Event: Otep at The Culture Room, July 10, 2010
Otep likes using the term "spiritual intercourse" to describe her concerts, and no term could possibly be a better fit. Every aspect of the show brings the audience together as a family of people slamming faces together.
The 3 bands listed originally as the opening acts (iwrestledabearonce, Bury Tomorrow and Stray From the Path) didn't appear at the Culture Room (there were rumors of an arrest in Augusta from one of the bands). Instead, the opening act was a local group named Saq.
As in balls.
That is seriously how the singer introduced his band. They were rowdy and enjoyable (the singer looked like a thinned out Dimebag Darrell and sang a bit like Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell), and gave a rousing cover of Metallica's Frayed Ends of Sanity. Most people just stood there, and the only people who really danced or moshed were the guitarist's family, who stood right next to me, and myself, out of courtesy (mostly during Frayed Ends of Sanity).
At around 10:30, Otep and her mancrew marched on stage. Otep, glowing in a "Save Me From BP" sleeveless shirt, walked up to her small pedestal and engaged the crowd in her typical surreal Otepisms before beginning the spectacular massacre. After each song, Otep would go to a special area near the drummer, put on a mask or grab a prop, and entertain the audience briefly before moving onto the new song. Her arsenal of props included devil horns, a plasticky-made-up face, a red bandana, a small top hat, a black plastic miniature baseball bat, and some sort of freakish fishnet mask. Evil J and Robert Patterson stayed unmasked for most of the show, but at certain points donned devil masks and Guy Fawkes masks. One of her monologues included 3 rules of Fight Club (unfortunately breaking the first two rules of Fight Club, which are simply "You do not talk about Fight Club."), before demanding we must fight during Confrontation.
When I started listening to Otep, my dad assumed and eventually insisted most of her growls were vocal effects. I had read stories about her vocal surgeries to defeat her arch-enemy "Jackson Polyp" (or was it Sarah Palin who was her arch-enemy?), and her speaking voice shows signs of wear, but beholding her mighty roar in person only confirmed that every growl, every scream, every cry for rebellion, every single word flowing forth is completely authentic. My throat was eroding just from listening to her. Or maybe it was because I was, like everyone else in the venue, screaming faithfully along with her. Otep skillfully uses her traumatic past as a catalyst for her lyrics, offering a sense of belonging to others with a similar past or a passion for self-expression and free thought.
Evil J, I'm pleased to report, was a very pleasant and friendly man, as I was honored to go behind the tourbus and... shake his hand. If it means anything, he has a very firm handshake and looked me in the eyes as I talked, and he even noted that he saw me rocking out in the front throughout the whole concert. To notice one silly little fan making a fool of herself in front of her Sapphic metal idol really shows Evil J's appreciation for his fans. Metal these days is disgustingly ego-crazed, so people like Evil J restore my faith in metal and in humanity. I wanted to take a picture with him, but unfortunately, he had to rush into the bus to put things away. Despite the scary faces he makes onstage, he was an absolutely wonderful person, and I regret not pulling out my camera sooner or having more time to talk with him.
Overall, Otep's spectacular massacre was a mind-shattering event played out by a fantastic group for strays and misfits all around, looking for a reason to fight on and stay true. The best reason is Otep.
A friend I made at the venue happened to procure the setlist (by nagging the security until they relented), and the "Spiritual Intercourse & Body Bruising List" was as follows:
Battle Ready
Sacrilege
Rise, Rebel, Resist
Blood Pigs
T.R.I.C.
Ghostflowers
My Confession
Crooked Spoons
Head
Smash the Control Machine
Encore: Breed
