Every summer we look forward to some of the largest, loudest festivals in North America and this year’s festival season is quickly approaching. This is one of my favorite times of the year, I have covered Rock on the Range for the past three years, Carolina Rebellion for the past two years and am looking forward to expanding to include Rocklahoma and Welcome to Rockville. One by one the line ups are being announced, check out the appropriate festival’s web site to view full line up’s.
World’s Loudest Month, created in partnership by AEG Live and Danny Wimmer Presents, continues to grow in 2014. Featuring the biggest names in rock music performing in six distinct U.S. concert atmospheres, the World’s Loudest Month is excited to announce the addition of a new festival, as well as the 2014 festival dates. In 2013, the World’s Loudest Month featured over 125 artists playing for more than a quarter of a million rock music fans across the country on five consecutive weekends, confirming that rock music is as vital as ever.
The 2014 World’s Loudest Month festival events and dates are as follows:
Monster Energy’s Welcome To Rockville: April 26 & 27 in North Florida
Fort Rock: April 26 in Fort Myers, FL
Carolina Rebellion: May 3 & 4 in Charlotte, NC
Rock On The Range: May 16, 17 & 18 in Columbus, OH
Rocklahoma: May 23, 24 & 25 in Pryor, OK
RockFest: May 31 in Kansas City, MO
“When we created the World’s Loudest Month platform, we did it with the goal of growing it to become the launch pad for rock festival fans across the country,” comments Joe Litvag, Co-Executive Producer. “We’re excited to add Fort Myers to the mix in 2014, which further expands our reach for the rock genre.”
The World’s Loudest Month kick-off weekend begins in the Sunshine state of Florida with Monster Energy’s Welcome To Rockville, April 26 and 27. Florida’s largest rock festival returns to North Florida for its fourth year and–along with the addition of Fort Rock (Fort Myers, FL) on April 26–kicks off WLM! Only the state of Florida could handle two major events on the same day! For ticket specials, hotel and VIP packages, visit www.welcometorockville.com andwww.fortrockfestival.com.
“I’ve been saying all year that I keep hearing rock is ‘dead,’ yet record numbers attend our shows every year. Our festivals are for music fans who buck trends and remain true to the music they like. Our job as tastemakers in rock and roll is to find the markets where music fans are underserved and I am happy to add Fort Rock to our World’s Loudest Month and include it on the same weekend with Welcome To Rockville,” says Danny Wimmer, Co-Executive Producer.
Next up is Carolina Rebellion, returning to Rock City Campgrounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina for its second consecutive year. With on-site camping, amazing VIP packages and a lineup featuring today’s biggest bands, in four short years Carolina Rebellion has quickly grown to be the Carolinas’ Biggest Weekend of Rock. www.CarolinaRebellion.com.
Rock On The Range–the nation’s biggest and most-acclaimed active rock festival–will grow to three full days in 2014 after a successful expanded Friday Night in 2013. Over 105,000 die-hard Rangers attended ROTR last year, traveling to Columbus, OH from all 50 states and over the globe, resulting in a sellout for the first time since the inaugural, one-day Rock On The Range in 2007. Pre-sale Layaway tickets go on sale on Monday, December 2, and VIP, hotel, and camping packages go on sale Thursday, December 5.www.RockOnTheRange.com.
Rocklahoma–America’s biggest Memorial Day Weekend party–continues to be the ultimate destination Rock event in the country. The three-day camp & rock festival features the top current active and classic rock artists at “Catch the Fever” Festival Grounds in Pryor, OK. Ticket renewals for 2014 will be available starting Monday, December 2. To renew your 2013 ticket location, call the box office at (866) 310-2288. www.Rocklahoma.com.
RockFest celebrates its astounding 22nd year in 2014. Drawing crowds in excess of 55,000 annually at Penn Valley Park in downtown Kansas City, RockFest is definitely worthy of its title as “the BIGGEST one-day music festival in the United States.”www.RockfestKC.com.
The World’s Loudest Month mobile app (available via iTunes and Android), released in 2013, will be updated early next year and will feature all festival information, the latest rock news, exclusive songs from current and previous WLM bands, and more. Band lineups and additional details for each festival will be announced in early 2014.
