Last week New Orleans rap power-duo Suicideboys ($uicideboy$) came to WaMu theater to kick off their first “Grey Day Tour.” This yearly travelling festival is meant to showcase the intersections of counterculture in hip-hop, punk, trap, and hardcore. Shoreline Mafia, Trash Talk, Night Lovell, Germ, City Morgue, and Turnstile threw down veritably in support of $uicideboy$.
After ripping a blunt between the light rail and WAMU, my photographer and I came up to the venue to hear the bass already booming inside. We eventually got a hold of the necessary photo pass to gain entry, and came in around the time City Morgue took the stage. The energy in the giant venue was palpable as kids and 20 somethings went crazy in the pit, moshing often breaking loose. I hadn’t seen this kind of rowdy display since my years as a teenager attending metal shows almost a decade ago.
City Morgue
It was blatantly apparent that every person in attendance at the show was a die-hard fan of at least one or multiple acts performing. I could easily spot angsty teens left and right screaming lyrics to their favorite songs. There easily had to have been around 3,000+ heads in that whole venue. And everyone was there to mosh, run around, scream lyrics, and let loose. City Morgue has incredible energy that was matched by their flashy red visuals.
Shoreline Mafia
As Shoreline Mafia began their set you could almost hear the audience rapping along in unison more than the performers themselves. As soon as their hits “Musty,” and “Nun Major” came on the vibe was enormous and grimey as hell. The booms, baps, and bars never went down in intensity until the end of their set when $uicideboy$ finally came on.
Suicideboys ($uicideboy$)
Prior to the headliners getting on stage I thought there was no way it could get more intense. But then, $uicideboy$ showed out dropping crazy bass and lethal lyricism. Every song they worked the crowd into a frenzy, demanding mosh pits on several occasions. At one point, they even said “you kids know what a circle pit is?” What came next was a mass of heads raging in a fashion I hadn’t seen since Bring Me The Horizon at Warped Tour back in 2008.
This genre of “horrorcore,” or what you may call the darker, more frantic side of hip-hop and rap, is a wave. The kind of wave that reminds me so fondly of the shows I used to frequent as a teenager to mosh, yell, and throw up a big middle finger to society. Thank you to the Grey Day tour management for inviting Respect My Region out to go dumb.
Follow Suicideboys ($uicideboy$)
