First off, the Psychopathic Family are a strange bunch, and can be quite frightening to the uninitiated. This show features a few members of this extended family, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child of Twiztid. They are part of a group that also includes the Insane Clown Posse, Anybody Killa, and Zug Izland, not to mention any other relations. They wear face paint and inspire an incredible devotion from their fanbase. Where there is one of these shows, there is going to be a long line of teens with painted faces leading the waiting lines in chants of the band's names or in lines from the most popular songs. There is something else to be aware of, despite the outward, often bizarre, appearances of the legions of die hard fans, there is a great sense of family. There is rarely any real violence, everyone is a friend. It is a great environment.
That said, the crowd waiting in line to see this show was lively and enthusiastic, singing the songs, leading the chants, anxiously awaiting admission to the club. It took a good hour to get everybody in. Around 9:00pm the first act went on, and sadly, the reaction was not all that good.
The first act was a rap/rock hybrid from Albany, NY called Dead Lift. They performed an OK set. There was a decent amount of energy and it warmed the crowd up, but the music left a bit to be desired. The first thing that didn't help them was the audio mix, the vocals were up too high and the rest of the band turned down too low. Combine that with the band not having a terribly original sound and a performance that was not all that tight, and it was a long half hour. Some of it was pretty easy to groove to, but it was not all that memorable.
After the stage was cleared of Dead Lift's equipment, we were set for the next act. Wolfpac hit the stage for a raucous half hour which included masked members entering the pit and a pair of female dancers enticing the crowd and providing lapdances for fans and security members on stage. I have seen these guys once before, and I may not be the biggest fan of their brand of mayhem, they do put on a good show and are great at getting the crowd going. They played for about half an hour which saw the pit going crazy and just general maniacal atmosphere. Wolfpac is a hardcore rap group featuring 4 rappers, a DJ, a pair of guys in mask roaming around keeping the craziness going, and this team a pair of scantily clad women dancing. The rappers roamed back and forth around the stage spitting their rhymes, the two guys in masks hit each other with chairs and jumped into the pit. The girls were putting on a show of their own, amateur night at the strip club. Overall, they put on a good set, and also prepared us for the wickedness yet to come. Upon their exit from the stage, it was time for the real show to begin.
Next up was Blaze Ya Dead Homie. This was when the crowd started going absolutely berserk. Blaze took the stage by force, fog surrounding him, fans cheering him, it was a site. He tore through past songs, plus a modified version Insane Clown Posse's "Dead Body Man" before giving us some of the material from his latest release, Colton Grundy. He roamed the stage leading the crowd though a half hour of wickedness. Blaze gave way to the act we have all been waiting for.
Twiztid took to the stage around 11:20pm to an absolute roar from the crowd. Starting off with "2nd Hand Smoke" which the crowd sang along with, word for word. They played a lot of the biggest tracks like Rock the Dead, White Trash Wit Tat-2's, We Don't Die, Bagz, and Through Your Eyez. They even slowed it down for the somber Listen, spurring the crowd to spark up their lighters, bringing down the house lights, quite a sight. The only disappointing thing about their set was that it didn't even cross the hour mark, they were only onstage for about 45-50 minutes. Still, the energy brought to the stage was electric. I am not the biggest fan of hip hop or rap, especially in a live environment, it often comes across as a disappointing experience, but with these guys, they pull it off. They are an act I would recommend all of you give a shot.
In closing, I have to say that it was possibly the best of the Twiztid performances I have seen. The last time I saw them they were having a lot of technical problems with their mics. I just wish they did Mutant X. Well, maybe next time.
NOTE: Click HERE to see camera phone pics from the show.
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