Monster Energy returns as a sponsor of the World’s Loudest Monthfor the second year in a row, along with the valued partnerships with Jägermeister, Jack Daniel’s and Ernie Ball. The World’s Loudest Month is also working with Revolver Magazine to bring you exclusive news, interviews and photos of all the festivals.
I love this band, they are constantly on tour, working to get on every summer festival bill they can manage and still make themselves so readily available to their fans. Coming out, Leigh Kakaty immediately jumps into some of his normal on stage antics, grabbing his signature mic stand and flinging it around as they transition into “Deal with the Devil.” This is one of the few bands that I actually prefer in a large festival setting, I feel like they do so much more and are able to connect so well on a larger scale. Regardless where they are they put in everything they have and the crowd responds likewise. Pop Evil is one of those bands if they come anywhere near Baltimore I will go see their show.
Stone Sour
The last time Stone Sour was in Baltimore, they were playing a co-headlining tour with Avenged Sevenfold at the Baltimore Arena, three years later they made their over due return to the area. This time playing to a sold out crowd at Rams Head Live, these guys left everyone in the crowd wanting more. Corey Taylor is hands down one of my favorite vocalists in rock music, they way he is able to command the attention of everything from a large arena to a small club venue is an incredible talent to possess, I have seen so many bands step out of a club and into the festival scene and just fall apart.
Coming in, Stone Sour jumped right into their set with single from their latest album, “The House of Gold and Bones.” Corey was posted up at the top of the stage while the rest of the guys scattered around him. These guys have so much energy and power behind their music it’s hard not to get lost in the moment. Though my favorite part of their set was towards the end the lights went down andeveryone left the stage, leaving a lone Corey Taylor and an acoustic guitar, he started off with a cover of Alice in Chain’s “Nutshell” and segued into “Bother.” Both songs full of heavy lyrics and loaded with emotion, during the last couple of lines in “Bother” Corey sang a slightly different melody of the song while the crowd shouted his version right back to him. It must have been a little overwhelming because Corey took a step back and pressed his hands together and gave a huge smile as if to say thank you to the people who so evidently supported him. It was a great night full of Rock N Roll I was so happy to have been a part of.
We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to cover Imagine Dragon’s private acoustic show at Hard Rock Cafe’s grand Re-Opening show in Baltimore MD. We had just covered their show at Merriweather Post Pavilion a couple weeks prior, but after seeing them put on a flawless show in front of a sold out crowd we leaped at the chance to see them in a restaurant preforming a stripped down acoustic version of their show. After releasing their debut album “Night Visions” in September of 2012 Imagine Dragons immediately found mainstream success, playing to sold out crowds, preforming at the American Music Awards and even picking up two Grammy nominations.
I was so intrigued to see how these guys were going to take their eccentric stage show and channel that into an intimate acoustic set. As soon as they started playing they were able to take their live, crazy, fun show and turn it into this small intimate show. What I love is they still owned it, even being confined to chairs they took their live show and applied it to this new environment. Lead vocalist, Dan Reynolds took time between each set to chat with crowd about their tour, how surreal it was to be in their situation, he just seemed all around like a genuine guy. It is a feat in itself to connect with a group of people on a level that you feel like you personally know that person without ever having spent time with them one on one. There is nothing I can say to criticize this band, after having seen them in front of a large stage and then again in a small venue playing acoustically, I am blown away. Imagine Dragons has set the bar high for up and coming bands, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds for this band.
Jimmy Eat World is one of those bands that found a great deal of success early on in their career, but since seemed to have plateaued. This band holds a special place in my concert – going career, they were at my very fist show I ever attended. Green Day with Jimmy Eat World in August of 2005. I remember liking them so much, they were just an opening band, but they made jokes, they ran around the stage and genuinely enjoyed what they were doing. I was curious to see how they would do in a club venue some years later, unfortunately they did not live up to my memories. Their set was actually quite unspectacular, lead singer, Jim Adkins lacked the connection I was so excited about in ’05, and the extent of their dialog was announcing each song as they were about the preform. For the most part they sounded on point, everyone hit their que but it just seemed like they were just going through the motions.
