The Rocklahoma Review ( Day 3 ~SunFunDay~ )

Hello day three of Rocklahoma!! Ticket holders had the choice of buying single day passes, three day passes, VIP which included access to the VIP tent where the Pryor Chamber of Commerce deserves a gigantic thank you and thumbs up for serving home cooked food all weekend and free drinks as well. The VIP tent also was air conditioned which was a good thing because temperatures with the heat index were over 100 degrees on SunFunDay. The stages were even hotter. With music that is. One of the media groups that also assisted bands and stages( Axis and Camp Jager among others) was BleachBangs Radio. I would like to give them a big shout out and let you know you can tune their show in every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. EST. www.bleachbangs.com will take you there! Charlie, Randy, John and Ben, are the broadcast along with a great gang of people! They have rock, interviews with bands, and also have a blast!

When we woke up or arrived on Day 3 at Rocklahoma 2011 we knew it! Everything was more intense, more exciting, hotter, a lot more fans, media, security, production and artists moving quickly all across the grounds. For the first time ever, Rocklahoma was sold out. HELL YEAH ! Buckle up and let’s ride…

Wildstreet, Pretty Little Suicide, New Cool World and many more all rocked the Retrostage once again and fans were packed in and rockin’ their asses off! Despite temperatures rising into triple digits. The Hard Rock stage was amazing SunFunDay!

Art of Dying from Vancouver Canada is trail blazing up the billboard charts and also do a modern hard rock concert that you won’t soon forget! Sharp, steady passion from Tavis Stanley’s guitar, Jonny Hetherington seducing you with deep expression and lyrical genius. Cale Gontier’s bassline is a pulsating wall. Drumming that crashes down around all this music. Jeff Brown’s  live Drum work will rip your heart out and give it back after the show…maybe. Art of Dying does not miss a beat. I am not exaggerating one bit. The rest of the free world agrees from what I can see. Live concert heaven. Also really fun, good guys! They signed autographs and visited with fans and you could see the sincerety between them. Vices and Virtues is the name of their album. Don’t walk, run and get one. It is that good. One of the best bands I have seen, ever. Rocklahoma enjoyed every minute of the Canadians. I will have an article soon individually on Art of Dying !

Black Label Society who by all means could have packed the main stage, instead played on the Hard Rock Stage. In between Poison and Motley Crue’s sets the musical brilliance of Zakk Wlyde was in full force. BLS opened with Crazy Horse and Zakk in a full Indian head dress !HELL YEAH! A sea of Black Label Society family as far as you could see showed up had the night of their life! The whole band just pulsated all 400 acres with pure, real, rock. This was one of the best shows of the weekend by far. I did get to meet and interview Zakk Wylde and he was very open, honest and personable. His motto, “Don’t take yourself too damn seriously.”

Another band I saw that really got my attention on SunFunDay was Papa Roach. They put on an excellent live show. Great sound team. No slow dance in this show. Papa Roach delivered on their rock. 100%.

One thing that did seem really off was the sound at the Hard Rock Stage at different points throughout the weekend. As if they did not have it turned up enough or tuned up enough. Not sure why. I heard others also say the same for Sebastian Bach’s show too. All in all the festival was success. I haven’t talked to anyone who doesn’t want to be at year six.

Saving Abel blew me away. I have seen Saving Abel in concert before they were great. At Rocklahoma, Even better. Jarod, Scott, Jason, all of them really were amazing this Memorial Day Weekend. After all they are all about thanking our military which is cool! The album is “Miss America” , if you don’t have it, really go get it. They will definitely keep your rock hand up!

With soaring temperatures and hot rock came dehydration and heat problems for some that I saw unfortunately. When at these festivals, please do take care and drink plenty of water and get cool every couple hours. Also wear sunscreen and reapply! It can save you missing the shows and spending the day or more at the E.R.

