DNA Level C - Concert Review

CONCERT REVIEW Attended and retold by P-Man THE FACTS (The concert in a nutshell):

Who:	Bone thug-n-harmony with special guests. In particular, 3 opening acts: Midwest Mafia, Mystikal, and Scarface. and the main act: Bone thugs-n-harmony: Krayzie, Layzie, Bizzy, Wish, and Flesh. with members of the Mo Thugs family: Ken Dawg and Souljah Boy. and Bone's D.J.: DJ Ice.
What:	Bone thugs-n-harmony concert.
When:	Sunday, May 17, 1998. 8:00pm-1:00am.
Where:	The Cleveland State University Convocation Center, Downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
Play list:	Breakdown Remix (Played by DJ before they took the stage, but not performed), Thuggish Ruggish Bone, Foe tha Love of $, First of tha Month, Tha Crossroads, Mr. Ouija 2, East 1999, Thug Devotion, Body Rott, Thug Luv, Notorious Thugs, Mighty Mo Thug, Ride With A Playa. Also, some free styling and a what sounded like something off of Bizzy's solo.
The Crowd:	Diversified. About half black, and half white (with minorities speckled in too). Half male, half female (somewhat surprisingly to this patron). Varying ages, mostly teens and twenties, however there were some exceptions, notably a man in his later thirties of early forties with what appeared to be his young daughter (early teens, if that) and older daughter and son (or boyfriend) both in their mid teens. Family outing, I suppose, but peculiar to see. The crowd was hyped for Bone, impatient for their arrival, sometimes "rowdy" (mod mentality, as they say) but peaceful.
The Opening Acts:	The Midwest Mafia performed a couple tracks and weren't fantastic, but not too bad to listen to. Mystikal was tremendous, full of energy, and loved by the crowd. He put on a great performance (his energy hyped the crowd) and had everyone dancing and excited. A medium sized set which the crowd rapped along. Scarface was lousy. This particular patron doesn't care for him anyway, but the crowd as a whole found him uninteresting. Some die hard fans loved it, but most people found themselves dancing to his first two songs (popular hits) and then standing or basically sitting for the rest of his set. He was uninteresting to watch, listen to, and experience. He did not hype the crowd--quite the opposite, he seemed to sedate them. His set was long, much longer than it should have been, lasting probably as long as Bone's. When he finally left the stage, he was met with an unenthusiastic (basically obligatory) applause. A real big low point in the concert.
Bone and the Mo Thugs:	It started off slow--real slow. The crowd had to wait more than an hour after the opening acts for reasons not made clear (blamed on the light crew, but they never told what the real problem was). But when they came out, they put on an excellent show. The crowd was hyped for them; they didn't let us down. Each member was cheered loudly when they came to rap a verse (with possible exception to Flesh, and to some extent Wish) and Bizzy was there, in full force, no sign of any hard feelings between him and the rest of the group. And he was cheered loudly at the end of the concert when Krayzie yelled out his name as he rattled off stuff from his solo.
Overall:	Decent. Not an outstanding concert, but worth it simply for the chance to see Bone live.

