunder Kiss 65’ all go down a storm as the crowd forgets it ever rained at all (pardon the pun).

With numerous sinister beings descending on the stage throughout, including clawing skeletons and tribal drummers, it’s hard to see this merely as a musical act. The enigmatic Zombie holds the audience captive with his thrashing and dancing about on top of the lightboxes, returning for his encore atop a set of stairs on the back of an enormous grimacing skeletal beast to perform ‘Dragula’. 

It is testament to performance that the Rob Zombie crowd are leaving the area still chanting "Zombie, Zombie, Zombie".

Linkin Park headlined the Main Stage for the final night of Download Festival 2011. To read the first review of the festival and look through all the pictures from the weekend keep checking back throughout the day at Virtual Festivals, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. 

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