I would like to say how awesome radio row was this year in particular. KMOD of course in the booth near the Main Stage ROCKED! Lynn Hernandez did some announcing and also his broadcast live and was a HIT! HELL YEAH LYNN! www.kmod.com Also Mr.Pretty and Greg of Q102.3 they had a Semper Fi (Marine) Flag flying in the booth and totally rocked! They interviewed bands, entertained fans and just in general were fantastic! Check them out. http://www.woodwardradio.com/Q102.html

Seether’s show was a mix of all things real and rock. It honestly was kick ass. Many concert goers reviews across the net raved about this particular show as well. I do have to agree. It was fabulous to see them play live.

The original members of Poison looked good and sounded even better. Bret appeared very healthy and did not have a weak point in his show that I saw. They are on tour with Motley Crue currently, Rocklahoma kicking off their US dates. One thing that stuck out was ALL day SunFunDay on the Main Stage was the “25 stage” setup. Standing for twenty five years rock with Poison. I am not quite sure how Papa Roach, Saving Abel, and Seether felt about that but it appeared odd.

Motley Crue was a blast from the rock past that was just as awesome as in the day! They gave fans exactly what they came for. A rocking Motley Crue Concert. Tommy Lee at one point, screamed “Put your cameras and phones down! Buy a drink! Rock concerts are not a F@@king kodak moment!!” he then offered to give everyone a kodak moment. Hmmm… POSSIBLY, Bret Michaels and Tommy Lee thought they were the only ones playing today.

My festivals favorites this year were so amazing to see live in Rocklahoma form. Art of Dying, SKILLET, Black Label Society, Firstryke, Gypsy Pistoleros, Hinder, and Rev Theory and Pretty Little Suicide. Yep that’s them. Bucket list…Check, Check.

Joseph Garza is the photographer in most of the photos in my stories and I am sending him a massive thank you for the work he did to bring us these shots. Please stop by his site or facebook and say hello. http://josephgarzaphotography.webs.com/

Thank you to all worked Rocklahoma ! Amazing job. And big thank yous to the artists as well as our Military. And one inparticular, Michael. YOU ROCK!\m/

Check back for my credits list and individual band articles as well as more photographs!

The Rocklahoma Review ( Day 2 ~SatURday~ )

Can you feel that?
You better hold on
This one’s about to get bumpy
Hahahahahahaha…
– Rev Theory –

Welcome to Sat-UR-day at Rocklahoma 2011! Rocklahoma had a record breaking attendance of over 35,000 people this year. Organizers had it right when they booked one ground pounding band after another! No matter what your taste for rock was, there was something to excite and entertain you throughly for sure. Just when you think it can’t get any better, it did. The Hard Rock Stage on Day 2 was pumping and bumping all day to great bands including Pop Evil and Adelitas Way who put on a hard hitting show that made concert attendees jump up and down. Go see them Live! Cavo brought some St. Louis, to Rocklahoma and kept the Hard Rock Stage full of rock energy ! You can get your fix of new Cavo FREE at www.cavofan.com – A new single called, ” Hold Your Ground”. Put out early and exclusively for fans to honor a fan who built the site entirely on information given to her by Cavo.

All the way from across the pond (Worcester, Worcestershire, UK) our friends, those dam Gypsy Pistoleros are up at the Hard Rock Stage and these guys have Rocklahoma written all over them. An explosive rock show! You never know what is coming next with these glam machines but you know it will be an ass kicking good time! Lee and Iggie Pistolero have made a constant connection with listeners that you could see the entire time they were here at Rocklahoma. On and off stage these guys know how to Rocklahoma! Thank you Lee!

Now it’s all about a beer!! (get me one lol) Taddy Porter! No it’s a band! Taddy Porter, that is right, named after an ale. Taddy Porter’s live shows just get better and better a southern, gritty, fast paced, crowd pleasing concert that really added a lot of character to the Rocklahoma lineup. I also had a chance to interview Taddy Porter at the Media tent Saturday. Watch for that interview out soon here at Kick Acts Magazine.

The Air National Guard was doing fly overs in observance of Memorial Day in a Blackhawk which is always very cool. A massive thank you to them from all of us here at Kick Acts Magazine and from Oklahoma. It was defiantly heating up on SatURday in Pryor, OK. Summertime never felt so good. Driving through the two massive sections of VIP and General Admission camping was a show too! Happy campers (literally), truckloads of girls in bikinis and people even enjoying the country of Oklahoma by fishing, swimming, enjoying delicious food, ice cold drinks, entertaining vendors at every corner, radio row visiting with fans and facilitating meet and greets, a sea of familiar faces of friends from last year, fans visiting with their favorite bands, And of course constant rock!

