ICP, (hed) p.e. throw down the Faygo at Amos’ Southend (10/13)
Living in North Carolina has its drawbacks: cops are always busting for small fries given the low crime rates, unless you live near a major city you have to make your own fun (typically illegal substances are involved), and cool events like Lolla are a thousand miles away from you. This year the Tar Heel State snagged a major headliner that I never expected, Insane Clown Posse (ICP)! The Detroit clowns claim the Bang! Pow! Boom! Tour was in part a way to bring a taste of things like Hallowicked to a nationwide audience by catering to a nationwide Juggalo fan base. According to the tour itinerary, North Carolina gets hit twice and I have now witnessed my best visit to Charlotte since Ozzfest 2007. After a half-hour being lost in downtown one-ways and debating with a hesitant and disrespectful venue staff, my photographer and I stepped into Amos’ SouthEnd and awaited the return of the Dark Carnival.
Waiting in line outside SouthEnd along Tryon St. was a bit of a low key party on its own; countless fans in clown paint and Psychopathic merchandise galore littered the sidewalk. SouthEnd being a non-smoking venue due to recent law changes had everybody outside palming the Camel Crush and Djarum Black in chain smoker fashion (me included). The party had just begun…
Act One: (hed) p.e.
The label known as Suburban Noize hoists up its own rather well; the most successful of this alumni are Kottonmouth Kings, and while due respect is given, October 13th belonged to stoner rap thrashers (hed) p.e. — and the boys did not do too bad. The majority of what we caught on stage consisted of banter from vocalist Jared Gomes as he hyped the crowd with braggart speeches about how cool his chick is to watch MMA matches with him or how screwed up it is that weed is illegal but “they’ll let you drink ’til you throw up.” Donning face paint as a sign of respect to the headliner, (hed) p.e. rocked out to anything that would get the crowd’s attention pointed at the stage.
Issues with the act onstage stemmed from distortion drowning out most of Gomes’ vocal prowess, and ruining some melody on guitar due to overpowering bass fuzz. Aside from the technical aspect the audience loved (hed) p.e. and there was no shortage of excitement amongst the family.
(hed) p.e., hot off the heels of a previous tour with Mushroomhead and an appearance at this years Gathering Of The Juggalos, showed the exhaustion such a headlong dive into touring again could wear upon any given band. The group took it like a champ, DJ Product kept to himself, scratching the night away, and a performance of “I’m Still Breathing” to close out the set and paved the way for what was to become less a concert and more a house party from hell (in a good way).
Rating: 
Act Two: Insane Clown Posse
If you look below, the first thing you will notice is the rating for ICP’s performance on October 13th is higher than that of the duo’s newest release titled Bang! Pow! Boom! – there is a significantly good reason for this. As stated before, the album was quite frankly a party record with a little less murder and mayhem than previous installments. While said album is indeed a shitload of fun for listening to, a live showing is another beast entirely. A ringmaster entered the stage to greet us with a carny spectacle, as backup “dancers” with clown masks brought out stack upon stack of Faygo cases.
The introduction was hushed by the prerecorded opening lines to “In Yo Face”, amping up a volatile audience and an anxious set of performers. Spotlights blasted on, shimmering over black plastic, which was draped about the entire venue, and lead off batter Violent J popped into view for his starting lyric before hype partner Shaggy 2 Dope entered stage left. The set was decorated like an overblown high school musical meets circus sideshow piece gone psychotic, with spinning axes, caged “freaks” (old school mainstays Ape-Man and Many Faces, otherwise two guys in Halloween costumes), two chicks in monochrome Joker make-up, and rap lyrics shouted amidst joining in from the moshing audience and showers of shaken up Faygo.
Every song from the fan favorites (”Chicken Huntin’”, “Tilt-A-Whirl”, “Dead Body Man”) to the new album’s standard plugs were given a share of the evening’s spotlight save Carnival of Carnage. The Faygo flew, the fan service never let up, and the party was constantly moving. No one in the room was having a bad night, no one missed a beat; there was crowd surfing and moshing, stomping and “whoop whoop”-ing, the signals came out and we all knew the Wicked Clowns were back for more chaos. As previously stated, this was a house party from hell — cards got stage time, a good draw even to my personal favorite record The Amazing Jeckel Brothers. Granted, were the set list containing Riddle Box’s revenge tale “Toy Box” or perhaps some Jeckel Brothers‘ “Mad Professor” the night could round out much better, but all in all this was a night to prop up some fresh tunes and still give props to old.
Coincidentally, the night of Charlotte’s tour stop was also Shaggy 2 Dope’s birthday, so we here at CoS send out a tipping of the hat (in my case, an always classy middle finger) to our favorite serial slaughtering hype star. The evening had a slew of interesting moments: a rendition of “Happy Birthday” for 2 Dope, an impersonation of Michael Jackson segueing into Bang! Pow! Boom!’s “To Catch A Predator”, buckets for Faygo breaks, stage skits meshed into a performance of “Mr. Johnson’s Head”, and a most remarkable and memorable inclusion of Jeckel Brothers classic “Fuck The World” featuring a guest appearance by Colorado’s Hatchet House rap duo Axe Murder Boyz.
The show ended with all stage hands — ICP, AMB, and (hed) p.e. — gathering on set for explosions of confetti and Faygo for the audience — a fitting finale for a party to remember. Now, I need to wash my shirt and hair before this sweat and Faygo Diet Orange makes me look like a giant peach. The only thing missing was legal weed and we’d have all been good to go.
