Big Krizz Kaliko made a special appearance in La Pine, Oregon on July 31st for the first annual NorthWest Phuket Phest. The event is run by Paul Cardosi and Susan Owens Grubb of Portland, OR. The festival started on July 30, 2010 and continued through Aug 1, 2010. The festival included a three day camp out, daily musical guests, and vendors featuring many different kinds of foods and unique wares to purchase. On the first day of the festival most of our group tried to settle in, setting up camp and getting to know the people around us. We took time to check out the local merchandise and to find out who would be playing that night.

The night featured some local opening bands and a few highlights, like Bad Habitat, Big Hass, and St Dog from Subnoize. The excitement from the crowd was proving to be intoxicating and people really enjoyed the music and the laid-back style of the event. Music ended around 3 AM and most everyone called it a night. The next morning came quick for those of us who stayed up arond the campfire with St. Dog and Hass talking about that night’s set and how excited we were for things to jump off tomorrow and for Big Krizz Kaliko to play. After the sun came up we all called it a night and headed to bed.

Day two started off around 10 am. People slowly emerged from their tents and campers and a local couple played calming 60’s style guitar music on the main stage. My camp started making coffee and nursing the headache that comes with to much fun the night before. Many of our artists found that the first night may have been over done and settled in for some scrambled eggs and bacon that I began to make on the grill. We sat around in anticipation of the night to come. Tonight’s set would feature many acts that we had all traveled far to see. The night would start off with Public Drunkin sex playing a rap/hip hop set that brought the crowd to a roar. Six Feet Deep, from Bellingham, were next with some horror core rap sets. Then Tragedy took the stage and ended the night with an anthem to the festival, Fuck ‘Em all. At this time Krizz Kaliko had arrived and was getting ready to take the stage. People were in an uproar and were unable to contain their enthusiasm for this set.

Big Krizz Kaliko sprung on stage with an energy like no other I have seen. He commanded the attention of everyone in the audience and mesmerized all that looked on. I was filled with excitement and butterflies in my stomach as he started singing hits that I had waited all night for. Big Krizz gave the crowd a treat by singing a section of “City to City”, blew everyone away with “Anxiety”, and had me hopping up and down with “Back Pack” (one of my personal favorites). He also brought the crowd a taste of “Misunderstood”, a hit from Genius. Big Krizz’s performance on stage was inspiring and him and his hype man, Irv The Phenom, delivered the sound and choreographythat left you needing more. After Big Krizz came off stage the night finished off with incredible songs from Knothead and Dirtball (who is rumored to have wrote some of the songs he played just for the show).

All in all the show was a major hit and rumor has it that the show will be an annual event. A little bird told me that they are hoping to get Tech N9ne and many more Strange Music artists out for the show next year, but only time will tell. All I can say is if you missed it, you missed out big on the Kaliko set, but if you haven’t heard some of these incredible songs, pick up his latest album Genius now and get ready for more music from his new album, Shock Treatment, coming out September 14. This will be a must have for any Krizz Kaliko fan. To learn more about Krizz Kaliko and how he came to be with Strange Music check out the article “Krizz Kaliko: On his way to ‘Genius'”.