     On a hot May day, I found myself standing in line before the Cleveland State Convocation Center, right smack in the middle of downtown Cleveland, not far from the famed "St. Clair Avenue." I waited anxiously in line for the Bone thugs-n-harmony concert. I had my ticket in hand, was decked out in Bone gear (Art of War tour shirt, Bone thugs-n-harmony cap, khaki shorts), and stood somewhat impatiently waiting for the line to move. The concert wouldn't begin for another 45 minutes, and Bone wouldn't be out till much later, but the excitement in the air had me itching to get to my seats inside and take it all in. Standing in line gave me the opportunity to scope out the crowd, something I would do many times during the evening.
     There were all manner of people waiting at the gate to gain entry. Black, white, male, female, younger, and older. And as far as they eye could see was Bone wear: shirts, hats, jackets, you name it. This, of course, was in addition to the sea of Tommy Hillfiger, Nike, and other brand name wear. The crowd looked like it was either there for a concert of to put on a brand name fashion show.
     Another gate opened, and herds of people streamed to it, hoping their luck would be better. The line had been moving slowly and they needed to let more people in. At the gate we found something unexpected, but understandable, awaiting us: metal detectors. Every fan was waved up and down with the wands in order to sniff out those who felt it necessary to come strapped. The security was out to ensure that this concert would have no drama.
     We were ushered in, like so much cattle, and I took a quick look around: Fans everywhere, as well as venders. Nothing new though--mostly the same old Art of War merchandise sold on that tour, and random assorted items dealing with rap. I bypassed these quickly, it would be only a waste of my time.
     I made my way to my seats--25th row on the floor. Sounded more impressive on the tickets than in person, it still seemed awfully far away from the stage. But then again, compared with the last concert I had tickets for, this was almost right next to them.
     The official concert was still 20 to 30 minutes away, so I had time to soak in the atmosphere again. Tons of people, most if not all there to see Bone, and probably most from the Cleveland area. Hometown pride at its best. The DJ (and later Bone) appealed to this, asking who was from different areas of Cleveland (St. Clair, Superior, etc.)
     Once again, I marveled at the Bone gear. In particular, the large number of custom made paraphernalia. I saw many "homemade" Bone shirts, many with very interesting designs. I also saw many different types of tour shirts (some from the Ruthless tour a couple year back, some even older), and some rarer shirts (Tha Crossroads, with the supposed lyrics on the back). Some people even looked like Bone--a few seats away sat a young man who had frizzy black hair and small mustache who bore a striking resemblance to Bizzy. I wonder if it was intentional?
     The concert started--DJ Ice laying down tracks between acts to give the crowd something to dance to and enjoy while waiting. He brought out the first act--The Midwest Mafia--and they performed a few tracks. Not bad, but nothing great enough to want sit through an entire set. Fortunately, they only did three or so songs.
     They left the stage, there was a break, and then Mystikal, the No Limit Soldier, took the stage. He was a marvel. He jumped across the stage like it was a trampoline, running from one end to the other rapping faster than imaginable. The crowd was wild for him--I don't think they stopped dancing during the entire set. He really pumped everyone up and got the crowd on their feet and grooving. He was met with a large applause and cheering, and left with a greater show of appreciation by the audience. Mystikal did pull one joke on the crowd, though. At one point he yelled out something to the extent of "Aight, we have a special guest: Snoop Doggy Dogg!" then walked toward the back of the stage as the crowd cheered, then turned to the audience and said "Naw, Snoop ain't here." Gotcha.
     After Mystikal left, the crowd was really excited. The concert was jumpin', and everyone thought they were going to ride this wave till Bone came out, and the place was gonna explode. That atmosphere would soon fade. Scarface took the stage, and the crowd was sedated. He was met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception, but there was genuine desire on the part of some of the crowd to see him. However, his set was long and uninteresting. His music was dull, his raps too slow for this crowd who had just marveled over Mystikal's light speed stylings. The crowd danced some at first, probably riding the wave from the last artist, but as Scarface dragged on, the whole arena slowed, eventually to a point where everyone was back in their seats (everyone stood through most of Mystikal) and doing little more than moving a little to the music. His performance really dropped the energy level. In addition, much to my personal dismay, he took his shirt off and had his pants hanging off his ass--and if anyone knows what Scarface looks like, they know he is not a thin man by any means. His set dragged on and on--longer than Mystikal's, and probably as long as Bone's. Finally, he left the stage. He was given an applause (out of courtesy more than anything, I would think, and probably an applause because he was leaving) and everyone was told that Bone would be out in 20 minutes.
     This would not be the case.
