Review by Seraphim Dibble, photos by KG Photography
A little bit of Detroit came to Columbus, OH, on the evening of Sunday, January 6th. A crowd gathered outside the city’s Alrosa Villa venue. Alrosa Villa was the site of a 2004 shooting that ended the life of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, but they recovered and continued to host shows after that. Famed hip-hop group Twiztid was in town for their Holiday Hangover Weekend show. The line outside the venue promised that it would be a packed house for the night’s show.
The first act of the night, Prozak, was extremely energetic. They chose to skip performing on the stage to join the crowd on the floor, singing amongst their fans. Prozak clearly enjoyed the interplay between audience and crowd, even going so far as to mosh alongside them. The audience had an absolute blast all the way through, especially when Prozak separated them into two halves and tried to get each to out-cheer the other. All too quickly, though, it was time for them to finish their set.
Alla Xul Elu was up next, opening with their hit song, “Forever Face”. AXE is perhaps one of the finest examples of horrorcore hip-hop there is. They also already knew the crowd. AXE are Ohio natives themselves. Despite their intimidating leatherface-style masks, AXE absolutely ruled the crowd. They knew how to interact with and involve their audience, and at one point, had almost the whole crowd singing along to “One With the Devil”. If horrorcore is your type of thing, Alla Xul Elu is a group you’ve got to see.
The headliner of the night, of course, was Twiztid. And anticipation ran high in the crowd as they waited for them to come on stage. Long before they did, Juggalo phrases like “Whoop Whoop” and “Clown Love” began to play over the speakers. This clearly catered to the audience, the majority of which was wearing clown paint at this point. As they came on stage, though, technical problems stuck. Both artists cracked jokes at each other as their mics dropped out, before deciding to try starting over.
The second time Twiztid took the stage, the mics worked perfectly. They opened with their song “Die Motherfucker Die”, knocking it clean out of the park. They focused mostly on their older songs, which had the crowd singing along to every single one. It is impossible to not acknowledge their ability to rap quickly, especially in regards to Jamie Madrox. It is also worth noting that Twiztid brings along a live drummer, which gives them a unique touch among their peers. It is clear that Twiztid is a group with longevity, able to entertain crowds over twenty years after their debut. Make sure to see them if you get the chance!
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