Five Must See Bands From Rock on the Range
June 14, 2011 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2011
by Chris A.
Staff Writer
Energy, Great Vocals and Stage Vibe Make These Bands Worth Shelling Out the Bucks To See Live
Now with its fifth year behind it, “Rock On The Range” has become a real-deal rock and roll concert institution. Held each year in Columbus, Ohio, at Crew Stadium, fans, bands and media agree it’s one of the best run high- value for money rock festivals in North America. The success of the Rock on the Range franchise has inspired a Canadian variant and similar festivals including the 2011 “Carolina Rebellion.”
The 2011 Rock on the Range featured 40 bands and added a free Friday night party for ticket holders. With three stages and that many bands it impossible to see every act. Headliners for the event included Avenged Sevenfold, A Perfect Circle, Disturbed, Korn, Stained and many more.
As the summer schedule heats up, here are a few suggestions for bands to consider going to see based on their performance at Rock On The Range:
Korn: Okay, the bands been through several members and has been around the block, but this train just keeps on rolling. From the moment they walked onto the main stage at ROTR it was pandemonium on the stadium main floor. Jonathan Davis is a presence behind the microphone, with his often constrained, hypnotic vocals adding credibility to the insanity of Korn’s musical world. A genuine must-see band that never fails to deliver live!
Black Label Society: Zakk and the boys in BLS are back and putting more “brutal”into the old-school “brewtality” the band originally built its reputation on. After several tumultuous years and two ho-hum albums, Wylde’s ejection from Ozzy Osbourne’s band was perhaps what the iconic metal shredder needed to help him find his way back to reality. The now-healthy Zakk Wylde took the stage donning a full indian war bonnet Ala-Ted Nugent and for the next 30 minutes treated the crowd to inspired wailing.
Pop Evil: Wow! An absolutely explosive band with a frontman who has it all. I like bands that are “frenetic” and that’s one way to describe the energy expelled by the rockers in Pop Evil. With great guitar tone and a vocalist who instantly seems to connect with the fans, Pop Evil is one of those bands that deserves serious consideration. There’s no standing still when this band is on stage.
Trust Company: While these guys hail from Alabama, they’re not “good ole boys” by any means. Mixing tight guitar grooves with big soaring vocals in a melodic metal mix of head-banging inducing tunes, this band has great potential. Radio friendly with tunes that should appeal to a broad range of rock fan. The band is absolutely crazy onstage with youthful enthusiasm and high-powered rock-star appeal.
Asking Alexandria: This is a kick ass metal band. I’d never heard of them before ROTR but I’m gonna be keeping an eye on them. With steam-roller precision this British quintet of guitars match perfectly with the incredibly diverse capabilities of the vocalist. If you like it brutal these guys deliver.
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Day 1 (Saturday, May 21)
Monster Energy Stage: Avenged Sevenfold FYE Stage: Danzig Jagermeister Stage: P.O.D. |
Day 2 (Sunday, May 22)
Monster Energy Stage: A Perfect Circle FYE Stage: Hollywood Undead Jagermeister Stage: The Damned Things |
2011 Rock on the Range Photo Gallery
LIVE! : KC Rockfest Music Festival 2011
May 18, 2011 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2011
by Shawna McHenry Luehring & John Kindred
Staff Writer
Saturday, May 14th at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO.
Kansas City’s Rockfest kicked of its annual metal salute with Zakk Wylde performing the “National Anthem” with an armed forces color guard to more than 50,000 crazed fans. This year’s event was welcomed by a cold front instead of an onslaught of rain. After last year’s “Mudfest” debacle, local city leaders were fired up and demanded ending the use of Penn Valley Park as the stomping grounds for Rockfest.
Thankfully for fans, AEG, the concert promoter, paid to repair the damage caused by the 2010 event. Their efforts included putting down sod on the 14 acres of damage caused by the rain and the festival goers, who trampled down grass, which created a muddy mess and troublesome trash clean up. AEG and 98.9 the Rock have put in place safeguards to keep the event as clean and safe as possible, including additional trash cans, better placement of port-o-potties, additional security and added fencing.
As always, Rockfest is hyped as the Nation’s Largest Single-Day Music Festival and a concert event with reasonably priced food and beverages. Although this year’s crowd was not a sellout, there were plenty of fans on hand for the festivities.
