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!

Twiztid and KMK fire up the ATL

Friday, May 4th, 2012
Twiztid, Kottonmouth Kings, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Big B
The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
$28

Ever since I made it to my first (and only, besides the Gathering) Twiztid show back in November of 2010, I've been longing to make it to another one of their shows. They were fantastic in a small venue, and while I really loved their Gathering performance as well, I was eager to see them in a more intimate setting again.

For a brief moment at the beginning of the year, I thought that Twiztid was going to be playing at a venue just outside of Nashville due to a cryptic Facebook status by the venue, but that apparently fell through. But later, when an Atlanta date was announced, I knew that it was time to make another trip to the ATL! And what's even better is that they were touring with the KOTTONMOUTH KINGS!!! During the Gathering, my pathological liar of an ex-boyfriend caused me to miss almost their entire set, despite them being one of the main acts that I wanted to see. So I was extra, super excited to get to see them as well!

On the day, I slept in and was on my way to Atlanta by about 10:30am. After checking into my hotel (the same one as last time, but wow, had it gone downhill), I got showered, got dressed and did my hair and makeup. I grabbed some McDonald's for dinner on the way out, and didn't get stopped by traffic until I was within about 3 blocks of the venue. On the way in, a guy merged in front of me, then someone in the back seat hung out the window and flashed a wicked clown sign at me...haha awesome!


TwiztEd

Once I made my way inside, the first thing I noticed was how the venue was already really full of people. And the second thing I noticed was that it was FREAKING HOT inside. Since there were so many people there, I staked out a spot on the left side of the stage, and was about 5 people back from the stage at that point. Before the lights even went out, everyone around me was complaining about how badly they were sweating!

Once the lights went out, the first performer was Big B. Oh my...



...why did no one ever tell me that Big B was exactly "my type"??



I'd heard some of his music but somehow had never seen a photo or video of him. Note to self - seek this out, cuz he's very nice to look at. Aside from all that, I thought his performance was great, and everyone showed him a lot of love.

I find it so very unfortunate that, amid all the excitement about seeing Twiztid and KMK, the fact that Blaze was performing tonight as well didn't get as much attention as it deserved! I LOVE Blaze, and I think his live performances are great!



When he came out, he did almost all of my favorites, including Riding the Whip, Escape Artist, Dub Sack and Damn Bitch (which got shortened to only one verse...MAN I wish the guys from KMK would have surprised us and came out to sing their verses!!).


Blaze up!






Once again, hundreds of sweaty Juggalos throw their arms in the air for Escape Artist

As always, his performance was awesome. Blaze is exceptional at making eye contact with people all throughout the crowd, and eventhough I was at least three people back from the stage, he still managed to pinpoint me and look me in the eyes a couple of times.

After Blaze, the crowd started to push forward and compact, and I ended up sandwiched behind a large, soft guy, and a girl about my size. And it was SO HOT...my hair was soaked, I was sweating through my clothes, and this girl in front of me in a tank top actually had sweat rolling all down her back and arms. Ewww haha. But at least no one had BO. Thank heavens for small blessings, huh? :-)



When it was finally time for KMK to perform, their entrance was grand and amazing! They came out full force and immediately the crowd was going insane with excitement. After a minute or so of being onstage, D-Loc took a face-first dive into the crowd right on top of me! So I ended up being one of the people to help push him back onstage! Their performance was non-stop energy and action, and the crowd never seemed to lose their excitement.



The KMK performance was truly amazing! They always stayed right up at the edge of the stage, and were constantly moving around so everyone got a good view of everything.





















The performance actually went on for so long that it seemed like its own headlining performance, and not one of someone opening for another act. At one point, the girl in front of me got kicked in the head VERY hard by a crowd surfer. So hard in fact that she looked like she was going to pass out, though she refused to leave her spot so she could sit down. And at a couple of points, the crowd was so rowdy that the entire floor of the venue was bouncing! That's just a little bit concerning seeing as how we were on the second floor!

After KMK had been on stage for over an hour, I was really starting to get wiped out from the heat, the excitement and the standing. At one point, one of the guys told the crowd to move to the right, then back to the left, and that was when it really started to hit me. I was feeling just a little too faint to continue standing there sandwiched between so many people in the sweltering heat. So I ended up retreating back to the bar area and getting a bottle of water.


I know that there's a little corner of heaven that looks just like this

KMK continued on for another three or four songs, which really amazed me. Those guys are beasts! They were going at full throttle for well over an hour and didn't even look winded! haha Their performance was fantastic, and it alone made the entire trip worth it. Once they were done, it was surprising to see how many people cleared out of the venue and didn't even stay for Twiztid. I watched maybe 150-200 people just stream out the door. At this point, I caught up with some homies from Nashville who I hadn't been able to spot before the show started. But we couldn't linger long because Twiztid was on their way to the stage.

My friends stayed back a little bit, but I wanted to head back toward the front and get as close as I could. I ended up to the left again, but was a good 20 or 25 feet back from the stage. I had a good view, but I didn't get the quality of pictures I would have liked since I was so far back (and because so many people continuously held their cameras in the air to record the show). Twiztid are such amazingly talented guys, so it was awesome to be seeing them again!



Much like last time, they seemed to concentrate on their older Mostasteless/Freek Show stuff, as well as stuff from W.I.C.K.E.D. I really wished that I had been able to stick it out with my close spot, but the benefit of being back further was that I had more room to move around and get into the music. Since I was more comfortable, at some point I just got lost in the music and the time seemed to fly by. When they were done, it seemed like the set had been really short, but I don't think it was. It was clearly shorter than the really long KMK set, but it was easily an average set length.









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Blaze came back out onstage during Triple Threat


OMG look at his face! I wish I remembered what Monoxide was doing to cause this reaction!

At the end of the set, just like last time, they hung around the stage and talked to the audience, which of course turned into improv comedy after a few moments! Madrox is freaking hilarious, and it was funny to watch Monoxide just sort of stand there and laugh at Madrox at times. He told some joke about a woman being so gross that her face smelled like a fish patty, and used the phrase "a bitch with tartar sauce in her mustache" which made the whole crowd laugh hysterically. I LOVE these guys. It just made me that much more excited to catch their seminar again at the Gathering this year!

Once the show was over and the venue started to clear out, I caught up with my Nashville homies again and we all walked out together. My hotel was just a quick drive away, though I did stop for a fruit punch on the way back since I still felt so dehydrated!

This show was a fantastic experience, and worth every penny I spent to get there. It was really like two shows in one...you had an amazing, full KMK show with Blaze as an opener...then almost as a bonus, you had an awesome Twiztid show afterward! Even with as much as I love Twiztid, I must say that KMK really owned this show. So eventhough I was upset when I missed their set at the Gathering, it was pretty awesome to have my first experience with them be in a smaller venue where I was so close.

Overall, the show was really amazing, and an experience that I hope to have again, sooner than later.