Rock on the Range 2010 Review – May 22 & 23 – Columbus, OH

Okay, so Rock on the Range has really nothing to do with bands outside the mainstream (except for the openers on the side stages); but I’ve always loved festival-type shows that allow you to see six or eight or ten-plus bands for the price of one ticket.

Plus, I don’t dislike ALL music outside the mainstream; I don’t think anyone truly does, although some people do claim it just to save face and seem like a hip, pretentious music fan that only listens to bands no one else has ever heard of/the radio will never play. No one woke up one day, decided they really enjoy listening to music, and just started listening to obscure bands right from the get-go. Sorry, doesn’t work like that. It’s the radio or MTV or whatever that will give you the initial exposure to music in general 99% of the time.

So on that note, here is the wrap-up of Rock on the Range 2010. I’m not going to talk about every single band, simply because it’s not possible to see them all. They do their best to let people travel from stage to stage and catch a majority of the acts, but some side stage acts (there are 2 side stages and one main stage) will still overlap with each other. If you wanna see everyone who played, check out the Rock on the Range 2010 lineup.

Here are the highlights:

Best Stage Show: Rob Zombie

Far and away, Zombie had the best stage show. His stage presence is awesome (as it very well should be by now) and he had all kinds of crazy pyrotechnics, screens with graphics/lyrics flashing on them, and even brought out these crazy ten-foot-tall monster alien things on-stage during some of the songs. He played songs from his albums and also played a few songs by White Zombie. And of course he and his band were dressed in costumes from head to toe. If you missed the show, he will also be on Mayhem Fest this year (Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival 2010 Lineup) and filmed one of the songs he did to make a music video from it – I think it was ‘Mars Needs Women.’ I think, personally, that he should have headlined (he was 2nd to last) because his set was pretty much impossible to follow. If you haven’t seen him and you are a fan, make it a point to go to Mayhem Fest.

Biggest Surprise: Godsmack

Godsmack has had some GOD-AWFUL albums. I think I found one track off of Faceless that was enjoyable. Instrumentally they aren’t terrible, but Sully’s lyrics are just so so bad in a lot of cases. That being said, I went in with pretty much zero expectations for their set, even though they were headlining on day one, May 22nd. Obviously even they know that some of their stuff sucks, because they pretty much tore through only their hits – ‘Alive’, ‘Keep Away’, ‘Voodoo’, ‘Straight Out of Line’, etc. Their stage presence was really good, and they sound great live. They also threw in an instrumental halfway through their set which was actually really awesome. My buddy kept telling me that he had heard great things about their live show, and that I shouldn’t write them off before we even saw them. Guess he was right. Definitely the shocker of the weekend for me.

‘Why in the World Are They Here?!’ Bands: Anberlin & Coheed and Cambria

Neither of these bands fit the bill. Coheed has a new album out, so I can see why they would be on a bill like this in that regard, but this was just like blessthefall being on the bill with As I Lay Dying, Demon Hunter, and War of Ages…they are the same general genre, but when you get down to specifics they are totally different. For photos/videos from that show, check out the Outsider Vocals Facebook Page. I’ll be seeing Anberlin in a few weeks when they come with Story of the Year, so expect some photos/videos of those performances.

‘Why In the Heck Are They on the Main Stage?’ Band: Theory of a Deadman

They would have been way better if they would have played on the Kicker Stage (2nd biggest stage, Jagermeister stage was the lowest on the totem pole). The response to their set would have been better, the crowd would have been more into it…I’m assuming they got the main stage simply because they have been there twice now.

‘I Knew They Were Gonna Be Awesome, and They Didn’t Disappoint’ Bands: Airbourne, Rise Against & Killswitch Engage

Rise Against is a band I saw last summer in Cleveland when they came with Rancid and the Gaslight Anthem; and they were awesome then, so I was hoping they would also be when they played on Saturday night. They were.

This was my first time seeing Airbourne, and as you can tell by this Airbourne Review, I am a big fan. They have that classic AC/DC sound to them, and they have so much energy onstage. Just awesome, in-your-face rock and roll.

