The Gathering of the Juggalos throughout the years has become one of the most unique and crazy events the world has ever known.
The festival was started by Robert Bruce, Insane Clown Posse (ICP), and their label Psychopathic Records in the year 2000, and hasn’t stopped since. The 24-hour outdoor rap and rock music festival is lovingly referred to as the greatest family reunion on earth, according to their site. Now in its 17th edition, the festival sees an ever-increasing number of visitors every year, and with four days of madness, this one is expected to be the biggest ever.
The GOTJ has seen many venues in the past, but it has stuck to Ohio’s Legend Valley for the last couple of years, and the 2016 edition will happen at the same place.
Here, thousands of Juggalos (that’s what ICP’s fans are called) from around the world completely let go as they gather for four days and nights with uninhibited joy, as they celebrate their existence on the grandest scale possible. Here, you will find a bizarre, carnival-like jubilee, featuring concerts, wrestling, comedy, carnival rides, contests, autograph signings, gaming, late night parties, and a lot more.
The festival has seen several eminent personalities and performers on its various stages over the years, most notably Vanilla Ice, Bone Thugz-n-Harmony, Charlie Sheen, Tech N9ne, Wolfpac, Afroman, Lil Jon, Xzibit, Cheech and Chong, and many, many more.
ICP also happen to be professional wrestlers themselves, which explains why the festival has professional wrestling live shows from their own promotion, Juggalo Championship Wrestling. The promotion is all about hardcore wrestling, and has seen special guests from the pro wrestling world. This year, they’re bringing in Jeff Hardy (!), Tommy Dreamer (!!!) and ‘The Monster’ Abyss to wrestle in their Bloodymania event during the gathering, which will also feature several other wrestlers from JCW and the indies.
The GOTJ will feature 4 stages this time, along with a couple of tents on the side for seminars and autograph signings. Three stages are dedicated to musical bands, while the fourth stage is reserved for JCW’s main events. All the events usually start by 1pm, and they go on till 4am the next day.
This off-beat festival is also an entirely sponsor-free event, giving them full freedom to unleash their creativity. To make things even better is the fact that this year is the 17th Gathering, which is a sacred number that has always resonated deep within the Juggalo world.
(Courtesy: Facebook / GOTJ)
It’s not a camping festival; information on hotel bookings is available on their website, and there are several options to choose from.
From the looks of it, if you’re tired of the same old music festivals you go to, The GOTJ is a serious breath of fresh air. Ideally, keep it in your bucket list of festivals to go to, because there isn’t anything remotely similar to the GOTJ, and there might not be anything similar in the future.