This year’s lineup featured two band stages. Monster Energy sponsored the main stage, which featured headliners Disturbed, Stone Sour, Papa Roach, Alter Bridge, Sevendust, Hinder and Halestorm. The second stage was sponsored by Jose Cuervo and featured Black Label Society, All That Remains, 10 Years, Redline Chemistry, Crossfade, Art of Dying, New Medicine and Evalyn Awake.
The crowd seemed to relish in its patriotic side this year as Americans flags were visible throughout the crowd. Mardi gras beads where tossed out to those willing to show their “wares” to onlookers. Besides the music, Rock radio personality, “Moose,” officiated a wedding ceremony of about 20 couples or more. Turning back to the stages, the crowd was entertained by pornstar Ron Jeremy aka “The Hedgehog,” and Moonlight Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof, and his lovely sidekick, Bunny Love, made an appearance.
With the exception of 15 minutes of warm, bright sunshine for Papa Roach’s performance of “Burn” (pretty ironic), fans spent the cold, gray and windy day enjoying the metal mayhem.
Monster Energy Drink Main Stage:
Halestorm 1:30pm
Hinder 2:40pm
Sevendust 3:55pm
Alter Bridge 5:10pm
Papa Roach 6:30pm
Stone Sour 8:00pm
Disturbed 9:40pm
Jose Cuervo Drink Main Stage:
Evalyn Awake 12:00pm
New Medicine 1:00pm
Art of Dying 2:10pm
Crossfade 3:25pm
Redline Chemistry 4:40pm
10 Years 6:00pm
All That Remains 7:30
Black Label Society 9:00pm
KC Rockfest Music Festival 2011 Photo Gallery
Photos appear courtesy of Shawna McHenry Luehring
The Jagermeister Tour 2011
February 1, 2011 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2011
January 22, 2010 at The Joint, Las Vegas, NV.
by Deb Rao
Staff Writer
The Jagermeister Tour featuring Buckcherry, Hellyeah!, All That Remains, and The Damned Things rocked The Joint at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas on Jan. 22. Known for featuring the top upcoming and established artists did not disappoint this year. As fans were all “Lit Up” to see the popular Buckcherry headline the event.
Buckcherry performed a 90 minute relentless potpourri of hits that spanned their extensive career from their debut album in 1999 to their current release All Night Long on Eleven Seven Music. Opening with “Dead”, the momentum of their performance did not let up from start to finish. Singer Josh Todd was like a dash of lightning as he pranced around onstage singing hits” All Night Long”, “Everything” and then getting the crowd to join in on their first hit “Lit Up.”
I can remember seeing the band debut in Boston back at the Paradise in 1999, and it was so exhilarating to see them develop into one of the top acts in music today. Although, Buckcherry has seen major line-up changes over the years, the core of 
singer Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson remain intact. Keith and Josh have a special chemistry that work so well together, as Buckcherry unleashed hit after hit.
Buckcherry slowed things down only for a second, for their poignant and compelling hit “Sorry.” Then picked up the momentum once again for their anthem” Crazy Bitch.” Buckcherry ended their set on a high note with two encores,” Out Of Line”, and “Whiskey In The Morning.”
Hellyeah! hit the stage at 9:15 p.m. for a 45 minute set of good ol’ fashion southern rock thrash metal. Vinnie Paul was quite impressive with his new rock and roll outfit. Highlight of Hellyeah’s set was ballad “Matter Of Time,” Stampede”, and the hell raising “Hellyeah.”
It was awesome to see Massachusetts band All That Remains on the bill. I recently saw the band perform on the Mayhem Tour a few years ago, and the band has developed quite the following both on the East and West Coast. All That Remains hit the stage at 8:35 p.m.for a 30 – minute set that was explosive. Let the mosh pits begin! It is so exciting to girls making an impact in music today. Bassist Jeanne Sagan was killer on the bass and singer Phillip Labonte unleashed his powerful vocal fury onstage. Highlights of the set included,” Forever In Your Hands”, and “Some Of The People, All Of The Time.”
All That Remains are riding high on their latest release For We Are Many on Prosthetic/Razor And Tie Records. Singer Phillip Labonte commented to the Vegas crowd, “I love Vegas because Vegas always parties hard.” And party hard the audience did. All That Remains conquered the young audience with their unique brand of hardcore metal.
The Damned Things opened the set, as I managed catch the their last song due to flight delays. The audience seemed really into them. I hope to catch them another time!
Be sure to check out The Jagermeister Music Tour as it heads to a city near you. You won’t be disappointed.
Web: www.jagermeistermusictour.com/tour-dates
Photos provided by Deb Rao
Mayhem Festival Live!
