Kansas City Rockfest 2010 LIVE!
May 23, 2010 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2010
May 15, 2010 at Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, MO.
by John Kindred & Shawna McHenry
Staff Writer
Rockfest always is advertised as a festival that keeps the average fan from shelling out wads of money. The organizers, radio station 98.9 The Rock and AEG Live, provide a days’ worth of entertainment with fairly low-cost ticket prices, food and drink prices capped at a maximum of $5 per item and readily available free water.
This year, thunder and rain marked the festival most of the day. Fans made the best of it, enjoying the music despite the lack of sun. This certainly was the one of the coldest and wettest Rockfests to date. Concertgoers have billed the day as “Mudfest 2010” on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Some imaginative fans created a mudslide, and concertgoers who took the journey down the water-soaked hill encased themselves in mud.
Two stages provided the day’s musical entertainment. Fifteen bands followed a predefined rotation that kept the music rumbling throughout the afternoon and well into the evening, which was topped off by fireworks. With this year’s headliner being Godsmack, fans truly were able to embrace some of the day’s popular hard rock and metal bands.
The second stage, sponsored by Monster Energy Drink, was given more attention to make it bigger and better than previous years. The raising of the stage by several additional feet provided crowds a better viewing of the bands. Apparently, this sparked the second stage bands to take their live performances to the next level. The highlight of the day included Airbourne’s front man, Joel O’Keefffe, climbing 20 feet up the stage scaffolding for an old-school guitar solo. Their energy and classic hard rock sound got fans out of the dreary day’s slump and back into a rock festival mood.
The spirited festival event continues to bring an economic boost to the Kansas City area, if only just for a day. The festival also caters to a younger crowd, which maybe wouldn’t have had the income to drop on a more expensive event. However, long lines for frequent food and beverage runs continued to empty wallets. And hanging out with a bone-crushing crowd of 55,000 definitely leads to claustrophobia. In the end, promoters and fans find Rockfest a win/win event.
Main Stage Monster Energy Stage
1:30 – Halestorm
2:40 – Rev Theory
3:50 – Drowning Pool
5:00 – Papa Roach
6:30 – Seether
8:00 – Three Days Grace
9:30 – Godsmack
Monster Energy Stage
12:00 – Taddy Porter
1:00 – Shaman’s Harvest
2:10 – Adelitas Way
3:20 – Burn Halo
4:30 – The Veer Union
6:00 – Janus
7:30 – Airbourne
9:00 – Five Finger Death Punch
Kansas City Rockfest Photo Gallery
The Veer Union Against the Grain
July 26, 2009 by Managing Editor
Filed under arcrvws
by Franco Wissa
Staff Writer
While The Veer Union’s debut, Against the Grain may not cause the rock world to spin on its head banging heels, the boys do a strong job throughout each of these 12 tracks keeping the listener’s attention. Conceivably not enough to propel them into superstardom as it is pretty standard fare, or at least not yet, for this is little here that would make this a standout in today’s hard rock market.
The guitar hooks are huge and do an admirable job in keeping a good accompaniment and the guitar solos, while brief, do show a flair for the 6-string. The rhythm section is just loud enough to drive the music forward, without ever getting in the way and vocalist Crispin does a good job in his attempt to communicate with the public. Time and again it actually sounds like he is spreading a message. While his voice really isn’t that different from many a front man who can be heard today, it must be pointed out that he can sing. And does so well. The sound of the CD is crisp, and the band has done a good job in mixing a blend of both ballads and hard rockers. The lyrics come across as nothing to deep or controversial but they do get their messages across.
Comparisons to Nickleback have been mentioned, and be that as it may, it is obvious that the boys of The Veer Union have tried hard to show the rock world that they are determined, and capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with anyone. CD highlights, “Seasons,” “Youth of Yesterday,” “Final Moment,” “Where I Want to Be,” “Over Me,” and “What Have We Done,” are all examples of this.
That having been said, it is a hope however that the boys of The Veer Union break away from the pack and formulate their own sound, for there is an audible talent here – the band just needs to reach deep within themselves, and find out they are capable of doing more. Sadly a lot of bands, of both today and the past are becoming all too complacent, with each release sounding much like the previous one. And much like other bands of the same sort. Talent is one thing, but a drive to be the best is something different entirely.
