Day three of Rocklahoma (ROK) located near Pryor, Oklahoma, is a series of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music festivals planned by AEG and billed as the World’s Loudest Month from late April to early June, appeared to recover from the severe weather the night before cancelling most of the scheduled shows before they really got started. Tents and portable toilets were upright again, the dusty fields washed and dried. Disappointed fans continued to vent their disappointment online while other fans reminded them of the unpredictability of Mother Nature and the need for safety in light of the dangerous collapse of two side stages in 2008.
Black Stone Cherry led the main stage on the warm and fresh afternoon matching the band’s enthusiastic energy. The bleached blond spark plug guitarist, Ben Wells, bounded across the stage inciting the fans to raise their fists while drummer, John Fred Young, pounded the skins in his best impression of Animal, the Muppet. They blazed through a 30-minute set featuring crowd favorites “White Trash Millionaire” and “Blame It On The Boom Boom”.
Buckcherry followed on the main stage cranking out 40 minutes before the festival inexplicably lost power completely. Rumors and suspicions of another cancelled day of shows flew through the crowd still fresh with disappointment from the day before. After forty minutes of contemplative silence, a back-up generator at the main stage allowed festival organizers to announce the power outage affected the entire county, not just the festival. Later, they announced the source of the outage was a bird alighting atop a transformer; taking out the power and, presumably, atomizing the bird. The announcement also advised fans all the bands would play despite the delay.
Power and Rock was restored 50 minutes after the initial silencing with Wage War taking the second stage. The thunderous wall of sound and high-energy stage presence of the 5-man Metalcore band drew young and old, and even inspiring one elderly rock statesdude to crowd surf. By the second song, the crowd tripled in size. By the end of the 30 minute set, the area between the stage and sound board was filled to capacity with fans spilling to each side of the stage and all the lawn chairs in the surrounding field faced the onslaught of sound. Wage War introduced a new song, “Don’t Let Me Fade Away” from their upcoming Aug 4, 2017, release Deadweight. Wage War kept it tight, reminding the crowd, “You’re worth something!” They closed their blistering set with “Twenty-One”.
Following Wage War’s intense set, Ratt scurried onto the main stage where the lead singer, Stephen Pearcy, phoned in an uninspired performance at odds with the rest of the band who suffered through his performance with the festival attendees. There was too much dead air and unenthusiastic crowd banter between songs. Sit down, Stephen, you’re done.
Later in the evening, Jackyl took the main stage – going long, of course, as Jesse James Dupree is wont to do. He doesn’t live by a time clock; he works hard until the work is done. Jackyl’s show energy was the antithesis of Ratt; spirited, fun, focused and engaged with the crowd. Seether and Offspring followed on the main stage significantly later than originally scheduled but still playing to a packed festival grounds.
In this tenth year, ROK overcame twin acts of God; severe thunderstorms and a kamikaze bird strike, to deliver a line-up consistent with its tradition. While ROK continues to improve the festival grounds and its processes, there were a couple areas where the festival took steps backwards. First, the festival needs a main stage and satellite PA system upgrade. The current system is simply not powerful enough and of sufficient quality to deliver a loud and clear concert sound experience. Attendees watching the show from the festival grounds should not be able to have a normal volume conversation during a main stage set. Second, this year’s production was noticeably undisciplined compared with years past. Power outage delay notwithstanding, bands were not adhering to set start times, there was too much dead air between sets, second stage sound checks were loud and distracting during main stage shows, and the second stage white “house” lights were inexplicably left on for half of one of the main stage acts effectively ruining the impact of the main stage light show.
Overall, ROK continues to provide value to rock fans looking for an affordable, dirty, and somewhat unpredictable party experience. And what’s not Rock ‘n’ Roll about that?
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