Willie Nelson is one of the most recognizable names in music history and getting an opportunity to cover this show is one I though I never have. Appropriately this tour was titled, “Willie Nelson and Family Tour” opening for him was son, Luckas Nelson, who also joining Willie onstage later playing guitar and backing vocals. Also part of his band, was sister Bobbie Nelson on the piano. This show is exactly what I was expecting. Willie came on stage with his cowboy hat and a guitar that looks as though it could have been his first guitar, held together with bungie cords and duck tape. Even though this was a larger outdoor venue it felt like a small intimate show Nelson is very charismatic on stage and really has a way of connecting with everyone in the crowd. Opening his set with “Whiskey River” Nelson jumped right into his almost three hour long set. I didn’t expect too much energy out of the now 80 year old singer / songwriter but he put every ounce of emotion into every one of his songs. This is just a testament to why he is still touring and making music.
I was so excited to check out this tour, Korn and Rob Zombie under the same roof? Sounds like a pretty awesome night of Rock N Roll. The first thing I noticed when Korn came out was a line up change, Fieldy was missing, in his place was bassist from Head’s side project Love and Death, Michael Valentine. Later we had heard Fieldy was taking a couple days off to spend time with his family for thanksgiving. None the less the show went on! Another notable change to the line up was the resurfacing of Brian “Head” Welch. He joined them on stage for the first time since 2005 at a summer concert festival, Carolina Rebellion in 2012 and since rejoined Korn. This was my first time seeing these guys outside of a festival setting, while I love them on a huge stage, seeing them in a more intimate setting is a completely different experience.
As soon as the lights went down in the Sands Event Center, stage hands ripped the drape off of Jonathan Davis’s signature mic stand and one by one the members of korn ran on stage and into “Blind.” The crowd exploded and chanted with Davis, “Are you ready?!” the venue exploded with energy. One of my favorite people to watch is Head, as he head bangs his dreads are flying all over the place, at one point in the set he noticed a guy in the front row with dreads that gave him a run for his money, he came down to give him a handshake and hand him a guitar pick. As their set progressed they decided to play a couple new tracks from their newly released “The Paradigm Shift” including single, “Never, Never.” Everyone seemed to welcome the new tracks with fists in the air.
Rob Zombie
Concluding their “Night of the Living Dreads” tour Rob Zombie and his crew made their final stop at a sold out show at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem PA. One of my favorite things about these guys is how eccentric and theatrical their show is, every member of this band has an alternative identity and style, from Drummer Gingerfish, Bassist, Piggy D, Guitarist John 5 and Rob Zombie himself. This band is hands down one of the most difficult bands to photograph, between intense moments of red and green colored lights and Rob Zombie jumping from speaker to speaker every second of our allotted three songs presents a new challenge. In the same respect it creates a killer show for the crowd. In the middle of their set John 5 broke into a guitar solo, while this was happening, Rob jumped off the stage and into the crowd with a large flashlight, walking around flashing people. Eventually segueing into “We’re and American Band.” Towards the end of the night Rob made an announcement for everyone to put their phones back in their pockets and simply enjoy the show. Joining them on stage to close out the night with fan favorite, “Dragula” was Munky and Head, everyone in the venue had their fists in the air and helped close out “Night of the Living Dreads” with a bang.
Following their release of their newest album “Lighting Bolt” Pearl Jam set out on a nation wide tour and made a stop in Baltimore for the first time in over a decade. This is a band I have been waiting to see for the longest time, I have so much love and respect for these guys. As soon as they hit the stage they went right into the intro for one of their newest singles off their new album, “Pendulum.” This song has so much power behind it, but very soft in the same respect, they immediately commanded your attention and set the tone for the show. As the show progressed the energy in 1st Mariner Arena was through the roof. Everyone in the crowd was one their feet and bouncing around, it felt like so much more than just a concert, it was a celebration.