Rating:
Photography by Sabrina Roman
hey josh and anonymous….thats TATTOOED WHITE TRASH to you! f*ckers. MMFWCL.
hey i live in jersey i went to the one inn philly that was the shit icp rocks…
palming the Camel Crush and Djarum Black in chain smoker fashion (me included). The party had just begun…
you totally had me there. lol really?
get over yourselves music snobs…if you don’t like the article skip it…if you don’t like the website…don’t read it.
I don’t even like the band but I also don’t like music snobs who hate on people constantly.
Good job COS.
this wasn’t a bad move to review this show keep an open mind I don’t understand why people think reviewing a show on a music website is a bad move…quit reading the website then if it’s so horrible to have to subject yourself to it or just skip the damn article…I personally don’t like these guys but I don’t care if people do…there are a ton of teenage music snobs on this website that only like Radiohead and Animal Collective that will give people so much heat for liking a band. Life is too short to bitch about bands you don’t like get over yourselves.
Keep up the good work COS and Alex.
Better than Daughtry, JG.
I believe “slander” was a nomenclature error on my part; what I meant to say was “ignorance”. Thanks for the support and insight, I understand that we as journalists have a reputation — and me as an individual prefer said rep to be based on credibility of broad taste (even niche markets).
And for the record, I do happen to like ICP but my idea of “best concert ever” would be The Floyd (were it a remote possibility before two members died) or Pearl Jam; meanwhile, last fall’s NIN tour was my all-time favorite to have attended.
Oh yeah ICP is such a great pull for the state of NC.
I agree with you, David, that open-mindedness is a virtue, though it’s rarely if ever achieved, especially in an Internet community. I think it’s great that you like ICP and attended their show, but the review, whether it meets CoS’s mission or not, seems out of place compared to the other articles posted each day.
Perhaps we’ve all misunderstood the CoS target audience and mission, paramount decisions in any rhetorical situation, so I’ll commend the blog for attempting to appeal to fans of all genres of music. Every news outlet makes choices as gatekeepers that delicately balance credibility, reputation, mass appeal, and revenue, and as an avid reader, I’m sure CoS has its priorities straight.
There’s nothing close to slander in posting an educated assumption or complaint of content that in no way attacks another’s credibility.
also, ICP is just white trash. sorry
whats even worse about this review is that you gave it 4 and half stars. i bet this is like your shit dude, like the best concert ever. im sorry for you.
ICP is fucking white trash
That wasn’t questioning content, that was further igniting needless banter over something you speak badly of and yet cannot stop discussing.
For the record, if you intend to sling statistics around please list your references — otherwise it is tantamount to slander. This article is the very definition of the CoS reputation:
to cover all music indiscriminately.
If you don’t like ICP then that is perfectly fine; to not care about other peoples’ opinions that differ from your own (whether you agree or not) is closed-minded.
why aren’t there daily links for Miley Cyrus, Brad Paisley, or Jonas Brothers?>>>
Well, we do tend to run those occasionally, too. But, our motto is: if it’s music-related, anything’s game.
I don’t think it’s flaming to question the content on a Web site building its ethos in the music blog community. ICP is, in the opinion of 99% of your readership, god awful, and thus it is a questionable move to allow this type of review to be posted.
It was really odd to see Slipknot on here in the past, but wow, ICP? I think it’s great that you have your favorites, so it’s cool that you enjoyed the show. But CoS really has to think about who its target audience is.
Sure, I’m all for freedom of expression and entertainment, but if that’s the only common denominator needed for content on this Web site, why aren’t there daily links for Miley Cyrus, Brad Paisley, or Jonas Brothers?
Music doesn’t absolutely need to be introspective, sometimes one simply wants to be entertained. Insane Clown Posse entertains its fans, hence the point with said concert review. I don’t like R. Kelly or the direction he’s gone in for years, but I still think today’s definition of R&B has its share of powerhouse performers — Rihanna and Usher being two.
I do not endorse “hatred” and nor does ICP — they endorse open-mindedness, family, and all around having a good time. A lot of the disdain some of you claim to have was slung at rapper Eminem at one point (i.e., GLAAD), but let it be known that no big fights broke out at this concert and Eminem managed to dole out some pretty deep stuff at his peak despite the controversy.
I can so see that horrifying “hatred” you speak of — my my, the blood littered the floor. I swear, sometimes I wonder how many people really get off on overreacting about ICP.
And they say us fans need to grow up; did anyone teach you flamers* manners at all?
*FLAMER - a hyperactive, immature internet “surfer” with little else on the schedule aside from inciting irrational one-way discussions with shallow and volatile weblog commentary.
please stop with the ICP.
thanks.
yes shaggy 2 dope and violent jay are well how do i put this terrible mc’s and i’m surprised they get so much attention around here but who cares. they went to the show and wrote a review. what a crime!!! i must say i think big money hustlers or hustlas, i’m not sure how they spelt the title, was pretty funny. bring big baby his money! bring big baby his money!
I love how most of these concertgoers in the photos have shaved heads. Just a thought.
@moses1221
i guess being 23 you’ve now matured. lolz!
We treat this band no differently than any other. If it warrants a favorable review, then so be it. But I wouldn’t refer to this as a “bad move.”
mind*
gotta agree, I visit COS about five times daily and this is a bad move for the COS staff to endorse hate-rap slingers ICP. I listened to them alot in the 6th grade on the school bus ( “The Great Milenko) and realized as a 7th grader that this shit was terrible. This was a point mine you, where Blink 182 and limp bizket were my favorite bands.
Now I am 23 and things have changed. Instruments and intelligent introspective lyrics matter… grow up with us. Immortal Technique yes, ICP god no…
Is everyone named Alex these days?
Wow, you must really not like ICP.
what the fuck? why is this website posting this trash ass music. ICP is not real music. I will probably never read COS ever again because of this nor recommend it to anyone else.