Sunday night, I attended an Insane Clown Posse show. Here's what I want you to know:
- I was in the minority. My face was NOT painted and I was wearing skinny jeans.
- The ICP crowd likes to yell, howl, woot and woot some more. Chants of "Fa-mi-ly", "woot WOOT!" and "whos GOIN CHICKEN HUNTIN (followed by "WE's GOIN CHICKEN HUNTIN)" echoed throughout the building, all.night.long.
- The amount of merchandise for sale was unreal. ICP has about 250 different shirts, and they were selling like hotcakes. Seriously, I've never seen merch fly off the shelf like that. They must have made tens of thousands that night.
- The crowd was overwhelmingly happy, and surprisingly nice. Strangers were buying each other drinks all night long (followed by more chants of "woot woot"). One of the friendliest crowds I've ever encountered.
- I've never seen so much weed being smoked at the Town Ballroom in my entire life. Those juggalos sure know how to party.
- EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE CROWD KNEW EVERY SINGLE ICP SONG
- One guy started puking in the garbage can in the main lobby in front of everyone. He then fell into the garbage can. Hilarity ensued.
- Another band called Zug Island played the show. They sounded kind of like a butt-rock version of the Kottonmouth Kings. I missed Kamp Krystal Lake. Apologies.
- Before the band hit stage, there were two strategically placed barrels filled with 2 liters of Faygo. Hundreds of bottles. Maybe thousands.
- Those bottles were consistently opened throughout the show, shooken up and sprayed or used as projectile missiles. Violent J threw one and hit a kid in the face. I thought his nose was broken. After checking it in the bathroom he yelled "WOOT WOOT" at the top of his lungs and ran back into the pit.
- One of the Faygo projectiles hit the video camera that provides the feed for the main lobby. For several minutes the camera was covered in dripping cola.
- ICP is obsessed with Faygo. I never knew the degree of this obsession until seeing them live. They take Faygo breaks...from their Faygo breaks. During these intermissions, clowns wearing jumpsuits come out and pour buckets of Faygo on the crowd.
- ICP shows resemble a small circus. In addition to their love of cola, confetti and feathers were popular accutriments.
- At the end of the show, half the crowd was onstage, getting bonkers with the soda, giving the finger and bouncing around like crazy people.
- As I was leaving I saw Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope jump into a white cargo van and make a quick getaway. Four fans chased after the van.
My overall impression is this, and I may be totally off-base with this observation but I'm giving it anyway. ICP shows are giant parties. The people at these shows could be labeled "freaks," "misfits" and "weirdos" and I'm not saying that to insult them. They proudly wear those monikers on their shoulders and most would happily agree with me. ICP shows feel like a party for peeps with no other means; i.e. the best party the weirdos never went to in high school. And there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody wants to party and everybody wants to get weird. Some people do it at dive bars with hipsters, some people dress up and fish for martinis. ICP fans do it with clowns and Faygo. And weed. And chicken hunting(?). I'm cool with that.
P.S. On a more objective note: ICP played several tracks from old albums like The Great Milenko and The Amazing Jeckyl Brothers as well as hits like "Let's Go All the Way", and "Chicken Huntin."
Contrast this feel good atmosphere with the hijinks (if you could even call them that) that ensue at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos, and it paints a very different picture.
Philip: I've been to the Gathering twice (I'm not a Juggalo, but I am "Down with the Clown"), and it's probably my favorite music festival currently running. I've had better experiences w/ fellow festival-goers there than at Bonnaroo and Lolla, that's for certain. What kinds of problems did you run into? I've only ever dealt w/ camp neighbors who offered waters, beers, their jugs of vodka, snacks, shelter, toilet paper, etc., and also invited you over for any impromptu camp parties that were happening every night. At the shows, I never dealt w/ Faygo-related dousings (unwillingly) or anything else untoward. I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience!
Anyway. Not to be a Jugganerd, but the rallying cry is actually, "WHOOP! WHOOP!"