My friends and I went out last night to see Snoop Dogg in Cincinnati. It was a small venue, tickets were $40 (plus convenience charges... that is a post for a different day), and we were all excited at seeing the Doggfather in a more 'intimate' setting. So, let me lay the night out for you...

Doors open 7pm, show starts 8pm. That's what the ticket said. Unfortunately, that was not the case...

I saw an itinerary once we were all inside, that said Snoop was not due out until 11pm, after something called The Movie and The Constellations. Nothing happened until 8:40pm, when The Movie showed the making of Snoop's latest album, Malice-N-Wonderland. Apparently, whoever organized and set this up, thought it would be a good idea to show a bunch of drunk people a making of Snoop's latest and shittiest album. No shit... I paid money to see... a fucking movie??? I could of seen this on my couch, only if I had gotten it for free before going to bed on a week night. It also reminded that Snoop has gotten someone like Soulja Boy to be on his albums nowadays.

That horrible decision lasted about 45 minutes, and then the crowd was treated to a band called The Constellations. Not only were they a shitty live band, the sound sucked, and the singer was indistinguishable. I couldn't hear the keyboardist, and there was one guy who was up there pretending to play a guitar. They were booed, outside of mentioning Snoop's name for a cheer.

11 came and gone. My friends and I were so upset and disappointed up to this point, we wanted to leave, however, No Re-entry means you stay or leave for good. At 11:30pm, Snoop finally made an appearance and put on a good show. He played classics from his long catalog, and when he was there, suddenly, I forgot the rest of the night. Not only that, if I was not mistaken (or too drunk that is), I believe Tha Dogg Pound, Soopafly, and Hi-Tek (Cincy baby!) were all live too. That is, until I realized that he only played for under an hour, ending just before 12:30am. An hour. I just saw Jay-Z, and the show lasted 2+ hours, complete with openers J. Cole and NERD.

To sum this up, money was spent to watch a dumb making of movie that was cued up from a DVD player, a shitty band that nearly ruined the show, and an extremely short set from the main act. That equals a waste of money. I will not pay to see him again, and is only worth it as part of a festival. With as many albums and hits as he has, 2 hours should be no problem. I know his attempts at following up Doggystyle have fell short, but cmon, who passes up Snoop Dogg? I know I will next time, I learned my lesson. Highly disappointing.

That's not all, but apparently this has happened a lot on his tour from reading reviews online.

I know this happens. My friend waited until 1am one night to Wale, and when he showed, he only played for 30 minutes. Wale lost a fan that night.

Is this excessive? Should I have been prepared to wait that long? Does this happen and I just was not previously aware?

Add on, let's discuss...

Especially big names, many acts give half assed performances after ridiculous waits. There are some acts worth seeing, but I have been disappointed one too many times.

However, all of the hip hop shows prior to this one, I've never had a problem. I've seen Jay-Z and Kid Cudi within the past few monthes, and neither of them had issues of this kind.

which is why it's mostly a crap shoot to decide what time you really wanna walk in.

My brother made that mistake when we went to Up in Smoke. We strolled in about an hour after it started and missed Ice Cube.

I didn't mind because I had already seen him during his hungry days (Amerikka's Most/Kill at Will)

for a roots show, if they say show starts at 8, get yo ass to the front row by 7:59. LOL.
___

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http://tinyurl.com/liberators2 - anarchy in two dimensions

so a LONG time ago (i remember they were handing out fliers for to attend the million man march) me and my two boys go to a concert at the LA sports arena everyone was on the ticket Wu tang, Biggie, Ice cube and a whole lot of other people hosted by Ice T. my friends and i were about 15 pretty young but we roll and get good floor seats

the way the seats were lined up were an entire floor section facing the stage and two other floor sections on both sides of the main section facing the center section. well we are sitting there having a good time but we had a bunch of crips sitting behind us throwing up their sets and talking shit to a bunch of bloods on the side section. my boys and i move to the upper floor and no less than 10 minutes later chairs start flying, fucking riot patrol comes in and it takes about 30-45 minutes to clear up and then cube starts his set and tears it up and performs the song from friday, can't really remember the name but talks about throw yours sets in the air and once again chairs and bodies start flying LOL

helicopters, cops on horses,

FYI

not sure if the story made sense but i am a bit buzzed

1st time i got bounced 2nd time they hooked it up w some gatorade and let me watch stageside

n/m

i've only walked out of one show before it was over. Raekwon showed up in San Fran around the time Immobilarity dropped and after about 20 minutes I just bounced... Poor sound, too many people with microphones, plus Rae just wasn't captivating as an MC, live at least... I also remember seeing Deltron 3030 around the same time and not being impressed. I'm not a big Del fan so that had something to not be caught up in the show.

