I’m sorry that this recap appears to be a day late, but I spent a good chunk of Monday catching up on sleep that I missed Sunday night. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that I kept a steady stream of updates over the weekend regarding the music festival I attended on Saturday and Sunday.
If you’ve never been or never heard about it, Rock on the Range is now a two-day rock concert that takes place at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio during late May. There are three stages and a massive line-up of bands every year. Some past performances include Velvet Revolver, ZZ Top, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Buckcherry, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, and many many others. This is my second time going in the four years that it has been in existence and I once again thought it was an amazing performance.
Day 1:
We arrived much later than we should have. As a result, we spent the better part of two hours in bumper to bumper traffic as we tried to park the car. Lesson learned: ARRIVE EARLY to get a good parking spot and avoid traffic. We missed Sevendust’s performance, but we could hear most of it from the car. I was also disappointed that I missed Violent Soho considering that I am a fan of their current radio song, which I think is titled “Jesus Stole My Girlfriend.”
However, we managed to get inside in time to Puddle of Mudd, which was awesome. Trekking from the main stage, we caught a handful of Adelita’s Way on one of the side stages before trekking back to the main stage for Papa Roach, who put on an amazing performance.
From there, we took a short break and wandered around. The thunderstorms we were supposed to have never showed up and the overcast finally broke up in favor of bright sunshine. In my group of four, three of us bought new hats for a little extra protection and some pizza for dinner while listening to Skillet. We popped by the PS3 truck to play some ModNation Racer and grabbed a free Monster energy drink before heading to the main stage to catch a little Deftones.
We finished the first day with Rise Against (Amazing), Three Days Grace (Stellar) and Godsmack (Killer). However, we left part of the way through Godsmack’s set so we could beat the traffic and get back to our hotel so we could order room service.
Day 2:
Morning seemed to arrive too early and no one seemed to have slept well. However, morning room service kicked the day off right and we headed back to Crew Stadium slathered in sun screen. The sun was out and it was hot!
The day started off on one of the side stages with Shaman’s Harvest. They were wonderful and I was reluctant to leave early, but we all wanted to catch Apocalytica, who took my breath away. I’ve never heard such sounds out of cellos. They were amazing!
We took longer breaks on the second day due to the sun and heat. We hid in the shadows and the PS3 truck until Bullet for my Valentine. While they have the coolest t-shirts by far, they proved to be a little too hard and heavy for me. We grabbed a little Coheed and Cambria on the side stage before heading back for Theory of a Deadman.
We listened to Slash from the distant shadows before going back out to the main stage for the rest of the night to listen to Seether, Rob Zombie, and Limp Bizkit. The last three were heard from the shade to utter comfortable darkness.
For me, Day 1 had the most consistently good line-up bands and was an immensely more comfortable day. However, I have to say that Rob Zombie put on the best stage show. Simply put: it was face-meltingly beautiful and I would love to see him again.
Other than the nonstop concerts, which were almost always on time, Rock on the Range was superb for people watching. Colorful mohawks are back in style along with kilts, t-shirts with explicit language, and tattoos. In fact, it almost looked like you needed a tattoo to get into the place.
In the end, I have to say that I can’t wait for next year. However, this year is running me more expensive than other in the past. Due to the spectacular concerts, I now need to buy new music for:
Puddle of Mudd
Papa Roach
Rise Against
Three Days Grace
Godsmack
Violent Soho
Apocalytica
Seether
Shaman’s Harvest
Rob Zombie
3 comments:
Yeah, hubs woke me up at six forty in the morning to travel to the statium both days (Our hotel was 10-15 minutes away) so we were up there in the line.
Saturday getting in the gate was about ridiculous on my side. Sunday they got their acts together until their scanners wouldn't work.
I was down in the field, and the moshing and crowd surfing was getting about ridiculous. I had some dude land on my neck and shoulder only to crash down on the ground. I got kicked in the ear and high forhead.
Hubs had enough so he dragged my butt out of there. Sunday, the only person we were in the crowd for was Apocalyptica (I was second person behind the gate) to get pics of the guys. I love Eicca!
By the time Theory of a Deadman came on I was feeling sick to my stomach and I couldn't breath right. So I told my hubs I needed shade. He took me to the tented area where I laid down on the cool concrete, drinking water, while hubs watched his Five Finger Death Punch (seen one kid walk past me with blood on his hands), came to check up on me which I shooed him off with my camera to watch Coheed which is one of his favorite bands. By the time Mastadon came on I was feeling better. He parked me in shade to watch Mastadon. He offered to miss Rob Zombie if I was not feeling good but I knew how much he liked Zombie so I said "Nope, I'm feeling better, let's stay to watch some Zombie" So glad that I did!
Thanks to both of you for sharing so many cool details. I love so many of those bands. Bullet for my Valentine is from Wales and I love his voice when he's singing, but the screamer part is a bit much for me too. I can't imagine that many bands is all one place! How was Coheed? Oh man, I LOVE them, and have all their CDs:)
Sounds like you had a fab time!
Post a Comment