So, Twiztid. Another Psychopathic Records artist I absolutely adore, and was rediculously excited to see and photograph all week because they always put on such a GREAT show, and they crack jokes between songs and pick on the crowd. Their guest line up was great, Blaze and a group I've never heard of but actually kind of like called MIC Lords. Now, the downside of the show? They packed a ton of Juggalos in the basement. That's right, I had to shoot the basement, again, and was not overly thrilled about it. The music sounded pretty good this time, minus the fact that the MIC Lords were having, well, mic issues. The lighting however, not so great, again. Whether Psychopathic brings their own side stage lighting or the Rave supplied it downstairs (it's the same star lighting I see at every Psychopathic show) I'm not sure, but it definately helped a little. Too bad there was no front or top lighting though, it would have made things that much better.
Anyway, yes we all know the Rave lighting sucks, so I'll get on with it.
I think there may have been one band before Mic Lords, we got there a bit late, so I can't tell you what I thought of them unfortunatly. But Mic Lords were great! Long haired grunge guys that bring freshness to the rap-rock game these guys hit the stage running, no really, they were moving around quite a bit, working the crowd and making it exceedingly difficult for me to grab a stop action shot, but that's ok, I like an active show! I ran into the singer after the show and shared a card, he appreciated the praise for a good job done and tried to sell me his CD. I've got to find these guys online because I didn't have any money for a CD. He's got a cool name to go with that long hair; he introduced himself as Allergy. :)
Blaze Ya Dead Homie. What can I say about Blaze? This guy never fails to impress me and every show is better than the last. He came out with hypeman J10 and they rocked the stage. An interactive duo Blaze and J10 throw lyrics back and forth, taunt each otehr endlessly and work the crowd into a frenzy everytime I see them. He opened the show with his regular line up and closed singing to the ladies.
I finally realized something at this show though. Well two somethings. First, which is actually the second thing I thought of, Blaze is losing some weight, which is great. Second, which is the first thing I thought of; That clock that's hanging around his neck is filled with pictures of him through the ages. I tried to get a decent photo of just the clock, but it moves so much and the light was so low that I just couldn't catch it. One of these days I'll get a Mark II and that baby is all mine! Thanks for hitting it big Blaze, and I can't wait to see you with ABK next year!
Finally Twiztid. Now I've got something to get off my chest before I tell you about the stellar performance I saw. Normally, the Rave lets you shoot 3 songs from each set before security kicks you out of the photo pit. So naturally I went to the stage during they hit the stage right? Get a good angle on the guys coming out of the curtain. Well I get up there and the music starts and security informs me that they are being yelled at for letting me in the pit for more than two songs for the last two artists. Now if you're saying "wait a second" and looking back to the top of the paragraph, let me save you the trouble. I typed that in right, this show I could only shoot two songs, not three. I'm supurbly happy that I got good shots of Blaze because the lights turned on and I was standing there irritated that I could only shoot two songs. Why? you might be asking. Because Twiztid came out and sang HahahaHa as their opener; so they used low purple lights, smoke and strobe for 5 minutes. So here I was trying to time my shots with the strobe when it wasn't hitting regularly or with the tempo of the song, I was screwed. I did manage to get some killer shots off of the steady blue light when Madrox stepped into it, so for that, whoever said I could only be there for two songs, thank you. For whoever it was that said only two songs, you officially suck.
Now, the Twiztid show, after I got out of the pit and enjoyed the show a bit, was nothing less than awsome. It never is. I was slightly disappointed that they waited until the end of the show to mess with the crowd, as we left a little early when things started getting pretty rough (my cameras are a tad expensive) so we missed a really funny stand up, though someone did record it on their phone and post it on Faygo lovers so we got to see it anyway. But, Blaze was on stage for a bit and sang with them, which was great, and they hit almost all of my favorites. It was great to see people singing the Heartbreak and Homicide songs they performed as well being that the CD got quite a bit of negative feedback from the media and juggalos alike. Me? I loved that CD! There isn't a song on it that I don't like. I noticed a similar thing in Madrox as Blaze, you're getting slim man! Way to go guys!
That's about it folks, enjoy! :)
