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I had the opportunity to drive 2 hours to Mesa, AZ and catch the Love Bites tour featuring Kung Fu Vampire, Liquid Assassin and Mr. Grey.  Little Butterfly (The Wife) and I drove into town early and did the interview before the doors opened.  A lot of good news on upcoming projects, the immediate future for KFV and some dope exclusive news, that video should be posted this week after a little editing!  Once we were done with that we went inside to check out the show.

The first group on the stage was called Domestic Violence.  You could tell right away that they were not used to being on stage as they lacked the stage presence and comfort.  Their beats were pretty dope but the recorded vocals were to loud on the track.  This was a huge problem as their live vocals often did not match and made the overall performance really hard to understand.

Next was a group called the Psycho Krew.  The four young guys had really good beats but their performance didn’t really stand out.  Their lyrical content was unoriginal and could have been performed by any run of the mill Horrocore group.

Third to the stage was Poizonous Logik.  This duo had great stage presence and a good delivery of lyrics.  The music and beats were too complex, often too loud, and very distracting to the listener.  That was the only negative about the set though.

Uncle Phx took the stage next.  This was also a duo, although anyone who didn’t know which one was Uncle Phx never did find out.  One of them looked hella wasted and had a hard time performing.  The other one had a smooth delivery, when he was actually performing.  He relied heavily on lip syncing vocals and a majority of the time only actually performed the emphasis parts of his verses, came off very Karaoke.  In the later part of the set they brought a woman on stage who spent most of the rest of the set “harmonizing” yet it added little to the overall show.

Then the promoters group took the stage, ClickBANG.  With this group I really saw the emergence of a routine for the openers sets.  All of their sets had the same line up of song content (Horrorcore track, Weed Track, Look at all our money and stuff track, who’s getting drunk tonight track) Each and every opener up to this point followed this script.  The group themselves didn’t really stand out.  One guy added little as the hype man and one of the other guys also lip synced a majority of his verses.  The last guy did perform all his verses but the other two guys on stage really over shadowed his performance with their actions.

The next group, I missed their name, had the best energy of the night by far.  These three guys started their set with a horrible comedy routine involving one of them supposedly hiding behind the drum kit snorting coke.  When he finally took the stage he had white powder under his nose which looked like powdered sugar from eating doughnuts.  The main vocal spent way to much time berating the audience for not getting up for their set instead of letting the performance move people out of their seats.  The beats were good and their comfort on stage was good as well.

The final local opener was called McNasty.  His delivery cadence was too similar throughout the set and was shaky at times.  He had the best vocal performance up tho this point.

Finally we reach the supporting act Mr. Grey and headliners.  Mr. Grey is a local rapper from San Jose and was a great addition to the show.  His beats, stage presence, and delivery were on point.  He kept the energy up and got the crowd involved in most of his hooks.  He was the biggest surprise for me on this tour.  I copped his CD and has been added to my review list.

Liquid Assassin hit the stage and the place was on fire.  His vocals were on point, every single track had the crowd hopping, and he didn’t really rest at all during his set.  He delivered a lot of new track off his new album, Cardell, which has also been added to the review list.  He also hit some of the classics.  He free-styled on two occasions and quite simply left the audience in awe.  One of the best lyricists in the game and he proved it with this performance.

Last but most definitely not least was Kung Fu Vampire.  He took the stage with his drummer and bassist.  For those who have never seen him perform you have no idea what you are missing.  Where most rappers will used a DJ or backing music he throws a live band on stage and performs each and every lyric live.  There is no other rapper out there that can hold a candle to his live show.  He came out rocking all black and a fedora, he did not don the usual robes and white paint, but it didn’t matter he killed the show.  Performing a solid mix of old and new tracks.  Favorites such as Too late to pray, iCount, and Grinder mixed with the new tracks Love Bites, Knockturnal, No Place like Home, Nightmare Walkin and Blade.  He finished the night with Dead Girls Don’t say No and Vampire.

At the end of the show KFV, Liquid Assassin, and Mr. Grey hung out taking pics, signing autographs, and just chilling.  The three were definitely the reason to go to this show.  The openers did not do well as a whole and that is unfortunate.  Hopefully this was an off night for most of them and not how they would usually perform.  Mr. Grey, L.A., and KFV definitely left everything on the stage and didn’t disappoint.  Be sure to keep checking back for the KFV interview this week and the album reviews for L.A. and Mr. Grey in the weeks to come.

MMFWFL,

Juggalotus

Location:

• Goathead Saloon
• Arizona
• United States

Tour:

• Love Bites Tour

Record Label:

• Mad Insanity Records

Reviewer:

• Juggalotus

Review Date:

• 12/01/2012 - 12/01/2012