| Atmosphere
with special
guests:
Murs, Brother Ali, Mac Lethal, Blueprint, and DeeJayBird
city: Madison, WI
venue: The Orpheum Theatre
show date: 09.08.02
|
Tighter
Than Britney Spears' Pants
by:
carmela
wiese
Bringing
to Madison one of the best hip-hop shows it has ever hosted (partially
due to the crowd who had been starving for a show that broke away
from the standard jam bands or garage rock shows they have been
accustomed to seeing), Atmosphere and friends were in control
at the Orpheum Theatre Sunday night. With explosive, vivid, and
heavy lyrics Slug, Murs, Blueprint, and crew gave us all a taste
of what the urban genre is all about.
The evening
started out with Mac Lethal warming the crowd. It was soon apparent
that the cane wielding Kansas City native was no amateur. With
songs like “My Mom Izza Thug”, a tribute to his mother’s
bad-ass nature and his interpretation of the events on September
11th “Midnight in Manhattan” (said with his middle
finger blazing screaming “fuck the establishment”),
Mac set the tone for the rest of the evening.
This opening
set also featured the beginning of UW Madison’s alumni Jake
Keeler’s live painting. Working in tandem with the music,
the studio artist proceeded to gain inspiration from the lyrical
poetry being broadcasted and transferred it onto canvas.
The next set
was from Brother Ali. Accompanied by his DJ BK1, Ali quickly won
us all over flirting with girls in the audience, his flow about
a rejected lover and his vengeance for an ex stating “If
I can't have you no one will”. He also told his story about
near hits with “You Win Some, You Lose Some”. The
45-minute set was completed with Ali’s freestyle and beatboxing.
With the anticipation
rising for Atmosphere to step on stage, Murs of the famed Living
Legends appeared stating that he doesn’t like to rap, but
rather prefers to talk to the audience. He started out by mentioning
the God Loves Ugly tour was originally dubbed the “You
All Are The Reason Our Girlfriends Have Left Us” tour. But
then quickly stated that it couldn’t be so, since his girlfriend
had in fact already left him prior to the start up of the tour.
Complete with costume changes (stripping off layers
of t-shirts he was wearing), Murs’s set was topped off with
an impromptu battle with an unknown audience member “B Pure."
It was during
Murs’s set that Atmosphere’s DJ, Mr. Dibbs, arrived
at the turn-tables ready to produce the beats that landed him
on tour with Atmosphere. With his allotted 45 minutes up, Murs
headed off stage leaving Dibbs to continue working the tables
in preparation for Atmosphere’s set.
Finally, after
much anticipation, headliner Atmosphere and friend Blueprint (of
the up-and-coming Soul Position) took the stage with an outburst
of force. With his presence commanding attention, Slug quickly
got down to business spouting out lyrics from one of their more
widely known tracks “God’s Bathroom Floor”.
Quickly shifting to a track off of their new album, we were treated
to a live rendition of ‘Modern Man’s Hustle”.
Moving on
with other much loved songs such as “The Lady With The Tattooed
Hands”, “Fuck You Lucy” and “Scapegoat”
it was soon clear that Slug’s onstage performance strongly
outweighs his pre-recorded sound. It was evident this was due
to him feeding off of the energy given off by the multitude of
fans who showed up that night, both being completely enthralled
in the moment.
After stepping
off stage after what seemed to be a brief encounter, Atmosphere
returned for the obligatory encore. But instead of the standard
farewell song, we were treated to a collage of free style capabilities
delivered by all of the night’s performers.
Hip-hop heads
looking for a show to satisfy their appetites couldn't hoped for
a better show.
10-Sep-2002
10:00 PM
If you
liked Atmosphere...
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