But by and large, I've had positive experiences at live shows. I can't complain much, I suppose.

When I was a kid, probably about 7 or 8, dad took me to a Texas concert. Anyway, it was pissing down rain and us and about five other people showed up and it was postponed until the next night, which we couldn't go to.

I don't have any other horrible experiences, but I saw The xx a couple of weeks ago and was hit on by three people. Not one of them had a vagina so it was a little uncomfortable. The xx were great though, a couple of people had told me that they were shit live, so I guess they got them on a bad night (or I got them on a good one).

In fact, that was another time I saw Snoop, although he was touring with Jay-Z and 50 Cent at the time for the Roc the Mic tour. There were not issues with tardiness, however it was the worst rain storm I've ever seen, and my boys and I were standing in it.

Your other experience? I know just how uncomfortable that can be, but never at a concert though.

Kno came out in the crowd, grabbed me and made me jump up and down with him, but I was in no way prepared to be moving and all my shit went flying out of my hoodie - phone, iPod Touch, wallet - I got the wallet and the phone back, but the iPod Touch was lost for good and I didn't realize it until an hour and a couple drinks later. It was freezing outside and I was wandering all over the streets and bar, praying I'd spot it somewhere. After about an hour of drunk searching I gave up and moved onto CD-Rs in the whip, and even REAL CDs, but it doesn't feel the same.

I've burned something like 20 MP3 CDs for myself since the incident, roughly like two per week, and I'm just wasting my resources and I start disliking the discs almost as soon as I burn them. I need to have that massive library shuffling like a crazy radio and updating every time I hook it up with new music!

I was also holding a Guinness draft in a glass at the time, and it splashed all over the girl next to me and her purse. It was a bad look on Kno's part, but I suppose I shouldn't have been so close to the stage if I wasn't ready to get down? IDK.

~~~~~~~~~

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http://www.last.fm/user/NodimaChee

But not with bad results. There were like ten people seeing them in Herndon, VA and i was hyped. I had drunk all day at the Skins V Browns game so was pretty lit. They start doing hellfire and i am jumping my as aeound like a half beat off (i'm white) and i feel someone grab my beer and i turn around cocked and ready to swing. Know looks at me like chill i was just making sure you didnt spill. Me, him and Deacon proceed to do the chorus again im half a beat off (i'm white). Come to think of this this was one of my favorite shows, felt like it was put on just for me. Sorry to take this post the exact opposite direction.

But still, dude, out $300? like that? .........


~~~~~~~~~

http://potholesinmyblog.com/

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Nodima/run_that_shit__nodimas_hip_hop_handbook

http://www.last.fm/user/NodimaChee

With the live band at Highline?

a few years ago.

it was him, big daddy kane, preem, guru, chuck d and a few others.

niggas was supposed to be on at 9pm. didn't come on until 12:30.

it was a tuesday night and everyone was like, uh ....we gotta go to work in the morning.

i'll never do another hip hop show, ever again.

THe crowd was annoying as expected but then george clinton had his gradchildren rapping and shit. it was just not a fun experience.

Dude was SOOOO fucking high. Mumblin' like Mushmouth, staggering all over the stage. Never again.

this was a show at the universal amphitehatre in LA about 10 years ago.

It was the worst, "i can scream louder than you", mass hysteria with dozens of people on stage with undistguishable "rapping" mess I have ever seen.

My ears litterally hurt and I still want that time of my life back.

>this was a show at the universal amphitehatre in LA about 10
>years ago.
>
>It was the worst, "i can scream louder than you", mass
>hysteria with dozens of people on stage with undistguishable
>"rapping" mess I have ever seen.
>
>My ears litterally hurt and I still want that time of my life
>back.

