I was there.
I thought The Public Enemies were great.
Even the Apollo doesn't boo kids.
DJ Lord was phe-nom-en-al.
The crowd (at least the people near me) were pretty lame.
I liked the loose feel of the show. It was pretty chaotic. The end dragged on a bit though.
The S1Ws look like security guards now. And swords?! Pretty funny.
I don't give a shit how well Favor Fave's VH1 show did.
I hope I'm not on camera looking like a complete dork.

The crowd (at least the people near me) were pretty lame.

I was seated next to teachers of some of the prep-school kids, and ended up talking to them for a bit. ("Ice-T is such a nice man; he's been coming out to work with the kids three times a week," etc.) Later one of the teachers was standing on a chair listening to "Shut 'Em Down" with his fist raised Black-Power style, and VH1's cameras were all over that.

I liked the loose feel of the show. It was pretty chaotic. The end dragged on a bit though.

Yeah--during the last half-hour it looked like they were trying to run down the clock or something. I think part of that was also so that the cameramen could pick up audience reactions ("Okay, y'all--y'all make some noise! As much noise as you can--for thirty seconds!") for the show's editors to splice in to the prep-school kids' performances.

Ice-T is nice. Really, a good guy, it seems.

I think part of that was also so that the cameramen could pick up audience reactions
It may seems naive, but I think that's a bit cynical. I don't think PE would be down with taking directions like that. Seriously, they never have. It seemed to me they just did their thing and VH1 filmed it. And Flav did that same 30-second noise thing back in the day - it's just part of their show. Like any Hip-Hop show, they're just big on that call-and-response thing.

Ice-T is nice. Really, a good guy, it seems.

Yeah--on his way to the stage he stopped to talk to a little kid who was sitting at our table, bumping fists with him and so on. (The kid was thrilled out of his mind--he said, "I saw you on Law and Order!") And when he chewed out the audience members who were booing the kids, the teachers near me stood up and cheered for him.

It may seems naive, but I think that's a bit cynical.

Don't get me wrong--if there was any collusion, I think it was totally benign and well-meant. That said, the fact that the nature of PE's opening act was pretty much kept under wraps until just before the kids came on stage suggests that there was some sort of benign collusion between PE and VH1.

And if the show's episode were edited in some way to tone down the original audience reaction, I don't think that would necessarily be a bad thing. Not a shining moment for humanity, that.