review and photos © by Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild 

the public use of these photos is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Probably the most memorable part of the show was the fact that it was 10 degrees below zero outside, needless to say it was probably the coldest day of the year so far.. Besides the weather it was just a strange day in any case.

I usually arrive to show abnormally early, hoping to get to speak to a member of one of the bands, but since this was an all day show, and there's this dumb curfew law that the city of Minneapolis has bestowed upon people under 21, the show had to end early. On the flier that I got it said "Doors open @ 5:00 pm" so I got there around 2:00 pm. This was the first time I had ever been to this club. Needless to say I was unimpressed, but they did let us (us meaning everyone else who was crazy enough to brave this ungodly cold) hang out in the hallway within the club in-between the club part and the bar part so we don't die of hypothermia (freeze to death). About an hour of me mouthing off to all the kids (if you met me, you would know I don't stop talking), somebody who works for the club came out and said "um..the doors will open at 6:00 pm now so if you want to eat something and come back I would suggest that you do so". C'est la vie. So I took the 4 people I was mainly talking too, across the street to a pizzeria (thank god) and I treat them all to a large pizza and whatever they wanted to drink.
Kind of an odd way to start out an evening, but at least our stomachs were full.

We all went back to the club, and as I entered to the club part, and in a way I was dissapointed. The place looked more like a teen center more than a venue. It was almost comical. I hope I never have to go back to this sorry club. It wasn't small by any means, it just looked awful. I just shrugged my shoulders as I walk towards the best spot in the house... the back were the sound man is (and/or sweet spot for sound).

I had heard of them before, but I never paid attention to them. I guess they were on the second stage last ozzfest, but since I don't attend ozzfest anymore due to lack of musical talent, I had to assume the worst. What I can say about Slytherine is that they tried really hard to get the crowd going, which is usually a good thing which would indicate that they care, but for whatever the reason the crowd didn't buy it. I thought their music wasn't half bad. I can't remember specifics of them except that the singer and half the band looked like they were under 21 years of age. But, their music wasn't bad at all, I think it's worth a download or two of their songs to see if you like them or not. The light show was there for them, but I know for a fact that everyone was there for Dope, that's why hardly anyone got into any of the opening acts.

Even I think that when Edsel Dope came on stage, he was like "What the fuck?" to the club. Dope came on and rocked the place. They started with he same song they started off with last time "Die mother fucker die". And man, after hearing that song, it just gets stuck in your head for a while, if you haven't heard it, it's the intro on there web site www.dopearmy.com and you can listen to the song free. You can't download it, but at least you can listen to it. This time I stuck around for their whole show, and during the show, next to me were doors to get in and out of, not main doors, just doors, and club workers would occasionally open up one of those doors to let the cold air in. I asked the guy why he was doing that, he said that after the show, if he didn't do this, that kids (there were kids at this show that weren't more than 14 years old) could get hypothermia alot quicker because of the sudden change in temperature that could shock their nervous system and stuff like that. this is the first time I had ever heard this or seen this and I've been to hundreds of shows in all seasons. It makes sense I just thought it was odd. The band played all their usual songs, like "fuck tha police" and other songs, I don't have their Cd's yet, but after hearing them, you could probably tell which ones they play though. I told you earlier that I was hanging out were the sound guy was, and towards the end, Edsel (singer) told a stage hand to come back to tell their (dope's) sound man/tour manager that if his stage monitor wasn't louder, he'd walk off stage. Which to me is comical. I have heard this so many times either as a bystander or as a sound man myself, so I was kind of chuckling at this. After I heard this my initial thought was "Rock Star" you can make your own judgment on this one.

All in all, Dope still doesn't have a record contract, but I still think they are a great live band that isn't dead yet. I hope they tour more and more and I hope they get a deal soon, Dope is a great band, check out their website to hear that song. You won't be dissapointed.

Matthew Haumschild 

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