>

I saw Goodie open for The Roots/Fugees in 1995. Touring for Soul Food/DYWM?!/The Score respectively. Everybody killed shit but the Goodie show stuck with me more than anyone elses set and they played the shortest by far. This was my first time seening any of these acts so it was before I knew Malik B wasn't going to be there and their show was going to be classic hip hop 101. As soon as I realized what I was getting I became the biggest Roots fan in the world. They opened that show with Guillotines and the only "Roots" songs they did were Proceed and Swept Away. The evolution of that band has been amazing.

but ive seen brother ali twice, once with atmosphere and once as him as the head liner. He puts on a great show, but his sets were wayy too short. i didnt mind as much when he was with atmosphere but hte 2nd time on the fresh air tour was a little disappointing. but still like i said no bad shows really.

Hella awkward feeling that night, lol. The only people in the arena were my sisters & I, and maybe 3 other people. I do give them props for trying to "rip" it with so few people there, but it was weird for us, trying to occupy our time. I don't even think they finished their show, they just left like, "aight, we see you're not feelin it, and we're embarrassing ourselves, g'night."

taking the stage 3 hours late for a haiti benefit show. Then doing some boring ass, holier than though shit. Left 15 minutes into Mos' set. I had work in the morning! If it wasn't a benefit show I woulda tried to get my money back.

The one shining moment was supernatural showing up unannounced, and well doing what supernat does best.

>taking the stage 3 hours late for a haiti benefit show. Then
>doing some boring ass, holier than though shit. Left 15
>minutes into Mos' set. I had work in the morning! If it
>wasn't a benefit show I woulda tried to get my money back.
>
>The one shining moment was supernatural showing up
>unannounced, and well doing what supernat does best.

drove all the way from uc santa cruz to uc Davis to catch his show. Show was supposed to start at 10, he comes out at 12:15 or so. The poor promoter kept coming up to the stage and explaining to the crowd that he's running late but will be there. Crowd starting going hard at ol girl after the first hour passed, throwing shit, slurs, etc.

He finally comes out, everybody is already tired because there was no where to sit and we're standing up in a packed room.

Except for Ms Fat Booty, he doesn't do any rapping at all. The set was all stuff from The New Danger

"FUCK MOS DEF....."
In response to Reply # 0
taking the stage 3 hours late for a haiti benefit show. Then doing some boring ass, holier than though shit. Left 15 minutes into Mos' set. I had work in the morning! If it wasn't a benefit show I woulda tried to get my money back.

The one shining moment was supernatural showing up unannounced, and well doing what supernat does best.

man i saw him in philly last week and was impressed...he was on his shit that night (it helped to have slick rick come out half way thought)

he even addressed the situation in chicago a couple weeks ago or whenever it was...basically saying he shouldnt be held accountable for the fake doom ruining the night and his intention is never to fraud anyone

I can honestly list a quality four:

Jay-Z
Kanye
The Roots
Atmosphere

and I mean I've seen Wayne, Nas, Eminem, 50 Cent etc. Rap shows blow. Overall they blow.

I would have said Comm or Mos a few years ago but Comm's new music is so wack & Mos is so flightly that either one of them is probably a coin-flip situation nowadays.

I agree with three of the names you listed though, I'll refrain from co-signing Atmosphere because I've never seen him & don't really know his catalog that well.

I own albums by both 50 & Wayne but I would never spend a penny on seeing either of them live.

>I agree with three of the names you listed though, I'll
>refrain from co-signing Atmosphere because I've never seen him
>& don't really know his catalog that well.

Ant (producer/dj) and Slug (mc). I know what you're saying, it just bugs me every time somebody calls them "him" lol.

talk about a fuckin show dude.

Everytime i have seen them they do about half the set with Ant and Slug and than they bring out the band. I have never seen Atmosphere without Ant.

even umc sounds good live with him performing it. i hate the album, but enjoyed his show tremendously, even with umc being 60% of it.

______________________________________________________________
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/soulsupreme

It's a cold world and niggas need summer © Common

Granted i dont like BE and am not huge on finding forever so listening to a bunch of fucks chant for Go is not my cop of tea. He is much better with a band or at least some kind of instrumentation. His breath control is hit or miss.

