Rocklahoma 2015: Day 1

June 3, 2015 Publisher Concert Reviews 2015 Comments Off

by Zane Cash
– Photojournalist –

May 22, 2015 in Pryor, OK.–

Every Memorial Day weekend, music fans make their way to Pryor, Okla., for the biggest three-day party to take place in the middle of a cow pasture. Even with rain in the forecast for all three days, fans showed up with their rain boots on, ready to ride out the storm in their tent, if necessary. This is the kind of festival that keeps fans coming back for more, year after year. Most ticket holders purchase tickets before they even know the lineup, simply because they know that they will have a great time, regardless of the bands or the weather.

This was the ninth year for the festival, and it continues to grow each year. A lot of new roads had been added on the property, as well as a sidewalk for fans. VIP campers didn’t have to share showers with General Admission campers this year, as they had their own extremely nice showers, located in VIP camping. VIP and General Admission also had their own general store this year, with items like Zig-Zags or rain ponchos, if you happened to forget yours at home.

Fans got lucky on Friday, and the rain didn’t cause any cancelations or delays, and that made for a great day of Metal and Rock ‘n’ Roll. The rain-free lineup on Friday included: Godsmack; Slayer; Papa Roach; In This Moment; Ministry; Apocolyptica; We Are Harlot; Nonpoint; Young Guns; Butcher Babies; Upon A Burning Body; Like A Storm; Wayland; Ivy Stone; Warlock Texas; Aska; Dead Metal Society; Lynam; Ragdoll; Lola Black; Ruff Justice; Kingdragon; Nicnos; Vilifi; Drek; Kingshifter; Even The Dogs; Sovereign Dame; and Kirra.

There also were two stages outside of the venue that had live music until 3 or 4 a.m. A lot of talented up-and-coming bands were rocking those stages all night long.

Everyone knows that the party at Rocklahoma can be found at Camp Jager after the venue closes each night. Bands like Mach22 and DRYVR gained a lot of new fans by playing this up-close-and-personal stage. It gives artists a chance to meet and hang out with their fans and sell a little merch, too.

Some of the highlights from Friday included Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach making his way into the crowd, as he always does to dance with fans and security. He also was joined on stage by Maria Brink of In This Moment for an epic performance of the new Papa Roach single, “Gravity.” Metalheads from Texas, Upon A Burning Body, performed its version of “Turn Down For What” and had the crowd jumping up and down, and that set the mood for the rest of the party. Slayer sounded amazing, as expected, and the band played crowd favorites, such as “Seasons in the Abyss,” “Raining Blood,” “South of Heaven” and “Angel of Death,” to name a few. It has to be mentioned that there was an extremely epic drum solo with Sully and Shannon from Godsmack. They put on such a great show as the main headliner for Friday that fans were not even thinking about the chances of rain for Saturday and Sunday. Godsmack played songs from its newest album, as well as crowd favorites, ” Cryin’ Like a Bitch,” “Awake,” “Voodoo,” “Whatever,” “I Stand Alone,” and many more. The band also performed an epic version of “Something Different” that, hopefully, will be included on an upcoming Godsmack DVD.