On the Main stage Staind was sharp like a knife and precise. He sang a set of fifteen songs one being ” Country Song” which made the crowd roar with excitement. Drowning Pool …YOU FREAKIN’ STOLE SATurDAY!!! Right on time this band formed in 1996 and through up and downs keep true to their music and their performance at Rocklahoma could not have been any more punch in the gut awesome than it was! I did not see one person at the Main Stage that would’ve disagreed with that. Well done. Rev Theory on tour supporting their current album ” Justice” did not disappoint ! They handed fans a solid hard rock show! I also interviewed Rev Theory and cannot wait to tell you about that in an upcoming article! HELL YEAH!??

The Retrospect Stage had so much musically to offer. Fantastic lineup for this Memorial weekend SatURday. There was also the Axis Stage where Siva Addiction served up all the metal you could take, from the first beat! Awesome music. Sweatin’ Bullets a local alternative metal band nailed their show to the ground! Formed in 2005 these guys have said a big “HEY CHECK THIS OUT!!! We are here to stay!”. Many many more bands thrilled the Camping Rocklahoma crowd at all hours of the day and night! The party at Camp Jagar was contagious! A stage there as well. Here is where I heard Aura Surreal from UT. This band is a metal force to be reckoned with! I went to the front of the stage to see what my ears were loving. And they are hard rock hypnotic. Head banging thrash kick your ass metal. And proud. They should be they rocked Oklahoma! Camp Jager and everyone who worked there made it the coolest place to hang out after hours, no doubt!

A HUGE thank you to each of you who made the Camp Jager stage possible! Great food, awesome drinks and even a wedding! Yes that’s right. A couple was united in Holy Matrimony at Rocklahoma 2011. Ceremony was performed by BleachBangs.com(s) Charlie Owens. Sweet! More on the BleachBangs gang in day 3. They will even BANG your ugly friends!! \m/

Sleep??! No one is getting any.
And we are fine with that.
We are here to Rock.
Ride with me into Day 3!?…

The Rocklahoma Review ! ( Day 1 ~FryDay~)

Due to the amount of band coverage, photographs, videos and interviews, this year I will have a three part review of Rocklahoma. And many individual band articles to follow. All bands and sites as well as participants/contributors mentioned will be credited on the Day 3 article. Make sure to check back daily for more Twisted Metal from me, Turbo !

Life, liberty and the pursuit of rock is the Rocklahoma slogan/theme. Feverfest nailed it when they came up with the slogan and logo! Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year Rocklahoma was in its best form ever in my opinion. Rockers, reporters, artists, and production from all over the world came to get a piece of the action! I could feel ROCK festival in the air weeks before. Scores of Rocklahoma fans/contributors in a facebook/twitter posting frenzy just hyped the anticipation for the festival ! Let’s rock! A great way to spend a long Memorial Day Weekend! All Rocklahoma articles from me and dedicated to the men, women and families, past and present who preserve and protect our freedoms and lives. Thank you !

Arriving in Pryor, OK is amazing. It is 40 miles east of Tulsa out in the beautiful heartland and is all country. You immediately get the relaxed down home, small town, positive vibe when you arrive. You then pull up to 400 acres of ROCKLAHOMA !! Many arrived days ahead of time. Packing camping areas, hotels near and far to capacity, months in advance. Three days, three main area stages and even more stages for camping and after hours. (More on those later)

Rocklahoma is a literal carnival (yes complete with rides) of rock. Also vendors from all over the country gave a variety of booths to concert comers that was excellent. You could buy anything apparel related, souvenirs, car accessories, even a Chevrolet if you liked. Along with beer, all kinds of food stands with GOOD eats and ice cold beverages or waters. Its a party …all 400 acres. With something for young and old, classic or modern, and more.

Did you get a chance to go to Rocklahoma 2011? No?? Awww we did miss you, but no worries. Hop in and I’ll take you for a Rocklahoma ride!

