Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper’s ‘Freak’ show coming Aug. 25 to the X in St. Paul

The famously macabre rock vets will be joined by openers Ministry and Filter.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 29, 2024 at 5:05PM
Alice Cooper performs at Xcel Energy Center Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014.
Alice Cooper also performed at Xcel Energy Center in 2014. (Dml - Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Two of rock’s most beloved ghoulish characters, Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper, will perform together at Xcel Energy Center on Aug. 25 with two noteworthy opening bands, Ministry and Filter.

Zombie and Cooper began their so-called Freaks on Parade Tour last year as co-headliners, and the trek was a big enough hit to continue into 2024. Each is known for theatrical, horror-movie-inspired live shows to go along with their cinematic hard rock. Cooper pioneered the format in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and then Zombie furthered it in the ‘90s with his old band White Zombie before actually becoming a director of horror movies in the ‘00s.

Tickets for the Sunday night show in St. Paul go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster at prices not yet revealed, with presale options beginning Tuesday.

The St. Paul show is sandwiched between dates in Lincoln, Neb., on Aug. 24, and Milwaukee on Aug. 26. Xcel Center is on the same site as Cooper’s legendary/notorious, tear-gas-plagued St. Paul Civic Center concert in 1978, which the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer not so fondly recalled in a 2013 interview with the Star Tribune.

“It was truly horrible,” he recalled. “Afterward, we printed up T-shirts for the whole crew that read, ‘I survived St. Paul.’”

about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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