I saw him twice, once for when The Renaissance was suppose to come out 07 and the other time when it actually did come out 08. Both times were with a live band and they killed it. The 2nd time he headlined (The first he opened for Common) and defiantly went a lot harder, for his last song he literally went into the crowd with the mic, and tried to get every single person to sing the chorus into the mic. It went on for a good 15 minutes and was one of the most amazing thing I've seen a performer do.

The Roots
Brother Ali
Sage Francis
Atmosphere
Cypress Hill
Mr. Lif
Akrobatik
Aesop Rock
El-P
Jurassic 5
Boots Riley
Wu-Tang (hit or miss though)
Jedi Mind Tricks
Supernatural
De La Soul....

That's what I have off the top of my head right now

I guess it depends on the time and place

I just saw de la a couple weeks ago and they were excellent. My only complaint was the set was a little on the short side.

When did you see de la? I have heard nothing but good things from the people i know who have seen them.

I have seen Wu twice. Once was great the other not so much (sound issues with all them dudes yelling on the mics). Even when wu is not that great sounding live, I still enjoy the spectacle.

>When did you see de la? I have heard nothing but good things
>from the people i know who have seen them.

-I've seen them a couple of times. once in the late '90s at Salem State (MA) and again at a club show in Providence, '01 or '02

both times the sets were real short
the second time they seemed liked they'd rather be somewhere else.
very uninspired performance

>I have seen Wu twice. Once was great the other not so much
>(sound issues with all them dudes yelling on the mics). Even
>when wu is not that great sounding live, I still enjoy the
>spectacle.

-yes, exactly. it's a spectacle. I love Wu more than some men love their mothers, but the few times I've seen them live they've been awful.

___

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http://tinyurl.com/liberators2 - anarchy in two dimensions

.

>Boots Riley
>

but it is your opinion after all.

unless you've got HITS, that "me and my DJ" shit can be really tiresome. Starts to look/sound like karaoke after a while.

The Roots, Little Brother, and Jay-Z all put on killer shows.

Common, Talib, Jurassic 5, Obie Trice, Blackalicious, Kid Cudi, and others have put on good shows too.

.

Mos Def has been hit or miss for me. I've seen him twice. Always gets on really late.

Kanye West was incredible at the Glow In The Dark Tour w/ N*E*R*D

N*E*R*D was equally dope live.

I know she's not considered hip-hop, but Erykah Badu is always great live also.

Oh yeah, if you haven't been to a Flying Lotus show put that on the bucket list ASAP!

______________________________________________________________
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It's a cold world and niggas need summer © Common

I have no idea why people still do this.

There is no way a hip-hop headliner is coming on before 11/11:30 in any scenario, especially on a weekend.

Call the box-office the night of to see when the act is actually scheduled to come on & how many opening acts are on the list, then plan to arrive at least a half-hour to an hour after whenever they tell you.

There is no excuse otherwise.

This is why I showed up to the KRS show at The Roxy on Sunset at 11:45 on Friday night, got to see what I paid to see onstage within fifteen minutes of entering the building while saving myself the extra time & cash on inflated drink prices.

I mean an hour or so late okay, that's fine. But 3 hours late, is bullshit especially when there is no opening act. I have been to PLENTY of hip-hop shows that start at a reasonable time.

Fuck blaming a fan for showing up on time.

on at 8 o'clock at night, it's pretty easy to avoid this situation.

I understand. Part of the problem ends up being people EXPECTING artists to go on late.

It's positive feedback. Artist is usually late, so people expect this and then show up late. Artist doesn't want to go on with no crowd, so has to wait for the people to show up. This then feeds itself and gets worse and worse.

you just gotta adapt & figure out a way to make the best use of your time prior.

It obviously makes it tough to go see stuff in the middle of a work week because things wrap so late, then again I generally don't go out to clubs during the week anyway.

It would have to be a pretty strong act that I've never seen before to get me out on a Tuesday or Wednesday night.

>you just gotta adapt & figure out a way to make the best use
>of your time prior.

My only problem is, I get this feeling every time that "WHAT IF THE ARTIST DOES START ON TIME." Am I gonna be the asshole showing up late, missing half the show. So I show up a "little" late, and inevitable wait around, which usually isn't so bad if i'm with a group of friends and there is a bar at the venue.

