Rock on the Range 2015: Day 1

Seven years ago, I was 23 years old, just out of college, and had all the free time in the world. I was single, with no kids, and lived in an apartment. It was also the first year that a friend of mine happened to stumble onto some info about an up and coming festival called Rock on the Range. I’ve been in love ever since. This past weekend, for the seventh consecutive year, a group of my crazy, music-obsessed friends from all over the midwest (nine of us this year) piled into a rental van and headed to Columbus to catch the 2015 version of the mighty Rock on the Range. We were equipped with every tailgating accessory you can possibly imagine (planned to the minute detail), and a perfect concert weather forecast: clouds and a little tiny bit of rain.

As the festival has grown each year, so has my blogging effort. This year, like last, I will do three separate blogs on the three separate days of this festival. First up – a Friday lineup packed with great bands, and headlined by my favorite band, Slipknot. I was juiced when we got to Columbus, and even though some of us had driven all night to get there by 10am, I couldn’t get into the venue fast enough.

My only hope: that this year would simply live up to previous year’s incredible experiences. That’s no easy feat my friends. ROTR 2015 – I’ve been looking forward to you for exactly 362 days. Let’s do this.

Festival Review: Louder than Life 2014: Day 2

In between a major project at work, a new baby boy born on September 2nd, and the holiday season coming up soon, I was able to squeeze in a quick day trip to Louisville with some friends to catch Day 2 of the inaugural Louder than Life festival. This festival is basically a little brother of Rock on the Range, as it is put on by the same people and features many of the same bands.

My overall opinion of the festival was that it was fantastic. I only got to see the second and final day, but in terms of organization and design of the venue, they did an exceptional job for a first year festival. The layout did have one major challenge in that it was too linear, and the restrooms were what felt like a mile walk from the stage, but they overcame that by great sound, and awesome local food and Kentucky Bourbon to bring the Louisville flair out. This looks to be a festival for a long time to come.

Now, on to the bands!

Concert Review: Linkin Park/30 Seconds to Mars

Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars
Carnivores Tour – August 29th, 2014
First Midwest Bank Amphitheater – Chicago, IL

I bought tickets 15 minutes after I saw this show was going to happen. I was in a conference room at a client site and saw the notification come across (Thanks Bandsintown!), texted a friend, and pulled the trigger. It’s amazing how willing I am to drop $175 and book a hotel and drive to Chicago, but this was such a unique opportunity to see these two bands together. Originally, I thought this was a strange pairing – Alt Rock legends 30 Seconds to Mars with Nu-Metal giants Linkin Park, but I later learned that the pairing was at the request of the LP fans. Kudos to them for this suggestion – it ended up as a great one.

Concert Review: Rockstar Mayhem 2014

I look forward to Mayhem each year, because when you live in Indianapolis, it’s your only opportunity for a metal festival. Previous years’ shows have been fantastic, highlighted by an extremely memorable performance by Slipknot in 2012. Mayhem consistently brings a solid lineup of bands across the entire metal spectrum, as well as lots of different flavors of metal, and gives an all around great experience into the current landscape of metal music. This year featured sets from Texas Hippie Coalition, Mushroomhead, Miss May I, and Emmure, and more on three side stages, paired with headlining shows from Trivium, Asking Alexandria, Korn, and the mighty Avenged Sevenfold.

So here goes nothing. Mayhem 2014 – bring it!

Rock on the Range 2014: Festival Headliner – Kid Rock

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a big Kid Rock fan in high school…but then again, I was also a big Nelly fan in high school. You could say that my musical tastes have….shifted a bit. I was looking forward to this show in almost a joking way. I mean, how can Bawitdaba not be fun live? I figured I’d drink some beers, sing American Badass at the top of my lungs, and it’d be a great way to cool down after an awesome and tiring weekend. I just never thought it would be a big deal. Interestingly enough, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way – on Saturday Night when M. Shadows asked who was excited to see Kid Rock, the question was met with an overwhelming “Meh” from the crowd. So that made me curious – would the show live up to the expectations that M. Shadows was trying to set, or was the A7X front man simply doing his duty as a festival headliner by trying to artificially inflate.

