FTSwindle
The Super Villain is back…
Almost two years ago, I penned an article for URB Magazine detailing the pure shenanigans of MF DOOM and his concert antics. I’ve been patiently waiting for DOOM to return to the City of Wind to see this first hand, and last night I had that opportunity.
Now, whenever DOOM is scheduled to headline a show, you have to be leery. Especially when Mos Def is the opener, which really doesn’t make sense if you think about it. Def to open for DOOM? What part of the game is that?
This particular concert was originally scheduled for January 29th, but was pushed back until last night due to “scheduling” conflicts. Knowing DOOM, I figured some tomfoolery was at play. However, despite the new date and the always-present chance that DOOM would send a Doompostor, the Congress Theater was still sold out. It was busting at the seams packed. I haven’t seen the Congress so crowded since Nas’ 2006 ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ show where be brought the casket on stage. To put it into perspective – the Snoop Doog, Method Man and Redman concert in November was about 25% of what this show was last night. A thousand white teens in tight jeans, indeed.
The doors opened at 7pm sharp, and if you’ve ever been to the Congress, you know it’s standing room only (unless you’re in the balcony or skybox). There were a few opening acts including BBU and DJ Intel (who were both booed for no apparent reason), Qwel from Typical Cats, Mike Relm a San Fran trickster-DJ and Psalm One. The crowd was annoyed and rowdy and by Midnight, with no sign of DOOM or Def, they began throwing beers, cups, cans, bottles of water and whatever objects they could find on stage. I honestly thought we might have an E2 situation on our hands. I was just waiting for the moment where the promoter emerged to the stage to say the headliners weren’t coming on. It would’ve turned real ugly had that happened, but lo and behold, at 12:30 The Mighty Mos Def hit the stage. Mos came out donned in a DOOM-esque mask and began performing various DOOM songs. Confused but intrigued, I watched as Mos ran through his mostly-singing set, which, for the most part, included nothing from his early catalog. Mos’ set was pretty entertaining, and he must’ve performed 5 or 6 DOOM’s tracks and almost without warning, The Supervillain emerged from behind the curtain around 1:30am.
DOOM and his 6’6″ 300lb hypeman took the stage as Mos made his exit and the crowd went absolutely apeshit. DOOM was in the building! Well, so they thought. The first thing I noticed about “DOOM” was that he was about 5’4″, and in no way shape or form was his microphone turned on. Also, as RTC pointed out, DOOM had a DJ, but this guy wasn’t doing anything but standing behind a laptop. These guys were performing over a CD! It may have been a recorded live show CD, but there was no instrumentals…It was straight album tracks. The only mic turned on onstage was the hypeman’s, who did adlibs and tried to get the crowd going – he was super obnoxious. Victor Von was draped in a gigantic parka jacket that hung to the floor, with his hood up, and mask on. The mic was constantly an inch from his mouth so you really couldn’t even tell if the impostor was lip-synching or not. Fans caught on and began pelting DOOM and his hypeman with bottles and cans. It was actually pretty hilarious. The DOOM character had absolutely no interaction with the crowd and didn’t speak once.
After 15-20 minutes, the DOOMpostor decided he was finished and abruptly walked off stage as his hypeman thanked the crowd for coming out. Then came more boos and bottles from the crowd as the lights came on. No encore for the villain. I actually saw a kid from Shaumburg’s heart break when I told him it wasn’t really DOOM. He wept a little.
The saga continues…
Read: MF DOOM: Rap Snitch Knishes [URB Magazine ]
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