I’ve been to my share of concerts over the years: ’80s hair bands, classic-rock, punk, metal. This girl has seen a few bands in her day. So that is why I was excited when I heard about the first Rock on the Range tour. The line-up was to include more than 10 major bands on two stages, an all-day rock ‘n’ roll event with a line-up sure to please almost everyone.
Even better was the fact that this concert was being held in Columbus, Ohio, only, which is an hour and a half drive for me. Sixty percent of the tickets sales for the event were to those living outside of the Columbus area. Rock fans from all over the U.S. drove hours on end just to see an incredible line-up of talent. The bands to perform that day were: Puddle of Mudd, Buckcherry, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Hinder, Velvet Revolver, 3 Days Grace, Evanescence, ZZ Top and a few others. The ticket price of 66 dollars after the surcharge, was well worth it for this many bands.
On the day of the show, my friends and I headed out bright and early in hopes to be one of the first 10,000 people there who would receive a coveted wristband. This wristband, which very few fans knew about, is what enabled you to get a floor seat at the show. My heart sank as I saw thousands and thousands of cars parked before 9 a.m. We quickly took our places in what appeared to be a mile long line. After a while, I began to see people here and there running through the grass and over water to head for some “elusive” line. Should we chance it to see where they were going and lose our place in line? After a few minutes of debate, we decide it was worth a shot and we grabbed our belongings and ran for it. Our spontaneity paid off as this was indeed the line to get a wristband!
Now I cannot exactly remember the order of the show, and really it doesn’t matter when you’re amongst over 30,000 fans. Energy and excitement was packed into one stadium for over 12 hours. Now of course not everyone loves every single band, but the great thing about this was that it united a younger generation of fans with an older generation as well. I was lucky enough to be in the front row or close to the front for virtually every single band on the main stage.
Most fans had a favorite band there, or a band that they came in particular to see, one of mine was 3 Days Grace. I was also excited to see Velvet Revolver. Honestly I am not the biggest fan of Velvet Revolver, but for those of you who may not know, it includes Slash, the former guitar player of the iconic band Gun n’ Roses, and Scott Weiland, the former front man of Stone Temple Pilots. These two are incredible showmen, probably the most crowd engaging performers of the night. I cannot possibly count how many crowd surfers I passed over my head during their amazing set which included a few STP songs.
One of the last bands to perform was Evanescence. I initially did not think this band exactly fit with the rest of the line-up, but Amy Lee, the lead singer, has an amazing voice and drew many fans of her own. As I looked around, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one who had dialed someone up on my cell phone just to hear her sing. The final band was ZZ Top, which I did not get to see, but many of the bands expressed during their set, what an honor it was to share the stage with this influential band.
It is not very often that you get to see this many bands together on one day. It is not very often that you see fans from 6 to 60 all at one stadium because of their love for music. Word is, Rock on the Range will be back in Columbus next year. I’m sure it will be just as amazing again, and you can count that I will be there.