     The DJ told the crowd that they would turn down the house lights and bring out Bone. However, the house lights never went down. He called over the mic to the lighting crew (a few rows behind me, in an area on the arena floor) but they sort of shrugged at him. So the lights stayed on and the DJ continued playing music. This scene played out 4 or 5 times--the DJ asking the light crew to turn off the lights, the light crew just shrugging or not doing anything. No word was set what was going on, but the crowd was getting restless. The DJ started pumping the crowd and turning it against the light crew. He told everyone to shout out "Fuck you, Mister Light Man" and other such things ("Turn out the lights" etc.) One fan took matters into their own hands and threw a plastic bottle half full of gatorade toward the light crew, hitting someone in the last row. The juvenile action wasn't punished by ushers, but the DJ reprimanded the culprit: "Now, don't be throwin' shit."
     After about an hour of waiting, the light were finally dropped. Who knows why there was a holdup, but we didn't care at this point. They announced Bone, and everyone went crazy. Everyone in the floor seats took to standing on their chairs (they had done this earlier but ushers had put a stop to it--they didn't even try when Bone came out). The 5 Bones took the stage, along with a handful of others who did little more than throw stuff into the audience. It was an odd stage design, too--looked like a swamp, with rope ladders hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't elaborate, and really didn't have anything to do with Bone so far as I could tell.
     The set started with Thuggish Ruggish Bone, and the whole crowd was dancing and singing. It's a challenging task to stand on seats and rap, but the whole floor managed to do it. There was much love in the air, and the fans were having a good time. Those who knew the words rapped them, those who didn't were content to just watch Bone in awe and dance away. The set played most of the most popular songs (although oddly enough they performed "Mr. Ouija 2", for reasons unknown to this fan) and were rapped over the record, as is apparently their system at concerts. A shame, but that's their choice I suppose.
     One of the most remarkable experiences at the concert came during the songs Foe tha Love of Money, Thug Luv, and Notorious Thugs. Each of these tracks contain a rapper who has since passed, but their verses were known by heart by probably everyone in the arena. When these verses came on, the Bone members let the record play (they may have rapped along, it was hard to tell) but one could hear the entire place rapping these verses. To hear an entire arena rapping along to a song is something that an awesome experience. It gave the whole thing a very group feel--like the audience was just as much a part of the music as the rappers were.
     Two songs from the then soon-to-be-released album "Mo Thugs Family Scriptures Chapter II" were performed: "Mighty Mo Thug" (with Souljah Boy) and "Ride With A Playa" (with Ken Dawg). The crowd was most quiet here, since they were new songs, but everyone still grooved along with the music. The concert ended somewhat less-than-exceptionally, however.
     After the "last" song of their set, Bone said that they were supposed to leave now, but asked the crow if they were ready to leave. The response, of course, was "no." Bone asked if the crowd wanted to hear more. "Yes" (no doubt). They decided to perform some more, however, the promoters had apparently shut off their music. They told us of this, saying that they were telling them it was time for them to go, but Bone wanted to stay a bit. They told their DJ to just put anything on and they would freestyle. And intriguing proposition. Some audience members yelled out song titles to perform. "Shoot Em Up" was yelled by someone near me. Yours truly called out "Let the Law End." They put on some music, whatever the DJ could find, and did some short free styling (not very easy to hear, except for Bizzy repeating rhythmically: "Muthafucka, muthafucka....") They called out things to the crowd, most too difficult to hear, and Bizzy knelt down at the front of the stage in what appeared to be an impromptu powwow with some fans. The free styling, done mostly by Wish (not a very good attempt) made way into a barrage of raps by Bizzy, most likely taken from his upcoming album. Krayzie called out Bizzy's name and the crowd cheered for him wildly. When he was done, Layzie said that they told them it was time to go, so they were leaving. They gave up thanks to the crowd, and props to Cleveland, and exited the stage. Interestingly enough, one of the people on stage the whole time was the young boy who can be seen on stage in the Thug Devotion video. The DJ asked him where they were going next and he replied "To the after party!"

In general, the concert was decent. It had some major down moments and that took away from the experience. Most notably was the two hours in which Scarface rapped and everyone waiting while they fooled with the lights before Bone came out (and the abrupt end to the concert). Had this not happened--if the concert had been sans Scarface and technical difficulties (or whatever), it would have been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. However, it had it's high points. Mystikal was exciting and fun to watch, and there is no faulting Bone. They gave an excellent performance, and were tremendously received (in more than one song, when each new member took their verse the crowd broke out into cheering and applause). However, their unusual exit, and seemingly short set (they didn't perform a lot of songs that they could have, for example "Look Into My Eyes," "Dayz of our Lives," "If I Could Teach the World," etc.) left the experience somewhat lacking. So, overall, I would say it was decent. Not an outstanding concert, but worth it simply for the chance to see Bone live.

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