Twiztid's Abominationz Tour, Atlanta, GA

Friday, November 9th, 2012
Twiztid, hed(PE), Potluck
The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
$27

November 9th marked the third time I have made a trip to Atlanta to go to a live Twiztid show. It's about a 4 hour drive for me, and I always end up thinking that it's well worth the effort to get to their shows, despite the drive, the gas money and the hotel costs. I was particularly excited to catch this show since Abominationz had just been released and I wanted to hear their amazing new stuff live. My friend Krissi ended up going to this show with me as well, which was awesome since I go to so many shows alone these days! It was great to have someone to talk to in the car and hang out with!

When we arrived for the show around 7:30pm (after some rough Atlanta traffic...but what's new there) and had to park in a little lot about a block away from the venue since apparently something is being built in their old lot.


Odd hand stamps being given out at the door

Once inside, we both grabbed drinks and I headed up to the stage to see how close I could get. I missed the local opener Maverick the Ace, but was just in time to catch Potluck go onstage.

To be honest, I'm not that familiar with Potluck's music, though I did end up meeting them at the 2011 Gathering. Their set was really fun, and UnderRated did an awesome job with his fast rapping! I really enjoyed their set, and the crowd showed them a lot of love, repeatedly chanting FAM-UH-LY with them.









Once they were done, it was time for Lil Wyte. So at last year's Hopsin show in Nashville, Lil Wyte showed his ass something terrible to the Nashville Juggalos, so I wasn't happy at all to have to sit through his set. I didn't want to leave my spot since I was so close to the front, so I just stood there and flipped him off for his entire set. I didn't even dignify him with any photos since he's not worthy to be on my blog again. He didn't seem to get as good of a reception as he probably wanted, which I was fine with.

Thankfully, Lil Wyte soon left the stage and it was time for hed(PE)! I'm a big hed(PE) fan, so I was super excited to see them opening for Twiztid! The first time I saw them was at the Gathering this year where they played at the outdoor Freakshow stage, so I was also excited to see them in a small venue. When they took the stage, the crowd chanted their name and they were all smiles at the warm reception they got. Their set was awesome, and there were plenty of times when the crowd was bouncing enough to feel that familiar Masquerade floor bounce!















During Amerikan Beauty, he held the microphone out to the girl in front of me during the female part, and she sang the entire part back to him! She was so excited! I really love and respect hed(PE)'s music, and I think they are great at what they do. I could stand to do without the religious commentary at their shows, but besides that, I love their live shows and this one definitely didn't disappoint.

When it was finally time for Twiztid, the crowd compressed and the chanting started again. One fabulous thing about Atlanta Juggalos is that they seem to be pretty well mannered, and they don't go too overboard on the alcohol. No one likes for people to be drunk and belligerent, and thankfully that has never been an issue at any of the Atlanta shows I've been to. Everyone always seems to be happy and friendly, which is yet another reason that I don't mind making the drive there.

Soon, all the lights went out, and the speaking intro of Bad Side came on, followed by Madrox and Monoxide slinking their way out from behind the backstage curtain. But once they began to sing, they came out full force and never let up through the whole set. Where I was standing was off to the left of center, which was a perfect spot since they constantly swap sides through the set. One of them was almost always standing directly in front of me, which made for GREAT photos!

They sang a great mix of their best older songs as well as quite a few from Abominationz. Of course they sang Bagz, First Day Out and They Told Me, which seem to be favorites of theirs for live performance. But we also heard Triple Threat, Bella Morte, Krossroads Inn and Diemuthafuckadie among many others. And from Abominationz, they sang exactly the four that I would have expected...Bad Side, This is Your Anthem, Rep That Wicked and Lift Me Up...a great selection, though they couldn't have gone wrong with any of the songs from the album, IMO.






























Probably my favorite shot of the year, right there!!















One song that I particularly loved was Murder Murder Murder. During Monoxide's part where he says "Again and again, and now she's screaming like I care," the beat dropped out and it was just him yelling into the mic and making stabbing motions at the ground. It was so intense and graphic, and the lack of sound aside from his voice just intensified that.



Monoxide looked absolutely maniacal at a lot of points, and his eyes and smile just looked possessed by the music. They are both such incredible performers, and bring intensity like that every single time they're onstage.

