November 08, 2008 by Tracy Heck

Each year on Halloween night, downtown Detroit is taken over by the Insane Clown Posse's annual concert Hallowicked. Year after year they gather a array of national and underground music acts. In recent years, Hallowicked has become a tour rather than a one off date but the Detroit show is always a standout with the band providing something special for their hometown crowd. This year was no exception as they set out to celebrate Hallowicked's fifteenth year in style at the Fillmore Theater with a spectacular setlist and set.

This year ICP was joined by fellow Psychopathic Records artists Blaze and ABK and underground rappers Mars and J-Reno. In addition to the Hallowicked show, Psychopathic Records artists Twiztid held their own concert, the Monsters Ball, the night before at St. Andrew's Hall and there was a Hallowicked after party complete with Juggalo Championship Wrestling at the Majestic Theater. The weekend was a plethora of riches for the Juggalo crowd.

Twiztid's Monsters Ball on Devil's Night kicked off the festivities. The show was good but a bit long for the crowd who just wanted to see Twiztid take the stage. Long breaks in between sets and performers not very well known created some frustration. ICP's DJ Clay was spinning in between the sets which helped to pass the time but after awhile even that wasn't enough to satisfy.

Rapper F-Dux opened the show and was not very impressive. There was nothing to make him stand out from all the millions of other rappers looking to break into the mainstream. Detroit's own rock/rap group Motown Rage was up next. They played Hallowicked last year and made the same impression as before: the band itself, particularly their drummer, are pretty amazing but their singer is horrible. His voice is way to gravely and he does more incoherent screaming than anything else. Little known Detroit rapper Bailz managed to have the best performance of the night even getting DJ Clay to make a rare appearance joining him on songs from his upcoming mix tape. Old School hardcore rapper Awesome Dre was up next. He was the first Detroit rapper to break out into the mainstream and inspired most of the acts that followed including ICP, Eminem, Esham and Kid Rock so I was curious to see him and he didn't disappoint. Throughout his set, you could see the vast influence that he has had on the local hip/hop scene.

After a ridiculously long break, Twiztid finally took the stage and made everyone forget all about the wait as they were announced as the "Insane Twiztid Posse". Dressed as ICP in full makeup and sporting Faygo, they had the crowd rolling in the aisles. Later Blaze joined them onstage dressed up as fellow Psychopathic artist Boondox, who is known for his scarecrow persona. Twiztid's set wasn't as entertaining as some of their other shows but they rocked the songs that they did perform including Karma and Rock the Dead . The highlights of their set was Halloween themed song Green Pumpkins and the rarely performed Hom-Sha-Bom.

Hallowicked was entertaining from start to finish. After a long wait to get inside the Fillmore, the crowd was given their free copy of this year's ICP Halloween track I'm Your Killer as Mars took the stage. He quickly got the crowd fired up and moshing. Surprisingly, J-Reno took the stage pretty quickly and kept the energy level up. By this time, our spot on the main floor was getting a little uncomfortable after standing for the concert the night before. We moved up to the second level center stage figuring it would be a little less crazy as Axe Murder Boyz took the stage. I have never been a fan of them and they just proved me right yet again with another boring set. Blaze was up next and performed a short set that ended with ABK taking the stage for a couple of songs together including Str8 Out of Detroit . Blaze then left the stage leaving ABK to perform his own short set including amazing new single Guillotine off his upcoming Mudface album. As the lights went out, the set seemed to be over but surprisingly, both Blaze and ABK returned to the stage performing another half hour of their classics.

Thus began the usual long wait for ICP to take the stage. A good 40 minutes later, their Halloween themed soundtrack was cut off and the curtain rose. As the strains of Monster Mash began, their set with two large inflatable pumpkins sporting Violent J and Shaggy faces were revealed. The Excorcist music began to play as blue flashes illuminated the pumpkins and J and Shaggy made their way onstage. They opened with Halloween classic Dead Pumpkins and kept kicking out the classics from there including my faves Dead Body Man and Halls of Illusion . Over about a hour and a half they managed to pull out songs from every era of their twenty year history. Toy Box, Cherry Pie and the Neden Game were particular highlights and rarely performed My Posses On Vernor was a nice surprise. Towards the end of their set, Blaze and ABK joined them on stage to throw some Faygo and perform Sticky Icky Situation . They closed the set with crowd fave If I Was A Serial Killer. Our decision to move to the second level turned out to be not so bright since it ended up being the central point for Faygo and confetti touchdowns but by that time we were having so much fun we just didn't care.It was easily the best Hallowicked since 2002's Royal Oak Music Theater show. Can't wait to see what they have planned for next year!