5th Annual Cypress Hill Smoke Out Tour

November 23rd, 2002 @ The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Featuring: Cypress Hill, Snoop Dogg, Mudvayne, Tap Root, Face to Face, Adema, Kottonmouth Kings, Circle Jerks, 3rd Strike, The Used, Pharoahe Monch, Kool Keith, Finch, Poison the Well, MC Supernatural, Acyalone, Hemlock, RX Bandits, Kush.

Saturday November 23rd was a rather beautiful day in the Los Angeles area. The 5th Annual Cypress Hill Smoke Out Tour came to the Los Angeles Area for a one day event that continued on with its tradition: bringing an assorted line up of musical genius that includes hip hop, rock and electronic dance music. Thousands of music fans piled into the arena for the event, which was held for the first time in the Los Angeles City limits. Doors opened at 3:00 p.m., but you were lucky if you could even make your way through the dreadful traffic and lack of parking to arrive before six o’clock. The sun set just in time to welcome the majority of attendees to the event. Artists that had played earlier in the day included Black Holiday, Hemlock, Fourth Avenue Jones, Kool Keith, The Used and Kottonmouth Kings. The darkness brought such acts as Kush, Finch, Circle Jerks, MC Supernatural, Everlast, Adema, Led Zepagain, Poison the Well, Face to Face, RX Bandits, Mudvayne, Cypress Hill and Snoop Dogg finishing up the night.

Tommy Chong hosted the main stage of this blend of rock, hip hop and electronic dance which drew a diverse audience to the Coliseum. This melting pot of musical talent, as well as the intriguing acrobatics of the Metal Mulisha Freestyle motocross crew featuring X-games champion Brian Deegan, brought an assorted crowd as well. Though the crowd of fans were very diverse, everyone was there to share the same love and appreciation for one thing, music.

Poison The Well, November 23rd, 2002. 5th Annual Cypress Hill Smoke out tour @ the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Poison the Well followed the eccentric tribute to Led Zeppelin by Led Zepagain. The hardcore punk/metal band with an emotional touch took the stage at about 9:50. This band from South Florida gave the crowd what they were waiting for: a mixture of the hardcore screams followed by sweet melodies, which fueled the pits that formed immediately as PTW began to play. They started with the hit “Blotcha,” off their latest release Tear From the Red. Once the crowd got started they never stopped. Circle pits ravaged through the entire set list, which included tracks of the previous full length release The Opposite of December. Much to my surprise the crowd, which seemed to be hip hop fans waiting for the next MC to appear, received PTW with appreciation and admiration. The wide open space provided the opportunity for the pits to thrive through songs such as “Sacrifice,” “Sticks and Stones Never Make Sense” and the very popular “Nerdy,” which acquired the largest pit I’d seen all day. Poison the Well was just what the attendees of the event needed to re-energize the night.

Finch, November 23rd, 2002. 5th Annual Cypress Hill Smoke Out Tour @ the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Temecula’s Finch took the stage at around 7 o’clock. The first 3 rows of people were hardcore dedicated Finch fans, ready and waiting to see the band, which fuses hard rock and pop punk into the unique sound that has been exciting the music world. The rest of the crowd was a combination of left over fans from the metal hip hop group Kush, which performed prior to the So-Cal natives and bystanders who stopped to check out what was going on. I was captured by the energy that the tentatively young audience put off and the emotional filled performance of the band during the first song. Though I missed the name of the opener, every kid in the audience joined front man Nate Barcalow in singing this obvious crowd pleaser. Circle pits erupted in the following “Awake” and “Open Up My Eyes” from the recently released What It Is To Burn. During the next song, “Letters To You”, which was considerably the most popular Finch song of the night, every hand was placed in the air as guitarist Alex Linares requested “everybody watching, get the fuck up!” He didn’t need to ask more than once as every kid attending jumped in the air as Finch played their most lively song of the night. The crowd surfers, which were as frequent as the puffs of smoke that appeared in the air, continued through the well appreciated “Untitled.” The band, which consists of Nate Barcalow on vocals, Alex Linares and Randy Strohmeyer on guitar, Derek Doherty on bass and drummer Alex Pappas, finished with “What It Is to Burn.” The single, which will be released to air waves January 13, 2003, was a perfect way to finish their short but sweet set. Though one of the tougher audiences, Finch proved that they can get a crowd going and put on a good show despite the lack of a full venue of die hard fans.

-Interview by Katie Plourd