Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2016 Day 1

Simply put, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. For eight straight years, a contingent from The Music Pill has been traveling from all over the Midwest to meet in Columbus, OH the weekend before memorial day for North America’s biggest rock and metal festival. The weekend features nearly 60 bands on three stages over three days, and boasts a complete sell out audience of 120,000 for the weekend. It’s become the pinnacle of the concert season for me, and provided the setting for some of the most unique, memorable, and amazing shows of my long concert history.

Rock on the Range 2016 was no different – the festival celebrated it’s 10th anniversary this year, and did so in style by putting together their most unique and star-studded lineup yet. Staying true to it’s identity, the ROTR festival featured bands from countless sub-genres, resulting in a weekend that everyone could love. The three day festival boasted headliners of Disturbed, Rob Zombie, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Music Pill was there to capture it all.

As I’ve done the past couple years, I’ll do three separate posts – one for each day of Rock on the Range 2016. My hope is that by reading this, you either get to relive the madness that you experienced a few weeks ago, or you weren’t there, and you get so bummed that it finally convinces you to give ROTR 2017 a shot. If I’ve done that, I consider this coverage a major success.

So lets get rolling! Below is a detailed analysis of which shows were rock solid, which were slightly disappointing, and which ones blew my mind.

Happy Reading!

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: Rock on the Range 2012 Day 2

Rock on the Range 2012
Columbus Crew Stadium – Columbus, OH
5/19-5/2012

I’m just going to come out and say it. As I get older, it’s getting harder and harder to get up in the morning on the second day of Rock on the Range and be anything but exhausted. After drinking and sweating in the sun for about 14 hours on Saturday, we got about 6 hours of sleep before we got up, showered, and started all over again. But, if there’s anything to get me excited enough to overcome that exhaustion, it’s a day packed full of music. By 9:00 am we were back in the parking lot cracking our first beers and getting ready for the show.

The lineup on Sunday was much more exciting, as it featured considerably harder bands and seemed like it would be much more intense. The shows that day really did turn out to be fantastic, and as I look back on it, I could easily pick a top ten shows, but I again identified the best five in my opinion and gave a snapshot of them below.