I grew up with a grandmother who collected clowns. Clown paintings, porcelaine clowns, stuffed clowns, clown sweaters and, well, you get the idea. Ironically, I was kind of afraid of clowns as a kid. Even more ironically, I fell in love with the Insane Clown Posse (ICP) when I was 12; much to the dismay of my now all-things-Psychopathic converted father. Half my lifetime later (that's 12 years for those of you keeping up) the Insane Clown Posse has come a long way. Psychopathic Records currently has 5 additional artists and 2 super group compilations of those artists and proudly totes them along on tours like Hallowicked. I proudly tote these artists around in and on my car, which is why when I was given the oportunity to shoot ICP at The Rave for yet another much anticipated Hallowicked-not to mention the first stop on the 4 day mini-tour ending in J and Shaggy's hometown of Detroit-I was more than thrilled, I was downright gut-wrentchingly, hand shaking, distroughtly nervous! Then I stumbled upon Boondox's Twitter account and saw that it was finally confirmed he was going to be there and my head spun. This was it, I was going to break into concert photography and I was going to do it with a group I have been a fan of for literally half of my life.
So what did I do? Research, oh man did I do research. You see, I'd never done this before. Sure, I understood the concept, fans of my work might recall all the multi-color, low-light experimenting I did before graduation and the rather beautiful results I got, but to do that with a moving subject and in limited space, with limited time? It seemed impossible. Man was a wrong, and I'm getting to that, hang on guys I want to share just a little more. After-all, this is my very first blog post, you want to know how I got going right? I took other photographers advice and tips to the heart and began searching for my second much needed piece of advice, protection for my gear. If you've never been to an ICP concert let me give you two tips. First, bring a change of clothes. Second, wear something dark. Now this is the reason you need protection for your gear, in the first 5 minutes of the show I counted 24 bottles of Faygo gone, by the time another 10 minutes had passed I couldn't find a dry spot on my shirt to wipe off my UV filter to keep shooting. And, I had to leave the pit because my Saran-wrapped lens was so covered in Faygo that I had lost my first rubberband holding the now soaked wrap in place under my rain jacket and could barely get another on. The rain jacket (plastic shaped for the camera) and Saran wrap idea-by the way-gets a HUGE thank you to whoevers page I got it off of. I looked at so many that I can't even remember them all anymore.
That behind us, I was dressed in my favorite Juggalette shirt, some super comfy jeans and my blue Hatchet man shoes with my new concert wallet (I lost the other one somewhere between my last KoRn show and the last time I saw Boondox) stocked with industrial ear-plugs (thanks Dad!) so I could hear at work the next day, gum, and my ID and headed out the door. Now, unfortunately work schedules conflicted and we got there almost an hour into the show, so I can't tell you what I thought about Axe Murder Boyz OR the Dayton Family. But when I got there I must say that the girlie behind the glass that gave me my photo pass was very helpful and increadibly friendly, which made me really happy since the girl I talked to 2 nights earlier was anything but. We went in, through merch which was already backed up way too far to even bother looking at that current moment, and found an awsome side-stage spot. The thing I love about the Rave is that they have those balcony pillars built in on the ground floor. No one ever wants to stand by them because they seem like they would be hard to see around and there is a lot of traffic there going in and out of the bar. But let me share this secret with you (and if you use it you better save me 2 spots next time) if you stand in front of that pillar on the entrance side, you can see EVERYTHING and, you don't get squished. It was there that I ran into a fellow concert photographer and had to share part two of my advice above. Poor girl had no idea what she was getting herself into. It was also just about time for Boondox to go on. Keep reading, because here is where it gets good. Here is why I stayed up until a God-awful time in the morning protecting my camera and keeping my boyfriend awake on the ride home.
Boondox entered the stage in the middle through his curtain, and I about passed out. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those crazy people that screams whenever I see a celebrity, I've met plenty of bands/artists, chilled, taken photos with them etc. I just couldn't believe I was taking photos of Boondox, at the foot of the stage and he was acknowledging my existance for the moment while I captured who he is as a performer. For me, that was thrilling. That's something that I've dreamed about since I went to my first concert ever. (BTW that was a far cry from an ICP concert, but I'm not going to share that little secret with you just yet) He worked the crowd, gave his heart and soul to his performance, totally rocked me out of my socks and kept me interested. Some people think that rappers of all sorts put on boring shows because they don't do much, but let me tell you, Boondox posed, he bounced around and he kept his crowd engaged.
I was a little surprised after Boodox was over and ABK came out that ABK played what seemed like such a short set. Now ABK for me is the complete opposite of Boondox on stage. I like ABK, I'm not going to go so far as to say I totally love his music, but I get him, I respect him. However, I don't think he puts on much of a show. He paced a bit, threw out to the crowd a time or two but over-all, other than the 2 rather stellar shots of him that I got, I don't really remember much of the show. Sorry ABK, next year at the Gathering I promise I'll come watch you spin.
Then the black curtain went up and mics were being checked, things were being slid around, everyone got a peek of a Faygo case and went nuts and I was ushered in by the bouncers. ICP was about to go on. When they finally drew back the curtains I have to say I was a little disappointed. In the back was Mike E Clark with a set-up between roughly carved sphinx's and behind that were carved stone sledges. What happened to the spook-tacular set-ups? Maybe I was just a little too close to appreciate it, we'll see next year. But what I wasn't disappointed in by a long shot was the show. So, all things aside, let's get down to the grind. Shaggy looked good. The last time I saw him he looked a little wore out. Of course these guys have been MIA for the last few weeks with rumors of jail time and rescheduled dates for their Old Shit tour, so maybe he's just well-rested, but either way he was totally ready to perform.
They opened the show in a blaze of color and every aspect, right down to the black and white striped mics was nothing less than perfection as far as an ICP show goes. "My Axe" made for an amazing photo opportunity with hatchets held high in a stream of red and white light and screaming chants from the Juggalos. Overall I'd say that my favorite part of ICP's set had to have been J singing in blue cloud-filled light that was SO hard to photograph but was so eerily beautiful. Then of course it was followed by dozens more buckets of Faygo, some more confetti and some more much needed feathers, you know, because we were all so sticky already that we just NEEDED those feathers! Now, ICP's lyrics may not be for everyone, some things are a little vulgar even for me. But there is something so wonderful about hearing all the Juggalos singing along, throwing up their horns and watching a group so entranced by the love their fans give them. Songs like "Boogie Woogie Wu" and "F*CK the World" might turn some people away, but ICP's fans know and love them for it, and they sing every word right along with them much louder than I've ever experienced at any other show.
I got out of there sometime before the finale, being that my gear wasn't 100% Faygo proof anymore and bought my Hallowicked shirt. ICP makes pretty good zombies and I'll be sporting that sometime in the very near future. I watched the finale from the back and reminiced on the days that I used to spend in the front of every show I attended. But that's ok, because this time, I got some great shots AND enjoyed yet another brilliant concert and I will be back for more.
Check out the fan-page for the full load of photos from this show! Search Samara Mae Photographics on Facebook.
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