August 12, 2009 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2009
August 7, 2009 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ
by Steve trager
Staff Writer
Fans of pure metal have found themselves with the newest edition of summer festivals simply called Mayhem Festival. It is similar to one the greatest tours ever to roam across America, which is “Ozzfest.” Mayhem Festival certainly has kept the doors opened to one of the best-known genres in music, which is Heavy Metal. Last year’s initial run with Mayhem was an indication that we can still rock out in the hardest way with some of the greatest bands on three stages for one decent priced ticket.
This year’s Mayhem Festival definitely cranked up the word “Heavy” with a brutal line-up that turned most pits into total chaos during such sets like Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Trivium and God Forbid.
The nice feature about Mayhem Festival is that you have three stages, loads of music, and rockstar bling for those who always want to make a fashion statement to the rest of the world. Last year’s festival had a great line-up that could have very well been just a one-time slot of Mayhem. But the response from last year brings us to the second annual Mayhem festival. It featured great sets from well-known artists like veteran thrashers Slayer and the rock shock anti-Christ himself, Marilyn Manson, who closed out the main stage.
For most of us who endure the heavier side of metal, there were bands like Job for A Cowboy, WhiteChapel and Behemoth that can grab your attention once the music kicks in. Everyone likes something different when it comes to music in general. While I might dislike some of the bands that played on the Hot Topic stage, it still was an incredible experience to see a long list of bands that certainly hold the record for mosh mayhem.
Perhaps each set could have been longer for bands like God Forbid, Trivium, All that Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine, which opened the main stage, the fans still get the packing punch we have always come to expect at a metal show.
I still have to give props to Killswitch Engage for their stage attire at a metal show. Even dressed slightly unusual for head bangers delight, front man Howard Jones still has that voice that can go through you like a lighting bolt. I especially enjoyed Dio’s “Holy Diver“ cover, which was filled with anger and great guitar work and the balls-to-the-wall vocals makes that ‘80s classic truly come alive as only Killswitch can do so well live.
Slayer also out did a great show, captivating their finest works as an old-school thrash band that they are. Slayer is a true metal band that has never changed its sound and never has sold out for radio success but has kept a cult following all these years in the true genre of pure metal. Even Manson played a great quick set; however, I am not much of a big fan. Music fans always like something different, and that makes them unique. This is an indication that Mayhem Festival will be around for a long time (we can all hope).
The Great: Bullet for My Valentine, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, God Forbid, and Slayer.
Hot Topic / Extreme Metal Stage:
WhiteChapel
Black Dahlia Murder
Job for A Cowboy
Behemoth
Cannibal Corpse
Jagermeister Music Stage:
Beyond The Star
God Forbid
All That Remains
Trivium
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage
Bullet For My Valentine
Killswitch Engage
Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Mayhem Festival 2009 Photo Gallery
Mayhem Festival Live!
August 12, 2009 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2009
August 4, 2009 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass.
by Deb Rao
Staff Writer
The 2009 Rockstar Energy Drink invaded the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., on Aug. 4. As temperatures soared into the high 80s, fans gathered early in the parking lot to witness the most cutting edge event of the summer. 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival is a modern day festival designed for today’s music fan with many diverse booths that included merchandise booths and tattoo booths. 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival showcased the top talent in the music industry today, and also featured one of the most iconic bands in metal history Slayer.
The Boston 2009 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival featured three stages: Main Stage, Hot Topic and Jagermeister Stage. What was clearly exciting to witness was the wide age span of fans that gathered for the event. The bill featured a vast array of musical talent and styles, which included on the main stage Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Boston’s Killswitch Engage, and Bullet For My Valentine.
The Hot Topic and Jagermeister stages featured cutting-edge bands that are truly making an impact in music today. One of the first bands I checked out was Behemoth at 3 p.m. Behemoth hit the Hot Topic stage for an energetic 30-minute set and capped their performance with “I Got Erection.”
Behemoth Set List:
Slaves Shall Serve
At The Left Hand Of God
Conquer All
Demigod
Ov Fire And The Void
Chant For Exhaton 2000
I Got Erection
The Boston Mayhem Festival featured a special Boston homegrown ambiance appeal this year with the homecoming of two New England bands that are making an impact in the music industry today, All That Remains and Killswitch Engage. Also while checking out the All That Remains set, I ran into Shadows fall vocalist Brian Fair, who informed us that the new Shadows Fall release Retribution will be out on Sept. 15. ” Shadows Fall will be doing a special signing at the Mayhem Festival at 3 p.m. on Aug. 8 in Hartford, Conn., at the Comcast Theatre. I can’t wait for the release of Retribution. It is aggressive and awesome. After the album is released, we will be setting up some New England dates,” Fair said.
