Festival Primer: Chicago Open Air 2016

The inaugural Chicago Open Air festival, held this July 15-17 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL is sure to be a weekend of fantastic music. Headliners Rammstein, Disturbed, and Slipknot are surrounded by a host of high quality bands that run the spectrum from hard rock to heavy metal. An in depth analysis of the lineup was previously released by The Music Pill.

In addition to all the great bands, there are some really awesome activities surrounding the music festival that we wanted to share with you!! These activities include unique dining and drinking activities, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, as well as opportunities to catch even more music. Check out the info below directly from the festival producers for some details on all these great opportunities!!

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3

Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3 featured one of the most exciting and unique lineups in recent memory. Not only did it offer the chance to see several bands who were playing Rock on the Range for the first time, but from a genre standpoint, the lineup was all over the map. The main stage was a wild mish-mash of genres, especially early in the day, as we would be treated to bands like Highly Suspect (rock), Wolfmother (stoner rock), The Struts (English glam rock), Death from Above 1979 (dance punk), and many more. In addition, I was really excited about solid representation for punk rock, something that rarely happens at Rock on the Range. I couldn’t wait to see how the crowd reacted to bands like Anti-Flag and Pennywise. Finally, the day would close out with Bring Me the Horizon, Deftones, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, all of which had extremely high expectations to live up to.

Would this day be as good as it looked on paper? Would the metal-crazed audience at Rock on the Range appreciate the variety? Or, would they agree with many on the internet who complained that the day was way too “soft”. We fought off the headaches and sore backs and headed up to Mapfre Stadium to find out. Sunday was a beautiful day – after two days of rain and clouds and cold, it was sunny and warm with a cool breeze. It was the kind of weather that made you thank God you are alive, and thank Him even more that you were at a music festival. On a day like that, I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

Time for the pièce de résistance. Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3. Let’s do this.

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2016 Day 2

Rock on the Range 2016 started out with a bang on Friday (coverage here). Saturday stacked up to be just as good – bands like Parkway Drive, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, and Rob Zombie made the lineup feel a bit more metal-focused than the first day, at least on paper. That being said, the day was still chocked full of variety, with bands like Lacey Sturm, Aranda, Pop Evil, and Clutch to cleanse the pallet. We headed to Mapfre Stadium from our hotel, stopping at Kroger (as we do every single ROTR day) for a made-to-order breakfast and the ever-crucial Monster Rehab. I grabbed a poncho on the way out of the store on a whim, juuuust in case it decided to rain on Saturday. Best decision ever: As painful as it was to wear something with an Ohio State logo on it, it was totally worth it. (Sorry folks, but The Music Pill is in Indianapolis, in the heart of Hoosier country).

It rained pretty much all day on Saturday, but try as she might, Mother Nature couldn’t put a damper on Rock on the Range. Saturday’s crowd was every bit as rowdy and engaged as the crowd from the day before, in spite of the cold and rainy weather. As the day progressed, it turned into a sloppy mess, but that didn’t stop it from being a fantastic day of music.

Speaking of music – lets get to it! Following a similar format as the Day 1 (Friday) blog, I’ll discuss the shows that were rock solid first, and then move on to a few that were slightly disappointing. Finally, I’ll explore the shows that really blew my mind in a bit more detail, and try to describe what made them so great.

Day 2. Let’s do this!