Pearl Jam played a three hour set with three short breaks, it was absolutely incredible, these guys have more stamina on stage than most bands I have ever seen. Eddie Vedder loves to run around the stage, at one point he even jumped on a of their many hanging lanterns and swung around the stage and into the crowd. Something that was evident throughout the show was how much Pearl Jam genuinely loves and appreciates their fans. They made a point to come down from the stage and interact with their fans, whether it be pouring them a cup of wine, handing out memorabilia or simply waving at various people. Within the first couple songs Eddie points out a man in a yellow shirt in the very last row in the venue and told him he was making a hell of an impression. As the set progressed the jumbotrons viewed the man jumping and dancing around throughout the entire show. Just before their last song, Eddie made a proposition to the man, if he could make it up to the stage within the last song, he could join them on stage and help them close out the night. The man sprinted through the venue and onto the stage just in time to grab a tambourine and close out their rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin in the Free World.” The energy in this venue that night was unmatched. I hope to see more of these guys within the next year, but If you haven’t seen them before you are REALLY missing out.
SETLIST:
1.PENDULUM
2.HARD TO IMAGINE
3.SMALL TOWN
4.LIGHTING BOLT
5.LUKIN
6.CORDUROY (THAT SOUNDED LIKE NOT FOR YOU) LOL
7.MIND YOUR MANNERS
8.GIVEN TO FLY
9.MFC
10.SIRENS
11.HABIT
12.DAUGHTER/TAG – WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
13.WISHLIST
14.PRESENT TENSE
15.SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE
16.LET THE RECORDS PLAY
17.SETTING FORTH
18.UNTHOUGHT KNOWN
19.REARVIEWMIRROR
ENCORE 1
20.YELLOW MOON
21.MAN OF THE HOUR
22.NOTHINGMAN
23.WAITING FOR MY MAN(LOU REED)
24.BETTER MAN
25.DO THE EVOLUTION
26.BLOOD
27.PORCH
ENCORE 2
28.ONCE
29.LOVE REIGN
30.BLACK
31.ALIVE
32.KEEP ON ROCKIN
The past year has been a whirlwind of success for Australian indie rock band Atlas Genius. Just this past February, the band played at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD as an opening band for Imagine Dragons. Now, just eight months later, Atlas Genius is headlining their own tour and on October 13, they made their stop at The Fillmore Silver Spring. Lead singer Keith praised the venue and the location several times during their set. He stated, “our tour is about half way through and this was one of the best nights of this tour.”
From the moment Atlas Genius took the stage to the moment they walked off, they gave their performance 110% as always. The fans young and old were all dancing to their very catchy electric rock music and singing along. They performed every song off of their debut LP When It Was Now which was released back in February.
Altas Genius setlist:
Intro
On A Day
If So
When It Was Now
Back Seat
All These Girls
Symptoms
Don’t Make A Scene
Through The Glass
Trojans
Centered on You
Electric
Atlas Genius is a band that is as dedicated to their fans as their fans are to them. Immediately after their set, Keith and Michael made their way to the merch table to meet every fan that came to their show. They signed anything from merchandise to body parts and everyone got to take a photo with them and chat with the brothers for a little bit. It’s great to see a band so passionate about giving back to the fans. Meet and greets like these are what make concert experiences come full circle.
Family of the Year
Performing right before Atlas Genius, Family of The Year brought their folk-influenced indie pop to the stage. Their sound consists of strong female and male harmonies. The band is made up of brother Joseph and Sebastian Keefe, James Buckey, and Christina Schroeter. Family of the Year was not the most active band of the night as their music is more relaxing than danceable, they still rocked the stage and performed with passion.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
As the opening band for the night, electronic indie pop band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. brought the house down! This band had the whole crowd dancing early on in the night, warming them up for the rest of the night. The band consists of Daniel Zott, Joshua Epstein, Mike Higgins and Jon Visger. These guys were bouncing around stage as the lights on each side of the stage that read “JR JR” lit up to the beat of the music. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a fun band that is a must see live.