This "what if" feeling is especially strong when I'm going to a venue I'm not familiar with or seeing an act I have never seen before.

Case in point. I saw De la two weeks ago at Yoshi's in SF. Had dinner at Yoshi's before hand, was running a bit late, waiter assured us the show was gonna start about 20 minutes late, when we walked into the club area, De La had already started, and it was only 15 minutes after the start time. I was amazed, but I guess Yoshi's runs a tight ship.

prior is my move, that way if you don't get an honest answer from whoever answers at the box office, you can do a flyby to see what's happening inside.

I guess it's much easier to accomplish this when you're in a spot like the Sunset Strip where there's tons of other options within a block or two radius.

>prior is my move, that way if you don't get an honest answer
>from whoever answers at the box office, you can do a flyby to
>see what's happening inside.

How do you know what an "honest" answer is?

>I guess it's much easier to accomplish this when you're in a
>spot like the Sunset Strip where there's tons of other options
>within a block or two radius.

I just moved to SF in july, so most of the venues I go to have plenty of places to go to for killing time. I think I will start using your strategy. I'm seeing Orgone at the boom boom room this weekend, and have never been to the venue, so I think saturday will be a perfect time to test this method out.

And showing a movie is just stupid, plain and simple.

at these club shows I'd definitely rather watch a flick though.

But I'll be in a bar next door until it gets close to the time the MC I'm paying for is hitting the stage.

comes to mind in terms of reputable MCs with a worse show would probably be Jeru.

Del's pretty awful also.

he was on stage for like 45 minutes, and it wasn't at a festival. he was headlining a small show, i think it was at the house of blues hollywood

he just put on a lazy performance. he rapped for half an hour, told his DJ to start playing his instrumentals. didn't even rhyme over them or nothing. then it looked like he got bored and he just bounces off stage

the whole place was booing him as he left, which really says something

>he was on stage for like 45 minutes, and it wasn't at a
>festival. he was headlining a small show, i think it was at
>the house of blues hollywood
>
>he just put on a lazy performance. he rapped for half an hour,
>told his DJ to start playing his instrumentals. didn't even
>rhyme over them or nothing. then it looked like he got bored
>and he just bounces off stage
>
>the whole place was booing him as he left, which really says
>something

I win free tickets to see him, this is late '90s/early '00s - when he just got big. I'm not all that hype about going, but the lady friend is. We get there on time. It's a reggae show, so there's about two dozen opening acts. No worries.
Sean Paul shows up 90 MINUTES LATE.
I don't mean the doors opened at 9 and he got there at 10:30.
I mean he was supposed to start performing 90 MINUTES AGO.
They had opening acts going back out for another set.
They had, for lack of a better phrase "jump dancers", cats who apparently specialize in jumping four, five feet in the air and then breakdancing.
The jump dancers were on for 30 MINUTES.
Sean Paul FINALLY shows up.
His band do the fastest setup and soundcheck I've ever seen (he had a three or four piece band with him - drums, guitar, bass, keys).
Sean Paul takes the stage. He gives no apology or explanation for being late. He doesn't thank the crowd for staying (he was the only name on the bill really worth seeing).
Then he does a less than 45 minute set.
Less than 45 minutes.
BUT IT GETS BETTER! He and his band are packed, back on the bus and on the highway before we can get out of the venue. This was verified by HALF OF THE CROWD SEEING HIS BUS ON I-95, VISIBLE FROM THE VENUE!!!
I come to expect "Urban music performer time-frame" whenever I go to a show. That's fine. But this was wholly unacceptable.
I will never support Sean Paul. As a performer, as "musician", as an entertainer. I will never buy a Sean Paul album/song. I will never purchase an album/song that FEATURES Sean Paul, I will never DOWNLOAD an album/song. I will never watch a music video, starring or featuring him. I will not support whatever humanitarian efforts he may endorse. I will not support him as a human being.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

It blows my mind, in this day and age, how artists can manage to do this to the people that are there supporting them.

This story is like that courtesy wave you want another driver to give you for letting in your lane, but it just doesn't happen.