As the main part of the set wound to a close, they sang LDLHA-IBCSYWA and brought all of the VIPs onstage for a while. At the end of the song, all the VIPs were escorted off and Madrox and Monoxide went out to the barricade and started giving some daps and handshakes. Madrox ended up on my side of the stage and stepped out toward the crowd right in front of me! He slapped my hand, then paused for a few seconds, and everyone started to touch his arms or stomach as he stood there.



So I ended up with a quick picture of my hand touching Madrox on the stomach haha Once they went back onstage, they did their normal little comedy routine, with the funniest part being accusing Prince of having "little man syndrome" haha.






Madrox shows what you'd have to do to look Prince in the eye

They ended their time on stage by bowing to everyone who had attended, then heading backstage.

Once the show was over, I caught back up with Krissi and we headed outside. As we stood around chatting with a couple of local friends, I spotted Madrox pop out the side of the venue and head towards his bus. But then he stopped as a few people approached him and started to sign autographs. So Krissi and I very quickly decided to run over to him and see if we could greet him as well. He was obviously trying to go as quickly as he could so he could get to everyone in the area, so I just got my ticket signed, and asked if I could snap a quick photo with him. How awesome!!


Me with Madrox!


My signed concert ticket

They are definitely not known for hanging around and chilling with fam after their shows, so it was a fantastic, unexpected little treat to get to meet him for a moment. One guy was even so excited that he ran back toward his friends screaming "Oh my God! Guys! I just HUGGED MADROX!!!" It was too funny! After a few more moments, he ducked back inside his bus, and Krissi and I decided to head back to the hotel for the evening.

Once again, as I walked back to the car, I felt like every dollar I'd spent to get to that show was completely worth it! Gas, hotel, tickets, meals...totally worth it when the show you're going to see is THAT good! Twiztid are true showmen, and are so incredibly talented in both live performance and album production. Basically...Twiztid is the muthafuckin' shit :-) If you have the opportunity to get to a show on the Abominationz tour, do it! You definitely won't be disappointed! Whoop whoop!

Stevie Stone's Rollin' Stone Tour

Friday, October 19th, 2012
Stevie Stone, Zombie Spaide Ripper, P.R.E.A.C.H.
Nashville Center Stage
$25

It's always great to hear that Strange Music is making it's way back to Nashville, so when Stevie Stone announced a show in Nashville, I certainly wanted to get out and show my support for him. After having seen him at the Nashville Hostile Takeover stop back in July, I knew that the show was gonna be great, and I'm always up for hanging out with my fam. The venue was one that I had never been to, so I was also excited to check out this new-to-me venue.

I arrived at the venue a little after 9:00pm, since that was when the doors were supposed to open. I'd gotten in touch with Stevie on Twitter a couple of days in advance and offered him some Faygo cupcakes, and he'd agreed! The security guards initially gave me some hassle since I hadn't bought a VIP pass, but eventually the promoter for the show came outside and let me in so I could deliver them.

Stevie was there doing a sound check, and he immediately came down to greet me. He gave me a big hug and was so friendly and happy to get the cupcakes! haha He also briefly mentioned that Prozak and his crew had shared some of the ones I'd brought to them back in July, which was so awesome! He also ended up taking a photo of the cupcakes and tweeting it, just like Prozak had :-) On my way out, he gave me another big hug and thank you, then went back to continue with the sound check. Boy, Strange really has some nice gentlemen working for them :-)


Me and Stevie with the cupcakes

I got a wristband on the way out, and took my big tote bag back to the carn. When I got back, they were only letting in people who had purchased the VIP passes, and were allowing them to have some time inside before the doors opened for general admission. So I passed the time by chatting with the people around me in line. When I got up to the security check and they looked in my purse, they made me take out my pill bottle and pour it out. It was clearly only filled with Advil, Tylenol, Aleve and some cough pills, but they wouldn't let me bring it in! So I had to walk it all the way back to my car (which was parked across the street at the Cannery Ballroom...probably a quarter mile walk). When I got back, I had to wait in the security line but eventually I was able to go inside. For the moment, the party seemed to be on the outdoor smoking patio, so I met up with a bunch of my homies and we hung around there until the show started.