I have seen these guys once before at an outdoor festival, Rock on the Range, though until this show I had no idea just how theatrical their sets really were. Out of the six piece band, five are completely cloaked from head to toe in black robes and masks. The sixth and lead vocalists is dressed as a religious figure in a catholic church, except appearing with full skull face paint.I thought their set a was a lot of fun they played well around one another and their music really stuck with the creepy ghoulish theme they were trying to portray.
The Deftones
Every time I have seen The Deftones, I have really enjoyed their set, but I have said it before, I feel like they get lost on a big stage. These guys do so much better and so much more with their set on a smaller more intimate stage. Lead vocalist, Chino Moreno is honestly the only one worth watching, he is constantly running all over the stage and keeps the crowd really engaged in the set. The rest of the band sort of just blends in with the background. That being said I have absolutely no complaints about their sound, they are consistently a good show but I will be looking forward to their next club venue tour!
Avenged Sevenfold
I get so excited when I hear Avenged Sevenfold is on tour again, these guys know how to put on a killer show and leave a lasting impression. Supporting the release of their sixth studio “Hail To The King” Avenged came back and better than I have ever seen them. Something that I love about these guys is whether it is a headlining show or them opening for someone else, they bring so much personality to the stage. After the passing of their drummer, James “The Rev” Sullivan it seemed that they lost their spark on stage they were there, but there was nothing behind them, it wasn’t until last summer I noticed a drastic change, they started having fun again. They started to genuinely enjoy what they were doing again. They were all over the stage making passes at one another and keeping the crowd involved in their set.
Avenged is notorious for having some of the most die hard fans in rock, after the second song Matthew Shadows pulled a couple from the front who were waving a sign with their version of “priceless” Avenged statistics and asking to get their tattoos signed. So he and the rest of the band did exactly that. This isn’t the first time I have seen them pull someone from the crowd and ironically it was the same guy. About two years ago at their show in NJ Shadows noticed a guy in the front with an Avenged Sevenfold chest piece singing along to every word and pulled him on stage to meet the band and sit side stage for a couple songs. I admire the fact that these guys want to give back to their fans and give them these once in a life time experiences. Incredible show, I am glad to see them back and tearing up the stage.
This Sunday, October 13th, is the third time within a year that Atlas Genius will being playing in the state of Maryland. However, this time it is their own headlining tour at the Fillmore in Silver Spring! Atlas Genius has opened for acts like The Silversun Pickups and Imagine Dragons. They’ve also been playing huge music festivals like Firefly this year. It’s no surprise this band-to-watch is back on the road again on their headlining tour!
Atlas Genius premiered their official music video for “If So” yesterday. You can check it out here:
We’ll be bringing you a review and photos from their show this Sunday! If you’re in the Maryland, D.C., Virginia area, plan to come to the Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD to see Atlas Genius live! Tickets are currently only $15 for the “Ones to Watch” promo on Live Nation! See you there!
And if you’re not in the area, here are all of their current tour dates:
Matt and Kim released a new EP after performing their second weekend at Coachella. This EP mixes Matt and Kim's usual upbeat tunes with some more mellow beats, which will help hold their fans over until their next LP is released.
I love this band, they are constantly on tour, working to get on every summer festival bill they can manage and still make themselves so readily available to their fans. Coming out, Leigh Kakaty immediately jumps into some of his normal on stage antics, grabbing his signature mic stand and flinging it around as they transition into “Deal with the Devil.” This is one of the few bands that I actually prefer in a large festival setting, I feel like they do so much more and are able to connect so well on a larger scale. Regardless where they are they put in everything they have and the crowd responds likewise. Pop Evil is one of those bands if they come anywhere near Baltimore I will go see their show.
everyone left the stage, leaving a lone Corey Taylor and an acoustic guitar, he started off with a cover of Alice in Chain’s “Nutshell” and segued into “Bother.” Both songs full of heavy lyrics and loaded with emotion, during the last couple of lines in “Bother” Corey sang a slightly different melody of the song while the crowd shouted his version right back to him. It must have been a little overwhelming because Corey took a step back and pressed his hands together and gave a huge smile as if to say thank you to the people who so evidently supported him. It was a great night full of Rock N Roll I was so happy to have been a part of.
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