While The Veer Union certainly has shown they have the talent and promise, let’s pray that a drive to be the best continues to be heard. A read of the band’s myspace page shows they came by their name from the word “Veer,” meaning “….to change direction from one course to another…” Let’s indeed wish for that, but at least it can be said that they are on the right track.
Label: Universal Records
Track Listing
Seasons
Youth of Yesterday
Over Me
Darker Side of Me
I’m Sorry
Final Moment
Better Believe It
Into Your Garden
Your Love Kills Me
I’m Breathing In
Where I Want To Be
What Have I Done
Band Members:
Crispin – vocals
Eric – guitars, vocals
Fid – guitars
Roots – bass
Neil – drums
HRH Rating: 7.5/10
Kansas City Rockfest Live!
June 1, 2009 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2009
May 30, 2009 Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, Mo.
by John Kindred
Staff Writer
Main Stage
9:30 p.m. – KoRn
8:00 p.m. – Buckcherry
6:30 p.m. – Shinedown
5:00 p.m. – Corey Taylor & the JBKB
3:50 p.m. – Theory of a Deadman
2:40 p.m. – Saving Abel
1:30 p.m. – Rev Theory
Second Stage
9:00 p.m. – Drowning Pool
7:30 p.m. – Duff McKagan’s Loaded
6:00 p.m. – Dope
4:30 p.m. – Parlor Mob
3:20 p.m. – The Veer Union
2:10 p.m. – Burn Halo
1:00 p.m. – Crooked X
12:00 p.m. – Federation of Horsepower
The Good: Newcomers; Burn Halo and Parlor Mob. The new-old-timers Shinedown. Plenty of porta-potties.
The Bad: Long lines at the concession stands. Over-priced beer, food and bottled water. However you present it, $5 per individual food item sucks … one meal per concertgoer easily could be $20. Free water means waiting in line, missing the concert. Purchased water means waiting in line, missing the concert and paying $3 a bottle. The venue is too small, period for 50,000 people.
The Ugly: I (heart) Vagina merchandise. Scantily clad over-weight individuals. Seeing tattoos in places you never would want to look anyway.
The Inside Skinny:
Kansas City radio station, 98.9 The Rock, dubs the event as the biggest one-day rock festival in North America. Kansas City’s annual Rockfest played host to 15 bands and more than 50,000 spectators. Sponsored by vendors such as Miller Lite and Worth Harley Davidson, 98.9’s one-day festival features new and emerging bands along with modern metal mainstays.
Headliners Korn were joined by fellow rockers Buckcherry and Shinedown. Slipknot’s Corey Taylor brought along his solo band The Junk Beer Kidnap Band and performed Stone Sour and obscure songs.
The second stage featured new talent including youngsters Crooked X, new-comers Burn Halo, Parlor Mob and Veer Union, Duff McKagan’s band Loaded, Dope and Drowning Pool.
Unfortunately, the best place to see any of the bands perform was at the Second Stage. Unless you were within 10-15 feet of the main stage barrier and you were of modest height, there was no way to see any live action. There were two video screens placed a few hundred yards from the stage, but they were stationed to the right of the venue and benefited few.
Observations of the day included bands moving away from Screamo-metal. Almost all the participating bands featured singing vocalists. Guitar solos are slowly creeping back into rock music. Bands continue to show influences from the ‘70s.
Highlights:
Burn Halo, led by vocalist James Hart, launched into their 40-minute set and performed songs from their new self-titled album. They performed their current radio hit “Dirty Little Girl,” “Save Me,” as well as “Gasoline” and “Dead End Roads & Lost Highways.”
Hailing from New Jersey, Parlor Mob’s music features a nostalgic ‘70s-inspired vibe. The band has a vibrant energy that feels raw and spontaneous. Touring in support of the debut album debut album And You Were A Crow on Roadrunner Records, this is a band to keep on eye on.
The Shinedown set included a majority of their hits. Brent Smith and company had the crowd eating out of their hands as they directed fans to the pulsating beat of their music. Performing hit after hit, the band is sure on top of their game. Fans were treated to “Devour,” “Sound of Madness,” “Second Chance,” “.45,” “Fly From the Inside” and “Save Me.”
Crooked X features four youths hailing from Oklahoma. Young, these kids are 15 years old! Their 10-song debut was released on MPM/EMI/Capitol in January, and the band already has opened for Kiss and Ted Nugent. This is another band to keep an eye out for. Crooked X has plenty of energy and talent as well song-writing skills.