Honestly, so many people came and went across the stage through the course of the night that I wasn't able to catch everyone's names. Some went on when I was outside, and others I just never heard them say their name. But I did my best to get photos of everyone, and I ended up catching at least a little of each set.



The first guy (whose name I didn't catch), was pretty entertaining, and really loved that the crowd was having so much fun. At one point, he said "This shit's like a T-Bone to a dog, and I'm loving every inch of this steak" haha.



The next group to play was locals Monster Squad (AKA Project Assassins). They're a very entertaining group, and have opened for ABK in the past when he's been through town.



Next up was Yung Staxxx, who is also a local performer. This was the first time I'd seen him, and he did a great job. Toward the end of his set, he called P.R.E.A.C.H. up on stage to do a song with him, which was great. P.R.E.A.C.H. gets a lot of love in Nashville, so that song brought in a lot of people from the patio to take the set out with a bang. Afterward, I mainly hung around the patio for a while, so I missed the next couple of acts.

When it was time for P.R.E.A.C.H.'s set, almost the whole patio emptied and came back inside to watch. I've seen P.R.E.A.C.H. twice before...once opening for ABK, and most recently opening for the Hostile Takeover show...and he's been fantastic both times. This time was certainly no exception, and he wowed the crowd with his quick, powerful rhymes.









P.R.E.A.C.H. has such expressive eyes, and you can really tell when he's angry, or happy, or intense. He did a great job of pulling everyone in and getting them hyped for the rest of the show. Here's hoping that we'll see bigger things out of P.R.E.A.C.H. in the future.

So there we all were...venue full, everyone hyped for a great show, ready for Stevie Stone. Then, this random dude came onstage.



He sounded awful, and everyone just kind of looked at each other wondering if he was serious or a joke. But he proceeded to sing three whole songs, so apparently it wasn't a joke. He threw out a few t-shirts, the first of which I almost caught, but the guy next to me ended up getting it. Well, once the guy threw out another t-shirt and the same guy caught it, he gave it to me. I was excited because I thought maybe it was a Strange shirt or something, but it was just a shirt from that dude's label. He also started to throw some CDs into the crowd, but people actually dodged them instead of trying to catch them hahaha There was also one other random dude who performed after that guy, whose name I didn't catch.

I was camped out up front at this point, and it was already after 1:30am. Some of the people I'd been hanging out with had left since they had to work the next morning, but I was going to tough it out. The next act was Zombie Spaide Ripper, who had two guys with him who all came out in silver masks to start their set. They ended up being very entertaining, with very choreographed and almost robotic synchronized movements. They also made good use of lighting to make things seem more dramatic about their performance.







They were pretty entertaining, but given how late it was getting, I was just ready for some Stevie Stone!

By about quarter til 2:00am, it was finally time for the main event. Unfortunately for Stevie, the venue had emptied out quite a bit due to the show being so late, but the people that were there were excited and ready for a good show. When he was finally announced, he came onstage with lots of flashing lights and a large puff of artificial smoke filling the stage...a much grander entrance than most people I've seen recently! He started off the set with his newest single "Momentum," which was high energy and had him dancing all over the stage!













After that, he went directly into 808 Bendin', which is another great song, which made the crowd go wild. I love the way he moves and jumps around the stage during 808 Bendin'...that was one of the main things that drew my attention to him during the Hostile Takeover show I went to. The way that he moves and the stage presence that he has makes him very unique in my option, and very entertaining. Later in the set came Get Buck, where you could feel him feeding off the energy of the crowd, and it showed in the performance.



Toward the end, he grabbed a stool and sat down, bringing the energy down briefly for My Remedy, and sang with his eyes closed through most of the beginning of the song.

At the end of the set, he bid the crowd a farewell, but fairly quickly came out to his merch booth to greet people. I hung around with some friends, and once the crowd cleared a bit, we all got him to sign some posters for us. He was very friendly with everyone, and seemed genuinely glad that we'd all had a great time. And then at the lovely time of ten minutes til 3:00am, we all made our way out of the venue and headed for home.


Look who swiped a Zombie Spaide Ripper sign!

I had a blast at this show, and was glad to see that Nashville has another great venue that's open to this type of show. It was nice to see a good mix of local artists as well as nationally touring acts. The crowd that he drew was very diverse, and everyone seemed to have a great time. I guess that's what happens when you're STRANGE!