Kid Rock answered that question in an epic 2+ hour event that absolutely blew my mind. It was so good, I felt that cramming it into the previous ROTR Day 3 blog wouldn’t do it justice, and that demanded it’s own post. Listen, it doesn’t matter if you are a “Kid Rock Fan” or not. This show was transcendent, and was worth every penny I spent on Rock on the Range, even just by itself. In writing about it, I only hope that I can do it justice, because if I come even close to that, you’ll see why Kid Rock is an absolute must for every live music fan to see. So, read on, and then go buy a ticket, and see it for yourself. You can thank me later.

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2014 – Day 3

Day 3 of Rock on the Range. Getting up on Sunday Morning and putting on Sunscreen, I a little bit felt like I was going to fall over. My back was really tight and my calves and ankles were just angry. But, you know what they say – “When in Columbus…” So, I laced up the shoes, grabbed my flask, and said “Thank you sir, may I have another?” By 10am, we were grilling marinated chicken breasts, drinking apple pie, and passing around our our ceremonial Boones Farm in the parking lot of glorious Columbus Crew Stadium. Although I was tired, my excitement built as the lineup for Sunday was really solid. It featured Trivium (one of my favorite bands) and lots of bands I’d be seeing for the first time, including a wild-card closer in Kid Rock. Plus, it was one of the most beautiful concert days I can remember (78 and Sunny). ROTR 2014 Day 3 – finish this baby off strong. Here we go!

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2014 – Day 2

Rock on the Range Day 2. As I gathered my old, nearly-30 year old self up on Saturday morning to get in the shower at 8am and get ready for the day (which included recovering from some ill-advised White Castle sliders the night before), I’d be remiss if I didn’t utter “man…this thing used to only be two days…”. But, nonetheless, I was excited, and we were out in the parking lot at 9am, getting the grill ready and preparing for a great day of music. This would prove to be one of the strongest days of the weekend, and one that came out of nowhere a bit with some great side stage bands.

Without further ado – Here’s Rock on the Range 2014 Day 2 broken down.

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2014 – Day 1

Another year, another great Rock on the Range. Last week, a group of us headed to Columbus, OH for our sixth consecutive Rock on the Range – North America’s biggest rock festival, and an epic three day event featuring 3 stages, over 30,000 fans a day, and some of the most incredible performances I can remember. The thing that makes ROTR great is it’s variety – there’s hard rock, old school metal, metalcore, and everything in between, and it’s all on stage at the most well-planned, well-executed, and affordable festival in North America.

This is the first of a series of posts that I’ll write about the weekend – because of the number of bands, the nature of the three day festival, and the amount of awesome that they cram into one weekend, one post simply won’t cut it. This one in particular will focus on Friday and the bands that kicked off the weekend strong. Keep in mind that I can only write about the bands I chose to see at the festival – set times do overlap, so there are bands that I missed, but I like to think I make pretty good decisions on which way to head. 🙂

Concert Review – Mayhem Festival 2013

Rockstar Mayhem Tour 2013
Klipsch Music Center – Indianapolis, IN
7/26/2013

As usual, the Mayhem tour was packed full of great bands. Young metal, prog metal, old school metal, Rob Zombie metal (?), and everything in between was slated to be a part of this show. Thanks to some freakishly cool weather, it was a partly cloudy, 75 degree day in the middle of July – a perfect setting for me to muster up some of my energy and rock out for the day!

Mayhem – lets do this!

Concert Review – Rock on the Range 2013

Rock on the Range 2013
Columbus Crew Stadium – Columbus, OH
5/19/2013

So, lets be clear. My effort at ROTR 2013 was pretty piss poor. I missed most of the weekend due to a family obligation (which ended up being really fun, so I’m not mad). BUT….due to some luck and circumstance and forcing my in-laws to drive 35 minutes out of their way, I ended up getting dropped off at midnight on Saturday in Columbus OH…and I met with my ROTR groupies, crashed on their floor, and was (the only one) up early and AMPED for Sunday’s shows.

I won’t go into what bands I missed on the other days, because it’s about a thousand amazing bands. But….I did get to see the likes of Skillet, Sick Puppies, Volbeat, Sevendust, In This Moment, Lamb of God, Device, Soundgarden, and Ghost B.C.

So, plenty to see and talk about. ROTR 2013 – You’re on.