I was so excited this week to have the opportunity to attend the Mars/Mastamind Keep it Reel Tour in Amarillo, TX. Since the T.O.N.E-Z and Mars show back in April I have had a good working relationship with Mars. My one reservation was how well it was being promoted and if there would be any fans that came out for the show. Well my fears were realized when we arrived at 6 pm (when the show was supposed to be starting) and no one was there yet. I contacted the promoter who informed me they were on the way. Once they arrived they told me the start time had been changed to 7:00 pm. About 6:55 pm they said they were bumping it til 7:30. Then 8:00. And finally 8:15 pm we started. I had been asked to host the show which I thought was cool. So here is how the actual performances went down!
First on the mic was Concrete Connection and Doeh4Sho. They did about a 15-20 min set. Nothing to spectacular but definitely not a waste of time. It was very hip hop and well performed.
After they were finished 2 Skare took the stage. I was pleasantly surprised by his set due to the fact he changed the set list, removed the song I knocked him for in the last show review, and added some new original material. He is still very raw and needs to work on his stage presence but we are all a work in progress. Good work making it fresh.
Then we come to Wicked Butterflies Own Draztik the Terrible. While his set did not have the same energy it did last week I think it was due to his frustration with how these shows have been promoted. Of all things I felt motivated to hop on the mic and help him out as his hype man (yeah I wasn’t very good but for a first time with no planning or practice I didn’t expect much). We had fun and with some work we can make a dope show happen.
The next group was a Texas Hip Hop group, can’t remember their name but they did not impress me at all. They walked all over each other on the mic and really came across badly. It was 4 guys and all 4 were rapping at one time a lot of the show. They tried to sing and failed miserably.
An artist named Hollow was next. He did well and for his last song he brought a ton of people on stage to record a video for that song. Show was dope.
Klouded Judgement was up next. They did a good set. Not much to say about it other than it wasn’t horrible.
Sikmob did their set, but I was not in the building for it so I have no opinion.
Wicked Wayz went next and absolutely tore it up! I love watching their show. They use blacklight paint so when they get on stage you can’t see that they are painted. Then as the show starts they hit a mix of strobe lights and blacklights. When those are on the paint appears and makes for a very unique experience.
Now we get to some massive bullshit. Mars was trying to get his set ready with the sound guy at the venue. Something wasn’t working right and they had a dispute. The sound guy was really disrespectful and Mars decided not to perform the set. That is all I know about what happened and I cannot speculate on anything else. The bummer was Mars didn’t perform. But on the block next was Mastamind.
Mastamind took the stage about 11:45 pm. This sucked because it was an all ages show til midnight and I had my 3 sons with me. So 15 min into his set I had to leave with my family. His show was looking very legendary as expected.
Now what I do know is that Black Project ended up having to not perform due to childcare issues as well. This is crap. Due to the time issues and other things I was unable once again to see Born Wicked, Sik Made Killas, or the end of the Mastamind set.
The promoter had 14 artists they wanted to perform, way too many! The schedule was poorly planned. There was absolutely no promotion other than a Facebook event page and a few posts on Facebook. I hate to say it but this is the last local show I am going to do with this promoter. They have failed 3 shows in a row to even get people in the door and all of the shows have been horribly planned and executed. My artists are scheduled to perform at the Mini-Gathering in Sept and we will still do that show, but only because of the co-promoter for the show, Dmize. I spoke with him yesterday and he guaranteed me it would not happen then. I am willing to give him a chance but the other promoter, no way.
I sincerely hope anyone reading my blog appreciates my honest take on these shows. I would love to get your feedback or suggestions for how I might improve these reviews.
MMFWCL,
Juggalotus
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