Stryknyn and a riot gear guy keep the pit going. Photo by Get Hashly Photography.
It was bittersweet arriving at Tremont Music Hall on Oct. 23. On the one hand it was familiar to pull up at 2:30 p.m. to a large crowd with lots of colored hair and painted faces that had already been there for hours. On the other hand it was sad knowing that Twiztid‘s Fright Fest event (part of the band’s Welcome to the Underground tour) would be a farewell of sorts to this historic venue, which will soon be closing.
But enough of the sappy stuff. Let’s get to the fun. First up at this showcase of underground horrorcore and hip-hop was a local trio that I cannot remember anything about. This may be poor journalism on my part, but these guys simply failed to make any impression on me at all. Next up was another local F. Dux (pronounced “Dukes”), whose set was relatively short but extremely hyped. It was highlighted by a song called “Machete,” and F. Dux had a strong presence that got the crowd moving. Next up was Trilogy, an act that seemed to keep the crowd hyped despite its lack of familiarity, which is a major accomplishment in my book.
Then it was time for the more established underground acts, starting with Scum. These guys are veterans of the underground hip-hop scene that have a lot of energy, but not a lot of showmanship. As good as Scum was, its performance was eclipsed by the next act: Wolfpac!
Wolfpac’s sexy dancers. Photo by Get Hashley Photography.
Wolfpac has the total package of live entertainment because there’s no way the audience can’t pay attention when these guys are on the stage. The main vocals came from hyphen Daddy Long Legs and Buddha, who were backed by sexy girls dressed in tiny school girl outfits dancing on poles. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a team of guys dressed in riot gear who’s only job was to get the crowd moving. This was also the start of my favorite part of being in any crowd: the mosh pit! Myself and the riot guys got things started and kept the pit hot through the duration of the set. Wolfpac’s set was highlighted by the songs “Let Me Hit It,” “Square Peg Round Hole” and “Death Becomes Her,” a rather fun song about necrophilia. “The Hitchcock of Hip-Hop” Prozak is always good at maintaining a high level of energy that translates well to the audience. Following Wolfpac, he probably made a few new fans at Fright Fest.
Boondox was the first of the three main Juggalo acts. The first thing you have to understand about Juggalos is that the artists have a gimmick or character they portray. Boondox’s gimmick is somewhat of a wicked scarecrow. Boondox delivered a high-energy set with signature songs such as “Seven,” “Freak Bitch” and “Death of a Hater,” finishing strong with “Monster”. Remember that thing I said about gimmicks? Next up was Blaze Ya Dead Homie, whose character is an undead gangster who was killed in the ’90s and resurrected. Blaze has several songs about things such as being buried and decaying like “Grave Ain’t No Place” and ” Maggot Face,” but has other ones that are just fun like “Walk It Out”. This was the point in the evening when more people started to crowd surf rather than mosh. Blaze was entertaining, as always, with a lot of crowd interaction and having the audience sing the hooks of the songs. After all that it was finally time Twiztid!
Twizted headlined the final Juggalo show at Tremont. Photo by Stryknyn.
The demented duo of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child, Twiztid has long since come into its own since its days as protégés of the Insane Clown Posse and now was the time to once again show off these skills. Twiztid has always been different from other Juggalo acts in one major sense – despite the faceprint and theatrics, neither lyrically or in its performances has Twizted relied on any sort of gimmick.
Twizid’s set was filled with crowd favorites like “They Told Me,” “We Don’t Die” and ” Sex, Drugs, Money and Murder,” as well as some unusual songs such as “Hom-Sha-Bom” and “Fall Apart”. One thing that has become a Twisted signature is elongated talking between clusters of songs. The fun part is that no one minds because Madrox and Monoxide are hilarious to just listen to talk about nothing. Sadly there was never a point during this set where there was any good pit action. Everyone in the back was just pushing to the front, the front pushed back and so forth. There were quite a few crowd surfers, though. The set ended with “LDLHA-IBCSYWA” (Love Don’t Live Here Anymore-It’s Been Cold Since You Went Away), an odd choice as a closer that proved to be powerful and amazing. The spoke for a few minutes and thanked the audience for their support to conclude the final Juggalo performance at Tremont.
