Otep - Live at the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, NY [Sunday, 6/14/15] [Review]

Earlier this year, thanks to a great friend, I became an Otep fan and was invited to see them live in Syracuse. After obtaining Otep's entire discography and listening to it, I fell in love with songs such as "T.R.I.C.," "Ghostflowers," "Apex Predator," "Perfectly Flawed," "Rise, Rebel, Resist," "Sacrilege" (originally known as "The Lord Is My Weapon"), etc. The band is led by socially and politically conscious Otep Shamaya (a true rebel in every sense of the word), whose roaring and aggressive vocals essentially make the unique band what it is (the band is, after all, Shamaya's namesake). Seeing her live was an incredibly exciting experience, one that I won't ever forget. The only aspect of the show that I didn't like was that I felt that there were way too many opening bands. I don't remember the exact count, but I think that there were five or six. Even though I went to see Otep, the concert started at 7, and I didn't see her until around 10:30 or so. I didn't catch most of the bands' names, but I do remember Circle the Suffering, mainly because my friend's mom bought me their EP at the show as a belated birthday gift. I really didn't find most of the bands all that interesting, though, which was probably at least partially because the sound engineering was way off; the instruments were so much louder than the vocals, and I couldn't really make lyrics or even melodies out. Otep, on the other hand, was a different story because I fortunately knew the songs.

Otep came out on stage with the crowd cheering, louder, of course, than they did for any other band that had played that night. Otep came out wearing a sleeveless Otep shirt that was actually on sale at the merchandise table, reminding me a great deal of Marilyn Manson with her reptilian eyes (as pictured below, a photo taken from Otep's Facebook page). She opened with "Eat the Children," the opening track from the band's 2007 album The Ascension (which might be my favorite album of theirs). Most of the crowd seemed to know the song, as they sang along to the haunting intro: "Hush little baby; don't make a sound/Hush little baby; don't make a move/This is gonna hurt me more than you." One aspect of the show that I really enjoyed was the fact that Shamaya is a fantastic performer. She doesn't just stand in one place on the stage during a show; she is very active, moving about from one end of the stage to the other, pointing at the audience, jumping about, and so forth. In her book Quiet Lightning on the Noisy Mountain (which I am currently in the process of reading), Shamaya notes that performing live is very much like a religious ritual for her, and I could see that, especially with props such as a pig head for "Blood Pigs," flowers that she distributed to the audience for "Ghostflowers," a Guy Fawkes mask like that from V for Vendetta for "Confrontation," etc. She was very much into the music, very much into the performing, and very much into the experience in general.

I think that one of the very few cons of Otep's performance was that it doesn't seem like she changes her setlist very often. I recently watched a DVD titled Otep: Live Confrontation, which is several years old; the DVD was released in 2009, yet the setlist was pretty similar to that of the show that I attended. I was really hoping that she would perform what is probably my favorite Otep song - "Perfectly Flawed" - but she did not. I was also hoping for another one of my favorites - "Rise, Rebel, Resist" - but she didn't perform that one, either. As I said, the bulk of what she did perform, such as "T.R.I.C.," "Battle Ready," "Blood Pigs," "Confrontation," "Breed," "Filthee," etc., was also performed on that DVD that I watched. "Apex Predator" was the only song that she performed from the newest album Hydra, and while I do absolutely adore that song, both my boyfriend and I had been hoping that she would perform "Blowtorch Nightlight." The name of this tour is the Art of Fury Tour (I say is because it isn't over yet), and it doesn't seem like this tour's purpose is to promote Hydra. With that being said, however, I don't really mean to complain too much; the performances were awesome, and since I had just recently became a fan a few months ago and this was my first time going to an Otep show, it was really nice to see/hear an eclectic setlist.

My favorite performances during the show were "T.R.I.C." (which someone at the show was gracious enough to record and post to YouTube, as included below, even though the sound quality isn't the greatest), "Fillthee" (during which Otep sprayed the audience with fake blood, spraying me directly in the face twice), "Battle Ready," etc. The energy was especially high and evident in such performances. "Confrontation" was a lot of fun to see/hear, as well. What I did not like, though, was the mosh pit. When I go to a show (even a metal show), I just want to watch the performer and enjoy the show, not be disturbed and bothered by people being shoved into me. At one point, someone fell into me and spilled alcohol all over me. My boyfriend got kicked out near the end of the show because someone shoved him, and he shoved back. If moshing weren't allowed (which it shouldn't be, especially since it is dangerous), then ridiculous, out of line things like that wouldn't happen. Back to the point of this review, though, the band closed with their cover of the Nirvana song "Breed," which was a great performance, as well. There really was no performance that was bad. I had a great time (even though I couldn't hear for a couple of days) and certainly wouldn't mind seeing Otep again if she/they ever hit the area again. The best part, though? I got to meet Otep after the show; I shook her hand and even got several of my Otep CDs signed by her! (I had a photo taken of the two of us together but don't care to share it because I look terrible in the photo.)