Freaks on Parade brought a stacked night of industrial, metal and shock rock to Toronto’s RBC Amphitheatre on September 1st, with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie sharing co-headlining duties. The lineup also gave fans plenty to take in before either headliner arrived, with Los Angeles rockers Orgy and Mongolian folk-metal band The Hu setting the stage for two of the biggest names in the genre.
Orgy opened the night with a short six-song set that sparked the fuse. The Los Angeles band moved between older favourites like “Gender,” “Fiction (Dreams in Digital)” and “Stitches” and newer material including “Suckerface” and “Dangerous Lyfe.” Fans report online that there seemed to be some technical difficulties that struck early in the set that might’ve affected the progress of the performance but Orgy still managed to put on a show. It was a quick reminder of their place in the late-’90s and early-2000s industrial-rock scene, even if their abbreviated appearance left plenty of room for more. Either way, the set was short and sweet, and surely left fans wanting more.
The Hu followed with one of the more unexpected shifts of the night, bringing their Mongolian folk-metal sound to the RBC stage. Looking like they were ready for war and armed with traditional instruments from their homeland, they quite literally and figuratively marched to the beat of their own drums. This combination of their unique musical weapons, towering throat singing, and heavy-toned riffs stood out against the rest of the lineup, with songs like Yuve Yuve Yu, Wolf Totem and This Is Mongol giving the crowd a taste of the band’s international breakthrough. Sparking the stage with the fire in their eyes, and souls unapologetically laid bare through their music, it was a strong change of pace before the night moved into its two headlining sets.
Marilyn Manson took the stage next with a set that leaned heavily into the material that established him as one of industrial rock’s most recognizable figures. Creepy and haunting intro music pierced through the venue like ghosts squeezing between all of the fans that waited for the black curtain in front of them to drop. When it did, it reveal a set backed by three neon Lorraine crosses with the middle one having a colossal hooded statue behind it. Arms raised, Marilyn Manson opened the show with Exit Wound which represented his newest era off the bat, before the set jumped through Mechanical Animals, Holy Wood, Antichrist Superstar and The Golden Age of Grotesque to the satisfaction of fans. It was like a scenic tour through the Manson discography that made sure to hit all of the best spots and every stop hits just as hard like it did back then. Great Big White World had the crowd create a sea of cellphone lights but making sure to flex those biceps throughout the set, “The God of F*ck” worked through his other hard-hitters as well like This Is The New Sh*t, The Nobodies, Tourniquet and The Dope Show. All of which were natural highlights, but Tourniquet was definitely a sight to see with Manson being raised up higher than the statue behind him to appear like he’s wearing a black two-storey dress. With what looked like a handheld floodlight in hand, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was introduced as a bedtime story for the Toronto crowd, it brought the set’s biggest singalong with Manson’s visceral vocals adding so much to the emotion and feeling of this legendary Eurythmics track like it has for more than 20 years now.
Manson’s set continued to build toward a strong finish, with mOBSCENE and The Beautiful People closing out a run packed with fan favourites – including a bowler hat and his signature captain hat for each track respectively. The latter was an obvious highlight, giving the crowd one last chance to sing along to one of his most popular tracks. With the set balancing newer material like Exit Wound and Front Toward Enemy against songs spanning his late-’90s and early-2000s catalogue, Manson offered a compact look at the different eras of his career. His appearance also came during a new chapter for the singer, following the release of One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 in August 2026 just a month before.
Rob Zombie then took over with the larger, more theatrical spectacle. To try and sum it up in one sentence: the stage setup had him preaching from a giant industrial, skull-faced, “Zombie”-labeled podium sandwiched by two inflatable winged demons with glowing eyes that with his bandmates fronted by mic stands with a crucified Jesus on each one. It was definitely like jumping into an acid-fuelled Zombie flick especially with the green and purple lighting that flashed across the stage and the crowd – just absolute madness.
Looking like an undead scarecrow, Zombie opened with F.T.W. 84, Tarantula and then Heathen Days later on in the set from 2026’s The Great Satan before coming down to stage-level and growling straight into Superbeast. Those sweet chords throughout the intro just do not get old at all. From there, he moved freely across his solo career and White Zombie catalogue, landing punch after punch. The Triumph of King Freak brought in material from The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, while Scum of the Earth, Living Dead Girl and Feel So Numb reached back to the early years of his solo career. Complete with what looked like coloured blasts of flame around the band, Well, Everybody’s F*cking in a U.F.O. is always a fun party starter and took things forward to 2016 while More Human Than Human and Thunder Kiss ’65 gave the White Zombie era its due. It was like being in a crazy time machine with Rob Zombie at the helm who just can’t help travelling forward and back over and over again.
Zombie’s set was full of memorable moments, particularly when Sheri Moon Zombie appeared onstage during the intro to House of 1000 Corpses who had the entire venue clapping to the groove and the spook of the guitar-driven theme. The audience also joined in for a quick O Canada to Rob Zombie’s delight, before the show took an unexpected turn as Marilyn Manson returned to the stage for a joint cover of The Beatles’ Helter Skelter. It was a fitting crossover for a co-headlining tour built around two artists whose careers have long revolved around a specific flavour of theatricality and shock rock. Not every stop of the tour had the pair perform this cover and so diehard fans were definitely grateful to witness it. Zombie then returned for Dragula, bringing the night to a close with arguably his biggest solo anthem.
Taken together, Freaks on Parade was a celebration of two artists with decades of history behind them, but whose live shows still revolve around the songs that made them famous. Fans know what to expect and there’s no way they won’t come back for more every time this duo joins forces. Manson’s darker, jam-packed performance and Zombie’s larger-than-life production offered two distinct takes on industrial and shock rock, while Orgy and The Hu added variety to the lineup. Between the catalogue-spanning sets, the hair-raising Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) singalong, the shared Helter Skelter performance right before the closing blast of Dragula, Toronto can’t complain about nicely curated sets built around both nostalgia and the present, but for sure, plenty of tunes that simply stand the test of time.
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