Not on some "courtesy" shit.
On some "HOMIE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!"
The opening act went on longer than him.
This happened, damn, I guess it's been a while now.
But I still do not support him.
I wouldn't even play his songs during DJ sets, and I would DJ some reggae/dancehall type jams.
I had friends who wanted Beyonce's CD for xmas - didn't get it from The Wordman, it's got that one song on there featuring Sean Paul.
Artists don't have to cater hand-to-foot to the fans, but this was just unreal.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

I forgot to bring earplugs though and this turned out to be a mistake of epic proportions. I was expecting it to be loud, but this was just a whole new kind of ridiculous.

First of all, i like to be able to actually hear what's being played, even if it's corny music like Satriani. All the notes were indistinguishable from eachother, everything just disintegrated into a wall of ear-splitting noise. All i could make out was the fact that music was in fact being played. For all i know, it was the best shit ever, but i wouldn't know because i couldn't hear it.

But the worst part is that he kept playing these stupidly long, piercing feedback notes. This was just pure sadism on his part. During these moments/lifetimes, i actually felt electric shocks going through my brain. I'm not even kidding, i saw flashes and everything. It was total sensory overload and for a moment, i was absolutely sure my head was going to explode like the dude in Scanners. I'm honestly surprised it didn't happen and how people in the front didn't spontaneously combust puzzles me to this very day.

Not a single person in the audience enjoyed this feedback shit, which was pretty evident as even his most loyal fans had their fingers in their ears. I mean EVERYBODY had their fingers in their ears, even the people who did bring earplugs. Several people looked like they were screaming in agony, although i'm merely speculating based on the look of terror on their faces and the fact that they had their mouth open, because no mere mortal could have been heard in there. But none of this stopped him from doing it FIVE FUCKING TIMES. What an asshole. This wasn't music, this was auditory torture.

I was pretty much deaf for 4 days. After the show i didn't just hear a ringing sound; there was also a buzz, a rattle, a clank, a zoom, a hum and a chirp. Imagine a refridgerator powered by a supercharged V8, mounted inside your skull. Pretty annoying, but still, i can't complain because this sounded much better than Joe Fucking Satriani and his feedback.

tl;dr - Fuck Joe Satriani.

I would have thought he'd be amazing...good to know though

i was there with a friend who had seen him before and according to him, the sound at that show was good. Perhaps he didn't have time for a proper soundcheck or something.

I'm sure that if the sound was good, i would have had a great time because even though i don't really like Satriani's music, it certainly was an energetic performance. He's a charismatic guy with amazing chops and a strong stage presence. I've been at shows of guitar virtuosos whose music i don't particularly enjoy, which i still loved due to the good showmanship and the fact that virtuosity is so much more impressive to me on stage than on record. Tommy Emmanuel for example; his CDs kind of bore me, but i've seen him several times and his live shows are excellent. I'm sure that if this show had proper sound, i would feel the same about Satriani.

So i wouldn't actually discourage anyone from seeing him, even though there's no excuse for the feedback torture.
Just bring earplugs and say a prayer.

The sets were WAYYYYY too short.

And Robert Randolph???? Seriously??? LOL!

I mean that dude can't write songs to save his life but I still think the first time you see him manipulate that pedal-steel like it's a set of turntables it's kinda cool for a minute & his set is short.

The worst major act on a Roots package tour I can recall was definitely O.A.R.

I have no idea how that Area: One Tour came together.

Robert Randolph was one of the highlights.

Robert Randolph and the family band is one of the most fun shows out there, talk about dance party.

On the other hand, OAR was a SNOOZER, it's just jam band lite. And I do enjoy some of their recorded stuff.

The roots didn't have enough time. Their set ended up being 90% none of their own material (this may be exaggeration).

Talib Kweli is what I deem Hip-Hop Karaoke. He's just not dynamic enough, and doesn't sound good enough live. Stick anyone up there who knows his lyrics and you would get the same show. His set was NOT too short.

I forget who else may have been playing on this tour?

Lol, i saw it in MD and OAR went on after the roots do to them being a local act and everyone left before NERD came on. Like mass exodus to avoid hearing pharell.

>Lol, i saw it in MD and OAR went on after the roots do to
>them being a local act and everyone left before NERD came on.
>Like mass exodus to avoid hearing pharell.


OH YEAH! I saw it in MA, OAR played after the roots as well. NERD was beyond horrible, ugh, I think I tried to block that musical memory.

