Since Druglas got his shit together and posted his two cents on Rock the Bells, I figured I should do the same. First off, I have to ask, what is wrong with white people? I like to get into a performance, and maybe I don't get as physically into rock and roll as I used to, but in my mind it just seems unnecessary to mosh your face off to Cypress Hill. If it's during "Rock Superstar" that's one thing, but during "I wanna get high"? Could you pick a mellower song to start the moshing during? Never mind that the mooks behind me decided to start moshing after they ingested a fist sized bag of coke. Cuz that's not a recipe for disaster. Anyway, other than some inappropriate moshing, way too much rain, and the perils of mass transit, it was a good day. I got there a while before Druglas, so the Breetard and I were able to catch the Grouch and Eligh's set.
I had dismissed them in the past after a few listens, but they rocked the shit out of their set on Sunday. Eligh is definitely the shining star of the duo, but that's not to say the Grouch wasn't holding his own. Since the theme of the day seemed to be everyone getting backed out of their skulls, it was appropriate that "No More Greener Grass" was the highlight of their set. After that, MURS came out to rally the crowd for Mr. Lif, who was joined by Akrobatik for most of his set. I enjoyed their performance, but I was more excited to skeedaddle to the main stage and catch Blackstar.
Talib went through his solo material first and ripped it. I've missed out on seeing him live so many times that it was really great just to be finally seeing him and it helped that he fucking killed it. Mos Def's solo set was a little bit more lackluster, with too much meandering singing. It was really cool, however, when his DJ spun Aretha Franklin's "One Step Ahead" before dropping the beat for "Ms. Fat Booty", the crowd went ape, and rightly so. That moment aside, the high point in Mos's performance was when he went into "Definition" and was joined onstage by Talib. Then Rakim was up.
To me, it felt like he was standing in front of a largely unappreciative crowd. His set was fantastic, however, despite the tepid crowd response.
Cypress Hill was kind of ruined for me by the jackoffs sniffing blow and punching people right behind me. Before those guys really got into it though, the set was really enjoyable. Especially the gigantic inflatable Buddha onstage. Public Enemy was really good too, but I didn't stick around for a complete rocking, instead making my way over to catch Doom.
As Drug already informed you, Doom was sick, even if it was a much shorter set than it should've been. It was pretty cool that once most of the crowd ran away to catch the Wu, Talib came out to rock "Old School".
Maybe I'm a little spoiled when it comes to the Wu Tang. Around this time last year when I saw them, I met Ghostface, and I spent the show within arms reach of the stage. Needless to say, it was a little different watching them perform from about a football field's length away. I was a little disappointed with the absence of Ghostface, and the apparent substitution of a portly Ghost look a like. Either way though, it's the Wu Tang, and my ever-present hip hop chubb for them was in full effect.
Seeing Rage was like a flashback to '99, the last time I saw them. I was kind of surprised at de la Rocha's relative silence in between songs, until I heard there was some backlash over things he'd said the night before about assassinating George W. I kinda thought that things of that nature were standard fare for Rage - last time I saw them, they burned an American flag - but I guess he was asked to tone it down. To be honest, it was a little disappointing to see that he acquiesced and just did the show without the political ranting.
I had dismissed them in the past after a few listens, but they rocked the shit out of their set on Sunday. Eligh is definitely the shining star of the duo, but that's not to say the Grouch wasn't holding his own. Since the theme of the day seemed to be everyone getting backed out of their skulls, it was appropriate that "No More Greener Grass" was the highlight of their set. After that, MURS came out to rally the crowd for Mr. Lif, who was joined by Akrobatik for most of his set. I enjoyed their performance, but I was more excited to skeedaddle to the main stage and catch Blackstar.
Talib went through his solo material first and ripped it. I've missed out on seeing him live so many times that it was really great just to be finally seeing him and it helped that he fucking killed it. Mos Def's solo set was a little bit more lackluster, with too much meandering singing. It was really cool, however, when his DJ spun Aretha Franklin's "One Step Ahead" before dropping the beat for "Ms. Fat Booty", the crowd went ape, and rightly so. That moment aside, the high point in Mos's performance was when he went into "Definition" and was joined onstage by Talib. Then Rakim was up.
To me, it felt like he was standing in front of a largely unappreciative crowd. His set was fantastic, however, despite the tepid crowd response.
Cypress Hill was kind of ruined for me by the jackoffs sniffing blow and punching people right behind me. Before those guys really got into it though, the set was really enjoyable. Especially the gigantic inflatable Buddha onstage. Public Enemy was really good too, but I didn't stick around for a complete rocking, instead making my way over to catch Doom.
As Drug already informed you, Doom was sick, even if it was a much shorter set than it should've been. It was pretty cool that once most of the crowd ran away to catch the Wu, Talib came out to rock "Old School".
Maybe I'm a little spoiled when it comes to the Wu Tang. Around this time last year when I saw them, I met Ghostface, and I spent the show within arms reach of the stage. Needless to say, it was a little different watching them perform from about a football field's length away. I was a little disappointed with the absence of Ghostface, and the apparent substitution of a portly Ghost look a like. Either way though, it's the Wu Tang, and my ever-present hip hop chubb for them was in full effect.
Seeing Rage was like a flashback to '99, the last time I saw them. I was kind of surprised at de la Rocha's relative silence in between songs, until I heard there was some backlash over things he'd said the night before about assassinating George W. I kinda thought that things of that nature were standard fare for Rage - last time I saw them, they burned an American flag - but I guess he was asked to tone it down. To be honest, it was a little disappointing to see that he acquiesced and just did the show without the political ranting.
