Festival Review: Chicago Open Air 2016 Day 1

There’s nothing quite like a music festival. As long time veterans of Rock on the Range and Louder than Life, the folks here at The Music Pill were extremely excited earlier this spring when the first annual Chicago Open Air was announced. This brand new three day festival was held on a beautiful summer weekend at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL (a Chicago suburb). It featured a spectacular lineup of hard rock and heavy metal bands from all over the world. The Music Pill was there all weekend, taking notes, snapping pictures, and digesting all the music so we could give you the gory details on how the weekend went down. If you missed the action, our goal is to make you feel like you were there to see the magic happen. If you WERE in Chicago that weekend, then this is simply an excuse to relive the madness.

To get us started, this post will cover Day 1 (Friday) of Chicago Open Air 2016. We’ll touch on many of the great bands that played on Friday, and split them up into three categories: rock solid shows, slight disappointments, and mind-blowing performances. Because of the logistics of the festival, we can’t review every band, but what you’ll find is a thorough analysis of a multitude of great bands from all different genres. Friday gave us fantastic bands like Periphery, Chevelle, Trivium, Meshuggah, In This Moment, and so many more, ending with the almighty Rammstein as the headliner.

Without further ado – here we go: Day 1 (Friday) of Chicago Open Air 2016, you are officially under way. Let’s do this.

Rock on the Range 2016: Lineup Announcement

Rock on the Range released it’s lineup on Monday, and after two days of letting it marinate, I had to get some thoughts down on what is sure to be a fantastic, record-setting weekend in Columbus. Rock on the Range is North America’s biggest rock festival, and they are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. For the eighth straight year, The Music Pill will be gathering our crew and heading from Indianapolis to Columbus to participate in the chaos.

Here is a breakdown of the lineup, including my opinion on the headliners, a breakdown of many of the middle-of-the-pack bands, a few bands that have something to prove, and some can’t miss bands that you may never have heard of. Hope you enjoy!

Concert Review: Amaranthe

Amaranthe, Butcher Babies, and Lullwater
November 5th, 2015
The Palace Theater – Stafford Springs, CT

As a fan of heavy music, I always look for unique and creative bands that separate themselves from the masses. I’m always looking for that band that stretches my understanding of music and genres and makes me think. Enter Amaranthe: a Swedish metal band that blends power metal, death metal, electronica, and pop-style vocals to create sound that makes you want to mosh and sing at the same time. They have great musicians, and feature three vocalists, using male/female co-lead singers to pair with a third vocalist who focuses only on screams. As I started digging into this band, I found myself becoming a really big fan. For the past several years, I’ve been trying to catch an Amaranthe show, and they just hadn’t played a show in the Midwest that worked with my schedule. However, I would finally get my chance to the see the mighty Amaranthe when their tour schedule and a work trip of mine crossed paths in a small town in Connecticut.

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!