Читать книгу Delivered From Evil - Anthony Greve - Страница 7

Zombie

I’ll never forget my first concert. It was life-changing. The only concert I had seen up to this point was REO Speedwagon, and that was from a distance. It was an outdoor show, and I wasn’t inside the actual venue. My dad and I watched from the other side of a park fence where we were hanging out. The first show I attended was White Zombie and the Ramones at the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, Michigan. I first heard of White Zombie on MTV. I would always walk to school in the mornings, which was about a mile hike, but I would spend about a half hour watching MTV before leaving. That way, I could get caught up on the latest music and music videos. This was back when MTV played music, before the era of reality television.

When the music video for “More Human than Human” by White Zombie came on, it immediately had my attention. This was radical, and unlike anything I had ever seen. It was dark, yet it was seductive and attractive. It was dirty and grimy, yet it was appealing. I fell in love with the band. I wanted to be Rob Zombie. I would practice imitating him. I wanted more Zombie! Each morning I waited in anticipation for the video to come on so I could watch it again.

One day, my dad and I were cruising in the car when an ad came on the radio, “White Zombie, LIVE, at the L.C. Walker Arena!” The advertisement with the Zombie music in the background had my heart pounding in my chest. Not sure what my dad would say, I didn’t say anything to him about wanting to go to the concert. However, I knew that I could not miss it. He was getting ready to drop me off at my mother’s house, so I figured I would talk to her about it. My chances of getting the okay from my mom were much higher. My mother agreed to purchase the tickets under the condition that my dad would take me to the concert. Please keep in mind, my parents had no idea who White Zombie was. All they knew was that I was beyond excited about it. Looking back at all the concerts I’ve been to over the years, I figure I must have a hundred ticket stubs in an envelope somewhere. This concert would be the first of many. It would be the first of many that I would attend. And then there would be the many where I would play. Concerts became a way that our family would bond. Over the years, my parents and I saw everyone from Black Sabbath and Aerosmith to Kiss. The list of bands we saw goes on and on. If there was a show in town, we didn’t miss it!

I was only in the sixth grade when my dad and I attended the White Zombie concert. I don’t think either of us knew what to expect or what we were really in for. I remember waiting in line outside of the arena. It was February and freezing out. I made sure that we left super early because I wanted to be right up front. I didn’t want to miss a thing.

We arrived at the venue several hours before showtime. We were the first ones in line, which ensured that we would get a good spot. At one point, my dad ran across the street to get us some hot chocolate so we could warm up. Once people started arriving and getting in line behind us, I could see a look of concern come across my dad’s face that said, “What have we got ourselves into?” Inside the arena, we grabbed a seat up in the bleachers. I remember seeing a couple of kids on the stadium floor playing Hacky Sack. One of them had a yellow Mohawk and wore a sleeveless maroon t-shirt that said Korn on the back of it. A couple of guys sitting behind us also saw the shirt and began discussing this new band that was on the rise. Korn had just started breaking onto the scene at that time and was blowing up quickly. Years later, Head from Korn would come into a relationship with Jesus Christ and write a book titled, Save Me From Myself. His story and book became a great inspiration to me. It was one of the tools that God used to give me the strength that I needed when the time came for me to leave the music industry.

I also noticed a smell in the atmosphere of the arena. I liked it and would smell it at rock shows for years to come. I didn’t realize what the smell was at that time, but I would later discover that the smell was the combination of alcohol and weed. The show hadn’t started yet, and we decided we wanted to be closer. We moved from the bleachers to the floor. The show was general admission. Not only did we move to the floor, but we got right up against the rail. Three guys directly behind us were concerned for us. Apparently, they could tell that we weren’t avid concert goers. One of them said, “Listen, when these lights go down, you aren’t going to want to be on the floor, let alone up against the rail. It’s going to get crazy down here.” One of the guys proceeded to tell us how he had been injured from being up front at a Metallica concert. The weight of the crowd pressing against him caused several of his ribs to break against the guardrail.

Neither my dad nor I understood how it could be that bad, so we decided to take our chances. Still, it was kind of them to look out for us. They said that they’d do what they could to hold the crowd back once the show started. The security guard directly in front of us made sure to let us know that if it got too bad and we wanted out, all we had to do was signal him, and he’d pull us right out of there. Then, suddenly, the lights went down. The first act, The Supersuckers, took the stage. It instantly felt like we were in a storm and being tossed around by the waves. People were crowd surfing directly over our heads. The security guards would catch them once they got to the rail.

The three men behind us couldn’t hold the crowd back any longer, and I wanted to get out of there. I signaled to the security guard to pull me out. When they pulled me out, I had to walk to the end of the aisle between the stage and the railing where the security guard stood. Once down there, I waited for my dad, but he didn’t come out. Minutes later, they pulled him out as well, but I had already exited into the crowd. At this point, I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. It was a scary scene and situation to say the least. As I helplessly stood off to the side of the crowd, a man bent down and asked, “Hey little guy, who are you here with?” I told him that I was with my dad, but we had gotten separated. He picked me up and put me on his shoulders, and I watched most of The Supersuckers’ set from that vantage point.

After twenty or thirty minutes, he set me down and told me he had to go. He advised me to stay out of the crowd and off to the side where I’d be alright. He then proceeded to take off into the crowd, where I imagine he got involved in a mosh pit. I began to look up in the bleachers and finally spotted my dad. He saw me and began waving his arms. I ran right up to him. From there, we sat and watched the rest of the show.

The second act to take the stage was the Ramones, with all the original members. At the time, I had absolutely no idea who they were. They were different. I could tell by the response of the crowd that they were a popular band. They were only one of the greatest punk bands ever to walk the face of the earth, if not the greatest. We waited in anticipation of the main act. Suddenly, the lights went down once again, and you could sense a complete change in the atmosphere. There was such anticipation for Zombie. Their introduction built the hype as, one by one, the band members took the stage. It was dark, but there was enough lighting to see the set up. The place erupted. The background of the stage looked like an old pirate ship. Once the band kicked in and the vocals started, Rob came out. There he was. I was staring at Rob Zombie. It was a powerful concert! The show was so good that even my dad enjoyed it. I couldn’t believe that I had just seen White Zombie. By the time the show was over, I had officially made up my mind. This is what I was going to do for the rest of my life.