~Fryday~

The incredibly crowd/ fan interactive My Darkest Days takes the main stage first and they kicked off the festival with a HELL YEAH! Their performance for Rocklahoma was contagious musical energy ! During the performance of the song” Porn Star Dancing”, I look up and on stage are a group of knock out beautiful girls in bikinis dancing for the ticket holders pleasure ! HOT!

Next up was a well balanced mix of modern rocking on the Hard Rock stage from acts including KMOD’s Battle of the Bands Winner, Delay The Day. Also New Medicine who really keep the rocking loud and proud. Fantastic show from them. Texas Hippie Coalition and Jonathon Tyler & The Northern Lights also gave awesome rock shows on the Hard Rock stage. Sick Puppies are one of the most talented trio musically that I have ever had the pleasure of watching Live. All the way from Australia, America was happy to show them how glad we were that they played Rocklahoma! Every note, every chord this band was the hammer…they nailed it. If you can get a live show ticket for them, grab it quick!

The first band to take the Retrospect Stage was Pretty Little Suicide. As soon as they got on stage, you could feel the energy rising. And when they began to play their set I knew why. These rockers from Boston, MA have a unique but familiar rock that makes you want more and more. They manage to mix their influences such as GNR with their own modern rock style and add talent and dedication to their show that’s undeniable. Mike Patton comes together with his guitar as one, while Izzy Rock the drummer creates a drum line explosion of power. J.C.s bass line is a guitar wave that brings it all home as Ed Earle of Los Angelos melts you with vocals that you don’t just hear but you feel, head to toe!! AWESOME show! These guys played Fryday and again SunFunday we wanted MORE! I had a chance to visit with them in an on camera interview and I can tell you right now, these guys are here to stay and rock your world! You can get their self titled Debut CD now all over the net.

Words fall short to review this next Retrospect stage performance. They are the REAL deal in rock n roll. FIRSTRYKE originally formed in 1984 when two of Tulsa OKs best bands, Slayer and Lazarus combined forces and headed for the stage. Twenty seven years later they are still rockin’ with Rick Adams blazing through deep gritty rock lyrics with ease. On stage these guys are a cut above. They put on an incredible concert! Lights, guitars, sound all combined in just the right time! When I walked away from this show way late into the night, I still had a huge smile on my face from having a blast!

Back at the Main Stage, next up was the band that I would say stole the event. The best of the best. One word, Skillet. The American Christian Rock band formed in Memphis in 1996 originally. Skillet served up an opera themed ground pounding, full blown show. Jam packed with energy and raw power. They used smoke, hydraulics, violins, and every other tool the stage had to offer along with their own talents musically to beautifully deliver one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. The hard hitting drummer Jen Ledger has the voice of an angel. In the air all I saw was every fist raised and rockin’. Hard Rock in its finest hour.

Where was the party you ask? Well it was on stage..with Hinder! They are also one of my top shows of the Memorial Day Weekend. Austin Winkler really knows how to get a crowd rockin’ and having the time of their life! Excellent drumming. Guitars that scream your name. WOW! Austin Winkler took a stroll all the way through VIP to General Admission to serenade his crowd and we loved every minute of it. I also had a chance to interview Austin and Blower (Joe Garvey) so watch for that interview here at Kick Acts.

To wrap up Friday, of course it was Whitesnake. Three decades of rockin’ and David Coverdale and the rest of Whitesnake still is as strong and talented live as ever. Whitesnake released their latest record, “Forevermore”, their eleventh album in 2011. The crowd LOVED this show. And so did I. There was no Still of the Night in this concert.

Being true to you the reader I do have to say there were some noticeable sound glitches on the Hard Rock stage ~Fryday~. However they seemed to be worked out and the show went on. Rocklahoma regrouped in 2010 and made several upgrades to the facilities and combined the lineup to be the best of several generations of rock/metal/modern and indie bands to have rock music to offer just about any ear. It was a success. After clicking a few photographs with friends from past Rocklahoma family members and locating Camp Jagar (more on that very soon) the day was night and rolling into Saturday. Time for some zzzz’s well OK (to be honest) three hours of sleep. I don’t wanna miss anything!