I was there too.

.

-

Granted, the sets were short, and I have heard many complaints about it, but the experience was good for me. The DJ booth, 2nd stage, PSone lounges, etc were cool, Skillz came out and sold mixtapes/bootlegs of his after he performed... It's also the first time I saw many of these artists live, so that was also a treat in itself.

he was actually pretty good, and the short set didn't really impact him, a half an hour is plenty for him.

I actually prefer that to cramming in too many people for comically short sets. Plus, Robert Randolph, The Roots, and Kweli were great on that tour...OAR and NERD were awful. 3 outta 5 ain't bad. Oh wait, Skillz played too...he was okay.

That is not the RULE for festivals. I've been to day festivals, with acts playing 1-2 hours sets, it was only a few acts and it was great (Mountain Jam in New York).

Also, weekend festivals (bonnaroo) do a good job of giving each artist a good amount of time to do their thing.

These, lets block out enough time for a regular concert and fit in 5 acts so we can call it a festival, shows are the problem. It's just them trying to overcharge and squeeze a little more money out of the fans.

Rakim at the State/Filmore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8avAA2OItk

Braylon Edwards nigga!!!!! (#17)

We down there somewhere in the crowd waving hands...

Dude spent most of the set just sitting in a chair spitting. GZAs sone had more energy than him that night.

either that or the Edwards thing.

Me, just another dude I can cross off the concert list.

What is the Edwards thing?

I went up to visit my brother luckily he got press passes from 215. I would have been pissed had i paid 60 bucks for that.

>What is the Edwards thing?

We don't take to kindly paying to see a dude biggin up a sports celeb that doesn't play here . As far as I know the only exception I think is MJ.


Rakim was riding Edwards pretty hard that night too.

for some reason i thought that was part of your sig. I caught it now. Sorry sometime my eyes read like Braylon catches.

ra was never known to be the "super hype" busta rhymes type of showman. he rocked the rhymes pretty much how i imagined he would.
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http://tinyurl.com/liberators2 - anarchy in two dimensions

Most have been mentioned. Really, the rule of thumb is...if it's just them and a DJ, I don't really care to go. My reasons are as follows:

- Live bands tend to make up for their deficiencies.
- Far too many MCs play their regular track and rap over it (meaning NOT the instrumental). This is fucking inexcusable, ESPECIALLY in the Serato era.

There are exceptions to this rule. I've always had great times at De La, Jurassic 5, or Talib Kweli shows. But for the most part, that's my rule.

he wasn't even on the bill. he just decided to rap for half an hour and no one stopped him. LOL.
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on his Wizard of Poetry tour

I probably enjoyed this show more than any show I've been to, but it was also the only show I've been to where security said "alright, no holds barred, y'all Northsiders (aka blacks) can have your blunts, you won't be back til this time next year anyway"

Being that until I turned 21 I drank maybe every 3 months and smoke copious weed every day, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. "I'ma just roll something up!"

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I've been to 3

each time I left saying i'd NEVER see them again

Showing up like 45 minutes before the place had to shut down for the night legally etc type shit

... last act of the week for me. Sat patiently through a couple opening bands, then his backing band came on and was like "All right, we're gonna do a few songs ourselves then Lee is gonna come out!" This was at midnight-12:30 or so. They start playing...and playing...and playing...until it's past 2am. And they're continually promising that Lee is DEFINITELY gonna be on stage ANY MINUTE. Eventually, he did come on, but after one song the club owner gets on the mic and is like, "You guys need to stop, we're past curfew and the club is gonna get fined if the place isn't cleared out immediately." I think they did one more song then bounced, with Perry going, "America, you need a new government." Yeah, maybe, Lee, buy you need a new fucking watch.

My concert promoter friend booked him for a show on a Monday night a few months later, and he basically hid out in his hotel until 1:30 am before finally playing. And then his manager accused us of stealing money from his merch booth.

i had an experience at a kweli show at the HOB on sunset. waited 3 hours, and not even an opening act went on.

artists want you to be live, jumping, dancing, etc, but by the time they usually finally come on, you're too tired from standing for the last few hours. that's why i love it when my favorite artists perform at the universal amphitheater.

