First of all, I have to pay major respect to the staff at the Starland Ballroom, they are amazing!  The best staff I have ever had to deal with.  The opening band was Severance and that's all I'll say, because they SUCKED!  Twisted Method came out next!  Tripp was all sparkly and Ben was in Red.  They were awesome!  They opened with The End and closed with Mannequin.  In between that, was Reach, Rot, Too Late (the newest song) and I believe Awkward Silence, don't remember the rest. 

              

Tripp came running out on stage wearing a straight jacket!  All "glammed" with glitter and furry pants (which his mommy makes for him).  Tripp has a way of singing right to you without even looking at you.  Derek plays the bass as if he is making love with it. He's incredible and you can tell he loves what he does.  Andy plays the guitar as if he's not even playing. He's just so good and free with it.  Ben has the best faces while kickin' ass on the kit.  His technique is amazing.  No matter whether you like their sound or not, you will be mesmerized by all of their energy and stage presence.  For the 30-45 minutes that they played, all you could do was keep your eyes glued to the stage and sing along to the songs.  I actually found myself holding back from blinking my eyes so I wouldn't miss a second.  If you glanced over to Andy, you would see him either going nuts on the guitar or goofing around with the audience through eye contact and of course the wild use of his tongue!  The energy level was unbelievable!  Everyone was absolutely INSANE! The audience was just going nuts for Twisted Method!  They had more surfing going on than any of the other bands after them. (I didn't stay for Mushroomhead).  This was by far, the BEST performance yet! Hi-lights of their performance was the straight jacket that Tripp wore opening up the show!  Ben in Red.  Derek making love to the bass as he played. Andy goofing around with the audience. "Too Late", their newest song is now my favorite Twisted Method song! Very anxious to hear what else they have in stored for their next CD!  Major hi-light, the Jersey Crew singing along to the songs and paying insane respect to the well deserved musicians of Twisted Method.  To say they made a lot of new fans, is an understatement from the audience's reaction!                                                                                                               

Dope was next and they ROCKED!  Seriously!  They were awesome!  Not as good as TM, but good!  This is the second time I am seeing Dope and they are awesome live, but the energy level is not there.  Or maybe it's because they go on after Twisted Method, I'm not sure.  However, they are a band you definitely need to see Live! 

                                       

After Twisted Method & Dope performed, the members went by the merchandise table and greeted their fans with photos and autographs.  Each member was gracious to every fan!  If you took a photo with Edsel Dope, I can just about guarantee you, he has 1 eye shut or half way shut! It's just a "thing" I guess he does.  If you took photos with Twisted Method, you most likely have them with some pretty funny faces or they have the "showing their teeth" smile going on!  Either way, you have memory of a life time and a photo to prove it! 

Twisted Method is currently working on a video for their single "Reach" and Dope is currently on tour with Mushroomhead through May 15, 2004 and will start their own headlining tour on May 15, 2004 in Ottawa, IL.  You can purchase Twisted Method's latest CD, Escape From Cape Coma at http://www.twistedmethod.com/giftshop.htm and for Dope's tour dates check out http://www.dopearmy.com!

~Becky