Spicoli’s hosts wild night of music, moshing

By: Kaleb Bengston

Red and white lights flashing and people slam-dancing, throwing bodies asunder and jumping to the hard riffs of the music. The mosh pit two rows from the stage was a mess of flung saliva and spilled beverages. The jumping crowd and smell of an explicit substance overwhelmed the senses as Dope, a band from Los Angeles, rocked out on stage. The nu-metal band, a genre formed from a fuse of hip hop and thrash metal, clothed in American flags and dreadlocks, sent the crowd into a frenzy with popular song after popular song.

Spicoli’s, a bar and grill just on the edge of the Cedar Falls border on University Avenue, wasn’t that full for Dope, but then again not many people know Dope. It was 6:45 p.m., and there was hardly anyone in there, minus the band members wandering around and talking to people. It was surreal to see someone who had somewhat made it famous just walking around like normal people.

At 7 p.m. the opening bands started playing. A bad solo artist, cleverly named “Cheesus” as a play on Jesus, was first up. His music was a rip off of other’s rap music just in a heavier voice. Most people then went outside for a cigarette and eventually Cheesus got off the stage. Cheesus was followed up by a decent band called “The Rumors” who come right out of Waterloo. Still very few people, but the band was good and people started to get up from their tables and come forward.

At around 8:15 the third band came out, and they looked to be in their mid-40s and you could hear the collective groan of the loss of youth. But the first song brought the energy back with the heavy guitar, brutal screaming and catchy choruses.

At this point the black-haired, heavily pierced people started coming in, and it looked like the kind of concert everyone came to see. The fourth and final band before Dope came on and played a heavy, punk-like music and got the rest of the people to come forward.

The lights went down and the bar got smokey, let’s just say from smoke machines. The drummer came on the stage first with his face painted and dreadlocks hanging messy. The backdrop turned on, surprising everyone with an LED American flag with the band name in the foreground. Edsel Dope, the lead singer, walked out with a flying-V guitar and asked how we were doing, a choice word or two put in his question. Everyone screamed and the bass guitar player strung out a chest shaking chord and walked out, followed by the lead guitar.

They rocked the club for about two songs before one of the two pedals on the bass guitar broke and Edsel was forced into a monologue. Ten minutes passed trying to fix the pedal and Edsel teasing and having the whole crowd just stare at the drummer to make him uncomfortable. Eventually they were wrapping it up and he had his “stage cannabis” and fired it up, followed by a not-so-convincing assurance that it was just stage weed.

The concert came back to life with the fixed pedal and started the show back up with their hit song with a name that cannot be mentioned in a school paper. The crowed was back to sweating, jumping and shaking a select finger at the stage. The lyrics played on the bright LED screen, along with video clips from music videos. Hair was flying, beer was spilling and music shook your eardrums as the concert continued on.

I got involved in a mosh pit for a little bit, got knocked over and immediately picked up so I wasn’t trampled. Even though the concert goers were either scary looking or burly, they were decent people helping to protect the women and people who just wanted to watch the show and not get run into by the slam-dancing rockers.

At the end of the concert, sweaty and sore, the band assured that they were working on a new album and that it would be released shortly, as they haven’t released an album since 2009. Sore and happy, everyone started to pile out of the bar or stay after to hit the merchandise and have some drinks. That concert was pretty dope.