Hed(pe)

^{Cypress Hill's SMOKEOUT
Oct. 7th 2000 @ Orange Show Fairgrounds
San Bernardino, CA.}

You can’t just start a review of the Smokeout without going into why we have to have a Smokeout in the first place. Due to our Greedy Government, Big Business And a little good old-fashioned Racism. A all Natural plant with beneficial herbal properties has been outlawed for about to last 60 years. Here are just a few examples of the benefits of Weed. An acre of Cannabis-Sativa could provide as much paper making material as acre of Trees, and it could provide it Every year as opposed to about every five years for trees.  Ropes made of hemp are just as sturdy as a chemically produced nylon ropes. Why is it that we have to have Commercials on every channel trying to stop people from smoking themselves to death with the much more addictive Nicotine cigarettes. Or Drinking themselves into a slurring obnoxious drunk, bent on beating his wife our who ever else is around. Yet these are “Legal Drugs” meaning the government has the ability to Tax them and make a nice profit off of peoples addictions. But that’s ok or is it? Have you ever heard of someone selling their house or body to get a bag of weed, I haven’t?  That’s why the Coolest motherfuckers around took it upon themselves the help do their part. The Mo FO’s I am talking about is the one and only Cypress Hill.  This is their legacy, this is the Smokeout. With punk, hip-hop, rap, reggae D.J.’s Spinning and a few hybrids off all of the above all in the name of weed. It’s a beautiful thing!

Hed(pe) was the first band i was able to catch on the main stage. When Ozzy ask you to go on tour, then Slipknot takes you on board for a little tour, than Cypress hill grabs you to do the Smokeout you know the bands got some juice!  Hed (pe) is fronted by Jahred aka M.C.U.D.  The out of control supa freak that mesmerizes the ladies and pisses of the guys.

 The band is touring on “Broken” their sophomore release on east coast Jive Records. Playing their own style of the hip-hop adiddas core metal that earned them a rather auspicious reputation over the last few years.  They played “Killing Time” and the radio played soon to be video hit “Bartender.”  With a retrofitted look and always-present energetic stage show, it’s only a matter of time till Hed (pe) (the p.e. stands for planet Earth) will be playing the headliner’s spot instead of the warm-up.

After the great set by Hed(pe) I decided to grab a bite to eat, and find a beer stand before the crowds become unbearable… oh yeah the crowds were already unbearable.  The stands were a mix of music, marijuana, and fair style condiments stands.  There were some of the finest pieces of… ah.. Tobacco smoking pipes I had seen in awhile. Every style and color of  blown glass bongs, bubblers, and pipes and just about everything else you could want for your head.  The food was sorta of a let down for 40’000 munchies crazed people but a stoner will eat about anything when he’s high so I guess I doesn’t matter if the cuisine was up to snuff. I didn’t mind after the second chronic joint floated my way.

The Long beach Dub All Stars were coming up next to the main stage area. I have always liked the dub all-stars music, its cross between reggae/Latin/groove all rolled into one fatty of kicking music.  Perfect for smoking a fat joint and just kicking back. But their stage presence is definitely lacking in energy and spontaneity. They sorta just go through the moves and let the music do the work. They played a all their KroQ favorites, the crowd swaying like Jamaican vacationers. After checking out about half their set I decided to go check out the D.J. oriented stages to see what was going on.

   The Second stage was designated as the all around stage, D.j. spinning in between rap and reggae and occasional rock style band. I had popped in a couple times only to find a few hundred people getting high in the dark un-security laden room. It struck me as Strange that for the most part Pot smoking was going on unabated, but I did watch a few people being busted for pot possession offenses? Are we not at the Smokeout a festival dedicated to getting high? Some things I’ll never understand that would be like getting in trouble for gambling in Vegas! Oh well I took in a very spiritualistic set from Burning Star a pretty good reggae roots style band.

Taproot was the next band up in the second stage room where D.j. music was spinning and a large crowd was starting to form for the first time. Taproot is a four-piece band out of Michigan with a very heavy expermetal style. If I had to say who they reminded me of, I would say a real hard Faith no More with some the new hard-core sound.  They played songs off their latest release “Gift” that garnered the biggest crowd of the day for the second stage area. I was sort of shocked to see how small the turnout’s was for some of the D.j. and rap bands on the smaller stages.  But that didn’t apply when taproot was up tearing up the stage.

       After taproots energizing set I decided to venture off to the third, or D.j. only stage. This room was pretty much a non-stop rave room. A little light on the laser and decorating but heavy on the in you face thumping bass that you associate to the rave scene.  There was D.j. mixing and spinning wax, while a few of the veteran dancers showed of their moves. And the trippers danced and twirled their glow sticks enjoying their own personal trailing light show. The room was only a quarter filled most of the time; maybe it packed later on in the night when all the ravers actually come out to play. Who knows?

