Rock on the Range 2017: Lineup Analysis

We’re closing in on May, and that means that Rock on the Range 2017 is quickly approaching. ROTR is North America’s biggest rock festival and year after year, it has hosted the best lineup, the biggest crowd, and the best organization of any festival attended by The Music Pill. Quite simply, it sets the standard.

This will be the ninth straight year that The Music Pill is lucky enough to attend this great event, and I can assure you that there’s no shortage of excitement in this camp! In fact, we’re desperate for any excuse to turn our attention towards anything ROTR, and because of that, we’re releasing our in-depth Rock on the Range 2017 Lineup Analysis.

The past few years, we’ve channeled our obsessive focus on the weeks leading up to ROTR by providing a detailed lineup analysis. The analysis below is for people who may not know all the bands in this years lineup, newcomers to the ROTR festival, or other people who are desperate for a legitimate excuse to focus on how amazing this festival will be.

The Rock on the Range 2017 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: Glassjaw

Recently, a group of us headed up to Chicago to catch out Coheed and Cambria and Glassjaw at The Aragon Ballroom. A previous post covered the fantastic Coheed and Cambria show, as well as detailed what makes The Aragon Ballroom such a cool venue. (Check out that post here). Typically, we would have included some notes on the opener in that post, however, Glassjaw was really interesting, and so we felt it merited it’s own post. Here’s some notes!

As the resident post-hardcore fan of The Music Pill, Glassjaw is a long time favorite of mine. Over the years they’ve been through a variety of line up changes, but have always remained pretty true to their original sound. The latest incarnation includes bassist Travis Sykes and drummer Chad Hasty, both previously from Glass Cloud. It has been many years since I’ve seen Glassjaw, and this show was the first time for the current lineup, so I was cautiously optimistic. Glassjaw started their show with a medley of the first two songs off their album Worship and Tribute (Their best overall album in my opinion), “Tip your Bartender,” and “Mu Empire.” These two were a great combination of songs that feature lots of energy as well as catchy choruses. Guitarist Justin Beck has always had a very cool guitar tone, and it really cut through at the Aragon. Surprisingly, Daryl’s vocals were a bit more tame then usual, but sounded really good in the mix. As usual, his unique blend of scream/growls/clean singing was on point. New comers Travis and Chad, really seemed to fit the band’s latest sound and image, and I was impressed how tight they all sounded.

Concert Review: Coheed and Cambria

Coheed has been around for a couple decades now, and it didn’t take them long to climb up my list of favorite bands. In a music landscape where monotony is so common, bands like Coheed stand out because they create something so unique. Coheed’s creative engine, Claudio Sanchez, exudes artistic ability in nearly every way: he has great songwriting, boasts a one-of-a-kind singing voice, and even has created a complex comic series called The Armory Wars that their albums narrate. In addition, their live show is really something to be seen. They are currently on a trek with Glassjaw to support their latest album, which created a perfect opportunity to catch a great band, see Glassjaw for the first time, and scope out a new venue. So my gang hit the road for the monotonous drive up I-65 towards Chicago.

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)