Powerman 5000

with Static-X and Dope

Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, FL March 10, 2000

by Jen Lato

all photos by Jen Lato

Static X

On March 10th, I arrived at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg for my thrilling adventure that would take me out of this world. Powerman 5000 took their dedicated fans to a place somewhere between reality and fantasy, a place where lead singer Spider 1 would be our tour guide, and the rest of the gang were our "superheroes."

   The New York based band, Dope, began everyone's journey. Well, almost everyone's -- due to circumstances beyond my control, I unfortunately got caught in traffic on my way to the show from Orlando. I have seen them before though, and must say that they put on a great show. Their album, Felons and Revolutionaries , was released in September of 1999, and includes songs such as "Pig Society," which they announced last time that I saw them, was about police officers.

   Next up was Static-X from the city of angels, Los Angeles, California. These were no angels though, and I was not fooled. To be honest, the band's frontman, Wayne Static, scares the living daylights out of me just by his presence. But leaving that behind, the band put on a great show, which included songs from their album, Wisconsin Death Trip . The crowd seemed entertained while rocking out to their songs "Push It" and "I'm With Stupid."

Static X

   

Powerman 5000

Finally, the band of the night, Powerman 5000, appeared onstage. The pulsating beats of the music seemed to work as fuel to the energetic and crazed fans. Spider 1 went on for a moment in-between songs about the mysterious pole in the middle of the stage, and felt, "I am supposed to be here, but this pole is here -- now where am I supposed to go?" The band continued on to play the radio and MTV friendly hits "When Worlds Collide" and "Nobody's Real." Spider also questioned the crowd as to how many of them owned their previous album, Mega Kung Fu Radio . Seemingly content with the response, they proceeded with songs like "Tokyo Vigilante No. 1."

   Powerman 5000 gained a huge fan base from nonstop touring in support of their albums. They are highly influenced by sci-fi and horror movies, and have quite imaginative minds, which shows through very clearly in their stage shows and music videos. This tour, "The Rockets and Robots Tour 2000," appeared to be a huge success for the band, judging by the crowd at Jannus Landing. If you missed this show, you definitely missed out on a quite an adventure, and should not make that same mistake twice.

Powerman 5000