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Old 08-01-2017, 06:21 AM   #13
Krutch
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: The Rawkzone
Posts: 2,805
Well, I did it. I survived my first Gathering of the Juggalos.

THE HIGHS

The Ice Man
Finally got to see the man himself, Vanilla Ice, live and in person. Not only that, but midway through his set he asked for Juggalos to come up on stage and have a party. And a party it was. So many Juggalos rushed the stage he was pretty much restricted to the far side of the stage. Awesome show.

The Juggalos
Juggalos are good people. Trashy? Sure. But kind, down to earth people. And being surrounded by thousands of Juggalos is a seriously awesome experience. I got handed so many free beers, offered so many free blunts... People handing out bottled water if they heard you coughing from the dust, telling you where all the best shade spots are... it's a seriously misunderstood culture. A favourite moment was right when you enter the Gathering there's a tent with a huge banner, Jesus Saves Juggalos that was there all Gathering handing out free Faygo and water anytime you wanted it. I went up multiple times and no one tried to push faith on anyone; they just like doing it every year. Theres also some crazy talented Juggalos selling all kinds of arts and crafts... Bottom line, The Juggalos were awesome and made the Gathering for me.

The Clowns
Insane Clown Posse put one not one, but two fantastic shows. I was a little more partial to their first performance where they played The Wraith: Shangri-La in its entirety. On Day 1 Shaggy had a solo set which was sweet as hell too.

The Intimacy
All the artists were driving around in little golf carts all day, every day. It felt like they were always just around the corner. We ran into Lyte like 20 times over the four days. ICP probably around five or six. They kept showing up at the mini parties. Shaggy came by asking for a cigarette and sat and chilled with us at a campsite for about 15 minutes. The interaction they have with their fans is seriously commendable and explains alot of the devotion the Juggalos have for them.

The Juggalo Yacht Club Wine Mixer
Don't be fooled by the name; ain't no Juggalo out there that owns a yacht(or drinks wine by preference). But the event itself was fun. Limbo contests, beach volleyball, obstacle courses, bikini contests... it was crazy fun. And I don't know what was in that giant cooler of "Juggalo Juice" but that got me right messed up. Violent J and Lyte came in to join the party for a bit, too.

The Shark In The Water
One of my favourite moments was when I was just drifting along the water in my float drunk off my ass while watching Jaws and Piranha 3D projected on a screen. Some Juggalo was dressed up as a Shark swimming around and jumping out of the water and scaring people. Awesome times. Very chill. Met a lot of cool people just drifting about.

THE LOWS

The Heat
Holy f'n balls. That was some absurd heat going on in Oklahoma City. I'm from Toronto; this kind of heat is unheard of over here. Insane. Also caused everyone to sweat out any booze they were drinking almost instantaneously so we were drinking a whole lot more than we usually would have to stay drunk.

The Dust
"Dusty in Seventeen!" was a constant mantra being shouted among the campgrounds, constantly jabbing at this years official "Beamin' in Seventeen!" slogan in all the advertising. This dust got freakin' everywhere. You were constantly walking through a fog of dust until you reached the main stage. It sucked buying a hotdog and watching it get more coated in dirt with each second you left it uneaten. Each time a golf cart drove by it just made things worse.

The Juggalo Civil War

So, without getting into all the details there's pretty much a big split in ICPs fandom right now. ICP proteges, Twiztid, split from Psychopathic Records over some beef and took half the Psychopathic Roster with them. So not only were Twiztid, Blaze, & Boondox nowhere to be seen(and by extension, supergroups like Dark Lotus and Psychopathic Rydaz) but there was something kind of sad about hearing Juggalos with Twiztid tatts shout "F*ck Twiztid!" and the like.

The Cops
I never seen any of it first hand, but apparently the cops were being excessive douchebags to the Juggalos for no other reason than to be dicks. No real surprise there; that's kind of what the Juggalo March is all about. But considering previous Gatherings had next to no police involvement this kind of put a big wet blanket on the whole event for a lot of people.


All in all, I had an amazing time. Would I go again? I'm in no rush, but I wouldn't say never. Look, I'm not naive. I know there's things in the Juggalo world that is just straight up gross and off-putting like The Great Trash War of 2017 (and getting hit in the face with a vinegar filled water balloon wasn't my favourite thing in the world) but it was all good times. Glad I went
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