- When I was in high school I went to the Warped Tour every year for about seven years in a row. The worst year in terms of environment was the parking lot of Irvine Meadows -- a fucking DIRT parking lot. Thus, there was a cloud of dust hovering over the entire festival all day. To make matters worse, I got kicked in the face during the first band (CIV) and my glasses broke on one side, popping my lens out. I taped the shit back in using an Ozomatli sticker, but then I foolishly decided to crowd surf during Rancid and it popped out, never to be seen again. So I had basically one eye for the rest of the day, in this muggy, dusty butthole of a venue. To top it off, my buddy was holding my wallet for me (I had some ridiculous pants on without pockets), and we had gotten separated, and I was so thirsty at one point I chugged like five cups of free Yoo-Hoo. Not good.

- At Coachella in 2001, some asshole stole my wallet when I was in the crowd for Weezer. Again, it was oppressively hot, and I had no idea where my friends were (no cell phone back then, either). I got a splitting headache and had to ask a complete stranger for a drink of water. It sucked because Roni Size's Reprezent closed the festival and dropped a ridiculously awesome set, but I felt like I was going to die the entire time.

... it was at this two-day festival called Urbanfest at USC the weekend I graduated from high school. BIIM were co-headlining with DJ Quik. People were going crazy for them when they started, but they did an entire set of new material from an album that hadn't even been released yet. Eventually people started booing and chanting for Quik. The group acknowledged the jeers, yet kept going "We're gonna do...one more new song." (Crowd: FUCK YOU!) They ended with "End of the Road" and all was forgiven, but it got pretty ugly there.

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

... I mean, this was 2000, nobody wants to hear a new Boyz II Men song in the 21st century, let alone songs that hadn't even been released yet. And this was a crowd that was mostly there for DJ Quik. Those dudes are lucky they didn't get shot.

Mobb Deep with Lost Boyz and NORE opening. Lost Boyz were BY FAR the highlight of the show, and the Mobb are one of my top 5 groups ever.

Havoc wasn't even there.

At one point NORE's fat ass jumped off the stage and it took like 8 of his homies to get him back up there. And that was my first experience with a completely ouot of shape rapper trying to hold a show down. I think he said every 9th word per line and his entourage held it down from there.

And it was 30 bucks.

I was a freshman in college. That was when I learned that shit just isn't what it used to be. Literally every show that I went to up to that point was an amazing experience, but that was when dudes were still trying to get a foot in the door of the mainstream. That shit made LL's Mr. Smith tour stop at First Ave seem like I was watching Michael Jackson himself.

I've seen almost every artist that I have ever wanted to see who is still alive (never seen Stevie or Sly in person. Sly was supposed to come here 2 years ago but he cancilled last minute. I've seen all of the golden era dudes. I've seen the Commodores original line-up (was a toddler but it still counts).

I've been to a lot of doo doo shows (can usually sniff em out now so I stay home), but I have never, ever seen a show as bad as the one listed above. LB Fam killed it though.

no, i don't want to hear a 13 minute noodle jam, old guys.

just play car.

i was wore out after the Roots. And all i could think of is im drunk and they are not Sublime.

saw the same tour, and all i could think was "didn't they just play this song?"

Granted it was hist first time in Toronto and the venue could've been better.

He literally started arguing with the sound man in between his set.

Stopping to emphasize his words in acapella -----> ok ok-hold-ok-alright-oh-oh-alright-hold-up-ok. © Jay Electronica (we booed)*

Taking shots at Okayplayer.com (real mature)*

He threw his scepter into the audience as well as his mic after he finished performing. (Not cool)

Supernatural came out afterwards to get the mic back...lol

He strikes me as the type of artist with so much raw talent, but not quite sure how to harness it.


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It's a cold world and niggas need summer © Common

saw Dizzee Rascal @ Opera House in Toronto 03 or 04...big mistake...legs were tired from just standing there because he sucks and I didnt want to move,but the ticket was free so...I shouldve stayed home? ^_^

I've this from more than a few about JE's performing...

Shit makes me nervous when considering longetivity and such...

Show started at 8, he was supposed to come out at 1030, eventually came out at 1.

Bunch of shitty opening rappers, then Sheek Louch, then Starks.

I enjoyed it, but damn, that's a late night for getting up in the morning for work.