Rock on the Range 2018: Lineup Analysis

Rock on the Range 2018: Lineup Analysis

We are ONE WEEK away from the festival of all festivals.  For many of my hard rock and heavy metal bretheren, May represents the beginning of festival season.  There are many great festivals all over the country that give fans a great chance to experience a weekend packed full of great shows.  The biggest, and arguably the best of any of these is the almighty Rock on the Range, which takes place May 18-20th in Columbus, OH.

We snagged our tickets prior to the lineup announcement, which occurred late in 2017.  This will be the tenth consecutive year that we make the trip from Indianapolis to Columbus to take in the weekend, and I have to tell you – I cannot wait.

I know that all of you are like me – you’re having trouble focusing on anything else as you look forward to one of the best weekends of the year.  In order to support that obsession, we are releaseing a last minute line-up analysis for Rock on the Range 2018.  The analysis below is for people who may not know all the bands in this years lineup and are looking for an opportunity to catch a new band that may become a favorite.  However, it’s also for those who know every song of every band, and are just looking for an excuse to think about Rock on the Range for an hour.  🙂

The Rock on the Range 2018 Lineup Analysis below provides a detailed look at the landscape for this year’s ROTR.  We provide commentary on what you might expect based on previous experiences, other shows and tours we’ve seen, and the current status of the bands.  The bands are grouped by the slot they were given:  the headliners, the top-tier bands, and the mid-tier bands.  In addition, we include some bands that have something to prove, and suggest some can’t miss shows that may not be on you radar.

Concert Review: Avenged Sevenfold

Concert Review: Avenged Sevenfold

Recently, The Music Pill got the chance to sneak up to Ft. Wayne, IN on a Tuesday night to check out a fantastic show at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The show featured four really solid bands. Swedish Metal band Avatar opened and were followed by Killswitch Engage and Volbeat. Filling out the bill was the explosive Avenged Sevenfold.

The review below compares Avatar and Killswitch to recent shows that I’ve already reviewed, and then dives a bit deeper on Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold. Hope you enjoy!

Concert Review: Rockstar Mayhem 2014

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!

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2014 – Day 2

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.

Random Thoughts: Epics

I’m often told that I’m far too quick to change the song while I’m in the car with other people. Often times, its only one chorus and a verse into a song before I’m reaching for the seek button to head off to the next one. This is ESPECIALLY true when a song is longer than it should be – if it’s longer than 4 minutes, it better be good or it doesn’t have a chance.

HOWEVER, occasionally, I come across one of these long songs that just really blows me away. These ‘Epics’ (a very technical term that I just made up) turn out to be some of my favorite songs, because in order for them to be great AND really long, they have to have something special or something unique about them that makes them really stand out.

So, I threw together a list of ‘Epics’ that I really like, and while they range from metal masterpieces to borderline broadway songs, they have two things in common: They are all really long songs (most 7-8 minutes), and they are all really unique and worth your time. If I’ve done my job, I hope you are intrigued enough to go check some of these out. I’d love to know what you think! (click on the song title for a link to the song on youtube)

Concert Review: Rockstar Uproar Tour Part 2

Concert Review: Rockstar Uproar Tour Part 2

Rockstar Uproar 2011
Verizon Wireless Music Center – Indianapolis, IN
9/17/2011

Status: We had just heard Sevendust crush the side stage, and Escape the Fate and Bullet for my Valentine do some damage on the main stage. Three powerhouse bands left, culminating with the legendary Avenged Sevenfold. I was on crutches in the pit, but the security guards let me take breaks and sit in the front row of empty seats in between acts (thank God), so I was feeling pretty good.

Take a deep breath. Here we go. Rockstar Uproar – bring it home.

Concert Review: Avenged Sevenfold

Concert Review: Avenged Sevenfold

Another weekend, another road trip, another great concert. A handful of friends and I were able to catch the Nightmare After Christmas tour in Cincinnati this past weekend. Not only did it give me an excuse to see some friends that live there, but it also happen to feature two of my favorite bands….one of which is Avenged Sevenfold.

This show proved to be one that I’m glad I didn’t miss.While I was very excited to see A7X again, I was a bit nervous about this concert. I’ve seen them before, but this was the first time since their legendary drummer passed away in December of 2009. I was quite interested to see how the band was progressing, and how their show had changed since the loss of a founding member and legendary drummer.