Killswitch Engage, on the other hand, I have seen at least three times now. Since they are awesome every time I see them, I am totally cool with it. The crowd always goes nuts for them, and – in a smart move on Rock on the Range’s part – they moved them off an early slot on the main stage (like they had in 2008) and moved them to the headlining band on the Kicker Stage; a spot which All That Remains held last year. Both bands did NOT disappoint. There were so many people crowdsurfing and moshing during KSE’s set that security could barely control the scene. They also gave a shout-out to Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P.) and closed their set with their cover of ‘Holy Diver’, which absolutely lit the place up. Overall, a great set…as to be expected from them.

‘I Knew They Were Gonna Suck, and They Did’ Band: Mushroomhead

I already saw these guys once, at Mayhem Fest 2009, and they did not impress me whatsoever then. The same was true last night. They headlined the Jagermeister Stage, and I honestly have no idea why people like this band. The crowd for this band was HUGE, by far the biggest crowd of any band for that stage on either days. I dunno…I don’t get it. We left after two or three songs because I couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted to make sure the first impression I had wasn’t a bad read. It was not.

Band With the Most Shout-Outs From Bands Onstage: Deftones

I think most of the bands that came on after them on Saturday night ended up giving some kind of credit to them. While I have to be honest and admit that I have not listened to them in quite some time, I have heard very good things about their new album, Diamond Eyes. Their style has paved the way and set the bar for a lot of bands, and those bands recognize that.

‘They Should Have Traded Time Slots’ Bands: Bullet For My Valentine (3 PM) & Seether (7:15 PM)

Just judging by the amount of t-shirts being worn by people in regards to these two bands, it should have been obvious to the promoters that Bullet For My Valentine should NOT have gone on before Seether. Heck, they even went on before Theory of a Deadman! Why?! Like every other person in the audience was a Bullet For My Valentine fan. Seether is alright, but definitely not worthy of that prime-time position.

‘How/Why Are So Many People Missing This?’ Band: Slash

Slash brought out the lead singer of Alter Bridge to do vocals with him during his set. It would seem like common sense to watch this set, but the floor area seemed pretty empty during his performance. He pulled out songs from Velvet Revolver (‘Sucker Train Blues’, ‘Slither’, etc.), Guns N Roses (‘Night Train’, ‘November Rain’, ‘Paradise City’) and a few tracks from his recent solo album. I had seen him before, back in 2004, when Velvet Revolver headlined Rolling Rock Town Fair. Their performance there was unbelievable.

‘It Sucks That Band X Isn’t Coming and Swapped With Band Y’ Bands: Band X = Escape the Fate, Band Y = Circa Survive

Another band that didn’t fit the bill, Circa Survive took the place of Escape the Fate for whatever reason. I’m not Escape the Fate’s biggest fan, but I have no interest whatsoever in Circa Survive and hearing Anthony Green sing like a 12 year old girl. They are over-rated to the Nth degree.

This also happened with Cold and Taproot (the latter replacing the former), but they are both on kind of an equal pedestal with me, so no harm no foul there.

‘When Their Lead Singer Died, This Band Died With Him’ Band: Drowning Pool

Title pretty much says it all. Without Dave Williams, this band isn’t interesting at all. They were never one of the best bands out there – although ‘Bodies’ was a pretty catchy tune – but from what I heard of their new stuff during their set, I’ve heard about all I want to from them.

And finally…

The ‘They Should Have Stopped While They Were Ahead’ Band: Limp Bizkit

Why they came back to do a reunion tour/record Gold Cobra, I have no idea. After Rob Zombie performed on Sunday night, most of the crowd cleared out before Bizkit took the stage. A pretty decent number of people stayed though, surprisingly enough. If you are a meathead, or have no taste whatsoever in music, you loved their set. If you have any common sense whatsoever, and aren’t shown up on an IQ test by a bag of bricks, then after about three songs you lost interest and left (see: this guy right here). Wes Borland looked like some kind of hybrid between GWAR and Cruella DeVille; and it became painfully obvious after Fred Durst started singing/rapping that his lyrical ability is pretty subpar…to put it nicely. At least they were high-energy and knew how to work the crowd. Basically, it comes down to this: they were exactly what you expected, no matter what side of the spectrum you fell under. Huge fans loved their set, and people who thought they sucked going in got exactly what they expected.

All in all, Rock on the Range 2010 was a huge success, and a great time as usual. This was the first year that we went out for both days, and hopefully next year we will be back for both days again. Hope all of you who got some free stuff from us enjoyed it! Put those keychains to good use!

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