All That Remains is a band that hails from the Springfield, Mass., area. ATR hit the Jagermeister Stage at 4:30 p.m. and performed an exhilarating 30-minute set to a huge crowd of Boston fans that featured three new songs off of their latest release, Overcome including “Chiron,” “Forever In Your Hands,” and “Two Weeks.” Lead singer Phillip Labonte cheered the crowd on, as he yelled,”We are from the area.”
Bassist Jeanne Sagan commented to me,”It is always bittersweet to play Boston and come home. I have been on the road most of the year. It is pretty amazing playing at the Mayhem Festival this year. We are from the Springfield area.
“Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall are all around the same area also. We just put out a second single ‘Forever In Your Hands’ that is being added to radio now. We are going to shoot a video for it during this tour actually in a few days. On Overcome, we concentrated more on writing songs rather than parts. We kind of put stuff together and took a step back and looked at it and how does this make this song catchy for people so people can grasp onto to rather than a lot of just filler in the song. So that is pretty much how we went about it.”
All That Remains Set List:
This Calling
Chiron
Forever In Your Hands
Six
The Air That I Breathe
Undone
Two Weeks
Killswitch Engage hit the stage at 7:25 p.m. and managed to the get crowd pumped up for Slayer. Singer Adam Dutkiewicz, wearing a Red Sox cap, gave reference to the band’s heritage in Boston through out the entire set and joked as he commented, “Our drummer is a Yankees fan,” and inspired the Yankees chant to begin. Killswitch Engage took the stage amidst a blast of pyrotechnic opening with “My Last Serenade.” The highlight of the set was “Rose Of Sharyn.”
Killswitch Engage Set List:
My Last Serenade
Reckoning
Fixation On The Darkness
Rose Of Sharyn
Starting Over
A Bid Farewell
My Curse
The End Of Heartache
At 8:30 p.m., one of the first bands that put metal on the map, Slayer took the stage in true metallic thunder. Anticipation filled the air, as the crowd waited patiently all day to witness the legendary metal band.
Opening with “Darkness Of Christ” the Slayer set spanned their extensive career and also showcased some of their older classic songs. Slayer will be releasing a new album later this year entitled, World Painted Blood, and they performed a new song off of the upcoming album entitled, “Psychopathy Red,” which re-enforced the old-school metal roots of the band.
Singer Tom Araya belted out the songs with much passion. It was clear to see that Slayer was there to destroy and inflict their powerful fury onto the masses as guitarist Kerry King relentlessly unleashed skull-crushing riffs. Highlights of the Slayer set included “Ghosts Of War” and “South Of Heaven.”
When I asked Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo about the rehearsal preparation of the Mayhem Tour and his thoughts on the challenge of performing live versus recording in the studio and the upcoming release World Painted Blood, drummer Dave Lombardo said to me,” It is only challenging like the first maybe two or three days in rehearsal, where you are shedding all of the cobwebs that you have accumulated probably in six months of not touring. But then we were in the studio but that is not the same.
“So the hardest part is the first couple days of rehearsal. There really is no challenge. World Painted Blood is absolutely amazing. I have never been behind a record as much as I have been for this one. I am very proud of it and very happy. It’s all good. Hope everyone’s goes out and gets it,” Lombardo said.
Slayer Set List:
Darkness Of Christ
Disciple
War Ensemble
Jihad
Psychopathy Red
Born Of Fire
Mandatory Suicide
Chemical Warfare
Ghosts Of War
Dead Skin Mask
Hell Awaits
Angel Of Death
South Of Heaven
Raining Blood
Marilyn Manson capped the evening performance. It was great to see a lot of Marilyn’s fans show up early for the concert. It was a long day for them. I spoke to two young fans who braved the heat and traveled an hour and arrived when the gates opened to see the performer. Marilyn’s set included three new songs off his latest release The High End Of Low, as he opened the set with “We’re From America” and capped his performance with “The Beautiful Creatures.”
Marilyn Manson Set List:
We’re From America
Disposable Teens
Little Horn
Irresponsible Hate Anthem
Four Rusted Horses
Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon
The Dope Show
Rock Is Dead
Tourniquet
Sweet Dreams
The Beautiful People
