Thorisaz Views: Twiztid rocks Halloween

Outside the State Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL, you can hear the chants of fans. They create their own call back and answers based on songs from Twiztid. Some chants simply repeat the word “family.”

When locking eyes on the hoard of people gathered outside of the venue either smoking or waiting in line, it’s not just that it’s Halloween, but it’s more of like a family tradition to sport some makeup. No, we’re not just talking a little blush to rose up the cheeks. This is more like full on circus clown escaped from a mental facility and went on a killing spree type of dripping and blood splattered makeup.

More than half the crowd is dressed up in some sort of Juggalo inspired Halloween fashion. Hey, it’s the weekend before Halloween, so it is perfectly acceptable to dress up; however, considering it’s the weekend before Halloween, I was frankly surprised that there wasn’t more people dressed up. It really wouldn’t have mattered if it were any other time of year; people would’ve still dressed up.

What’s the allure of gobbing on makeup, making yourself unrecognizeable? Being able to escape reality, dress as if you were part of the performance on stage, and who knows, you might just be pulled up on stage by one of the performers. Stranger things than that have been known to happen at Twiztid.

Okay, so honestly, it was not as rowdy as a Detroit show for the Detroit-based rap duo, but that’s probably to be expected. Honestly, I was nervous, as I remember how Twiztid and ICP shows were back in the day in Detroit, and rowdy was more like an understatement. Is it the years passed that allowed the younger fans to grow up, or is it that St. Pete’s has an older population than Detroit; who knows?

What I do know is that that Society’s Last took the stage first. While the duo was on point and got the crowd popping, they had a secret weapon up their sleeve. A sexy cop struts on stage, commanding attention, stealing the spotlight for a while, which only makes the performance more memorable.

Andrew Boss rocked out the night with a punk rock style that definitely stood out from the rest of the performers. That blending of rock into the rap scene actually fit quite nicely, as the crowd crammed to the front of the stage, people started moshing, bodies slamming and causing blood to flow. The rush of energy and excitement was so great that when it was over, it was like riding a tidal wave that crashes into the sand and dissipates, as people scatter back out to smoke and generally disperse.

Another duo of rappers on stage also brought a little sex appeal when one of the guys takes off his shirt, and almost hilariously stammers in between songs how he usually does not take his shirt off and felt naked up on stage. The girls in the audience did not seem to mind the eye candy. The guys were too focused on the music to really pay attention to what the dudes were wearing, as the duet had a yin yang type of sympatico that made the rhymes flow fresh and clean, with a new take on a familiar style.

Whitney covered herself with a hoodie, hiding her sexiness from the crowd. You’d see her hot pink hair poke out from under the hood. Just when you want to think she’s an innocent little girl, she leaps off the stage, surfing on top the crowd, singing from on top of the bar on the opposite side of the room, and you had all you could do to keep your eyes on where she was heading next, never missing a beat; meanwhile, her DJ is spinning the hardest thumping bass beats of the night - you can feel in your chest.

Blaze ya Dead Homie arose from the dead, as it was his turn to spit some rhymes instead. With his boy covered like a mummy in gang babushkas wrapped around his head, he tried to represent more than a few colors with his thread. Familiar favorite songs belting from the stage, you can’t help but sing along.

Even after Blaze’s set is done, he joins Twiztid on stage for a little more fun. The horror group rapped of murder, threats to everyone under the sun, and getting scared is how the fun begun. There’s Halloween’s Michael Myers and Jason from Friday the 13^th lurking around on the stage, pacing back and forth, threatening to unleash their rage. With 20 years of music, how can you not know the songs?

Even though many are familiar with their music, Twiztid is a band with a more expansive creative side. I must admit, I was a little disappointed that their merch booth did not have the comics there. If you’ve never checked out some of their other creative projects, do yourself a favor, and go get them.