WHITE RIVER AMPHITHEATER, AUBURN, WA :: Kristie and I had a good time at the White River Amphitheater, where Eminem and 50 Cent headlined the 3rd Anger Management Tour. Also tagging along were a couple dozen other rappers on the Shady Records label. The concert was great when Em and Fiddy were alone performing their hits, but I was turned off whenever their respective entourages, D12 and G-Unit, took the stage. Five or more guys taking turns to shout little more than, "Seattle, make some %@#$& noise!" every 30 seconds is not a song in my book. Also annoying was the frequent cutting of the audio to let the audience sing. These guys are rolling in the benjamins, but they can't remix their own backup tracks to isolate the vocals and use a cross-fader? It sounded as bad as someone repeatedly pulling the plug for all of the speakers during every chorus. If you're going to charge $70 a seat, cut the amateurs out of the show, along with the video game ads, satellite radio station ads, vitamin water ads, clothing line ads and movie trailers. I think hip-hop is marketing itself to death.

Back to the good stuff: This was Kristie's second time seeing Eminem, and my first. 50 Cent was entertaining, but Eminem was the real show. He interacted frequently with the audience with funny anecdotes, critizing the tabloids, the president, and Mariah Carey. Mr. Slim Shady even played teacher with a "hip-hop 101" lesson. His stage design and effects were impressive. A movie was shown between sets to dramatize his backstage struggle to "go out with a bang" - the rumour is that he's retiring at the end of the tour.

Security was tight. We were caught trying to smuggle in our nicer camera. The guards politely asked us to check the camera in at the guest services counter to pickup after the show. Fortunately, I had my old digital camera stuffed in front of my shorts as a backup. I think it's ridiculous to ban cameras at a concert. Flash bulbs were still firing off a plenty, and everyone else had their cellphone cameras pointed at the stage.

The White River Amphitheater is only 30 miles from Seattle, but allow at least 90 minutes to get there. The single road through Auburn to Muckleshoot can't handle 20,000 concert-goers.