I had to high tail it back to the main stage so I could catch Pennywise organize another near riotous set. I was their at the Dennis Dannell show where Fletcher asked everyone to come on down to the front. The next thing I know I have rows of permanent seating being passed over my head and photographers were being literally crushed into the barrier.  Pennywise paid for the broken seating but the seeds of anarchy were sown. This show was a little less insane because there were no seats to be torn out. But that would be about the only difference, the outcome was the same. As people spilled into the security zone, they were instantly met with some of the most inept security that I had ever scene. I just need to get this off my chest, the Olympic Security service that were controlling the main stage security were completely over-reactive when the crowd got a little crazy.  Like pennywise singer said after the first song “were a punk band if ya hadn’t noticed” You have to expect a little crowd surfing at a show as packed as this one was. Next thing you know kids are being thrown in headlocks and pushed around. Oh well back to a great set from Pennywise Fletcher and they guys played old tunes and new tune’s and covered a Nirvana cover of “Territorial Pissings” and a cover of The Beastie Boys “ Fight for Your Right.”  Buy far it was the high point of the night so far but Limp Bizkit was up next.

  Limp was added on the show late so they got a little jobbed on their starting time.  It must have bugged them to because, I’t took the band like an extra 20 minutes to come on, making an already long night even longer. But in Rock Star Fashion Limp Bizkit came on to an amazingly energetic crowd response.   They played all the hits that made them the super draw that they are today. With Fred Durst running the show like a seasoned veteran that he is. And the band really had the pyrotechnics guy doing their job. Amid the Flash pods and Addidas Rock hiphop of Limp Bizkit, the crowd was poring into the front security area now. Some to have fun some, to escape being crushed against the barrier. Wes Borland the always-changing man, an enigma wrapped in mystery, and shrouded in the shadows of the Effervescent face of Fred Durst the literal walking publicity machine. With a Ferris wheel spinning in the background Wes Borland’s clean hypnotic guitar work and myriad of different looks made the show worth going to alone.  All in all the set left the crowd depleted of their energy, on a long day, filled with long drags off their clean new pipes.

A system of down would be the next band to take the main stage. Although Pennywise and limp are going to be hard acts to follow. The sun was starting to fully set and the daytime festival was taking on a cooler nighttime feel. The stage lights were adding doing there part to add to the carnival ambiance as singer serj and the rest of A System of Down were ready to take advantage of the ample stage space and cooler temperatures. I’ve never been a big fan of political music of most types, so I really haven’t really gotten into System as much as the next guy. But I can say that they are as a whole quite the showmen when it comes to their live performance. Singer Serj Tankian is a dynamic performer who literally portrays the feeling his enigmatic music pertains to.  Though a little bit of a let down after the high-energy shows of Limp Bizkit and Pennywise. I can definitely say they gave a very good performance considering the crowd was on hour about 12 right now.

Now I don’t know what strings 311 pulled to get the sweet spot right before the headliner, but they definitely made the best of it. High-energy poppy music with the stoner hip-hop flare, that SA, and P-nut and Chad are best at. Though they haven’t done much as of late, the crowd was really receptive to all their old hits that were on a regular rotation on KROQ for so many years. Songs like “Grassroots” got all the stoners sparking up newly but glass pieces and asking, “Who’s got the Herb?” But the crowd was getting tired people were passing out and all of a sudden it was Sunday morning not Saturday night. And the headliner was just starting to set up.

This was Cypress hills gig and I’m happy too say that most everyone stayed to see the venerable kings of hardcore hip-hop. Sen dog (senan Reyes), Dj. Muggs (Lawerence Muggerud), B-real (Louis Freese), and for the last 6 years bobo have been playing to all styles of audience, and preaching the word on herb. Cypress hill’s trio of singing voices always keeps it fresh and active. They pace from side to side like convicts in their cells, pissed and wanting freedom. The freedom they wanted on this day was the freedom to smoke good old Cannabis-Sativa. Cypress hill’s trio of singing voices always keeps it fresh and active.

 I had been fighting the system all day by smoking, walking and drinking since noon, needless to say I was spent as hell so I listened to the Street laced lyrics of the trio from the east coast via Havana while making my way through the thousands of supercharged fans still ready to party. I must be getting old.  But I had a sweet 3 footer to pick-up before they packed up with my money. So I was off for the carnival zone to pick up my goodies and headed for the parking lot to do battle with buzzed and tired drivers

Words: Tim Buctoo          Pics: Scott Wulfestieg