Rockfest
May 31st, 2014
Kansas City, Missouri
Liberty Memorial Park
It had been almost a decade since I’ve been to one of 98.9 The Rock’s Rockfest in Kansas City. Things have changed a lot in those missing years. I recall that the first time I attended back in 2003, we were able to find street parking (for free) and only had to walk a block to Liberty Memorial Park. Not this time though. I found a $15 parking garage about a mile away instead of paying the $25 to park in one of Rockfest’s lots, so I made the trek to Liberty Memorial. The God’s of Rock and Metal decided that the dirty fans needed a shower and drenched thousands of fans walking to the venue.
Rockfest has been the country’s largest single day fesitval for a good number of years but actually walking in and seeing a sea of seething, soaked bodies invoked mental images of the impending zombie apocalypse. It’s been years since I’ve been to a concert with so many antendees before. It was almost too much and I knew that it’d prove a hinderance throughout the day.
Knowing that I’d already missed the show’s opening band, Syn City Cowboys, but I made way to the second stage through the crowd in the hopes of catching Nothing More. Here’s the thing about festivals, the band’s who play early on get the best reaction from the fans. After waiting for hours in the heat and rain, the crowd generally calms down from an exhausting day of music. Sadly though, there were only a few photographers for Nothing More’s set. The band did a great job pumping up the crowd though.
I made my way back through 50,000 people to main stage to wait with the rest of the photographers. As we waited for Adelites Way to open the main stage the rain clouds, already looking black and full of anger, erupted and drenched the crowd.
As the heavy rain turned to a drizzle, one of 98.9’s DJ’s took the stage. “Now that we’ve all showered together, I feel like we’re all best friends.” The crowd burst into cheers and screams. Today’s events would be life changing for so many of us.
Before Adelitas Way played we would be treated to a special occurance. It would be Zach Wylde playing the National Anthem, backed by Service Men in uniform proudly presenting the flag, to open main stage. Sadly though few in the crowd had the respect to remove their caps.
Thousand’s of fans cheered and I could hear more than I few singing along. As Wylde exited the stage, the crew finished setting up for the main stage’s first band. The crowd’s response to Adelitas Way was immediate. The quintet from Las Vegas threw their heaviest tracks at the crowd and the fans devoured every second the band was on stage. Vocalist Rick DeJesus, addressing the crowd, asked “How many of you experienced Woodstock?” There were a few cheers from the crowd. “For you kids who didnt, this is your Woodstock. Enjoy it. Smoke a little. Drink a little. And enjoy!” As if on cue, the clouds opened again with a downpour as the band shredded into the 4th song of their set.
After Adeltis Way left the stage, the giant screens placed on either side of the stage began flashing Rockfest’s rules of conduct.
1. Thou shalt pick up thine brother when he falls in the pit.
2. Thou shalt enjoy breastfest with thine eyes and not thine hands.
3. The largest one day festival in America.
The estimates for today’s turn-out varied throughout the day. 50k would have sold out Rockfest but I heard a few of the crew talking about those numbers swelling to 65k. Either way, there were a shit ton of people crammed into Liberty memorial.
I opted to avoid wading through the crowd and skipped Eve to Adam. Rockfest was broadcasting the second stage band’s performance at the main stage and honestly I wasn’t that impressed with Eve to Adam when I saw them open for Halestorm and In This Moment. The band did cover Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell again though and, from the roar of the crowd, it went over well.
Pop Evil took the main stage almost as soon as Eve to Adam finished their second stage set. The men from Grad Rapids, Michigan put on a great show and earned a crowd reaction that set the bar for the band that would be playing today.
I left for second stage as soon as Pop Evil had finished their thrid song and the photographers were escorted from behind the barricade. I smoked two cigarettes in the time it took me to get from the main stage back to the second stage. This is what my day would look like. I’d have to pick and choose which band’s to cover based on how long it was going to take me to wander through a sea of muddy moshing bodies.
I’d missed Heaven’s Basement when the band stopped in Omaha earlier this month while on tour with The Pretty Reckless, so I figured I owed it to the band to not miss this opportunity. The British rock band used A Perfect Circle’s Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rythm of the War Drums as their intro music. Sadly it clashed in an epic fashion with their style of music. I was expecting a much heavier vibe from the band. Their style of Brit Rock was akin to post white album Beatles with a twinge of Oasis thrown in for good measure. The Rockfest crowd ate it up though. Hailing from a small burrough outside of London, this was Heaven’s Basement’s second time at Rockfest.
Vocalist Aaron Buchanan expressed his gratitude to the seething masses. “British bands don’t get the chance to come over here and perform very often,” he told the crowd. “Especially in front of so many people. Thank you Kansas City.”
After another brief rain shower, the main stage field had turned into a giant mud pit. The crowd didn’t seem to mind though.
Black Label Society were the next to ambush the main stage crowd. A giant wall of Marshalls would be their weapon of choice to deliver the heavy metal sound that would rock our faces off. Having BLS play at a festival is a must. The band’s homegrown style of metal is perfect for every rock and metal festival and the veteran musican never disappoints the fans.
I made my way back to second stage with just enough time to witness a few dozen fans get officially married in front of tens of thousands of their closest friends and family. It has become a Rockfest tradition over the past few years and something that I don’t think any other festival in the U.S. does.
After the newlyweds took some photos and threw their bouquettes into the crowd, The Pretty Reckless was ready to prove that a female fronted rock band could hold their own in today’s male dominated lineup.
The sunburned and still wet crowd waiting at the second sprung to their feet and cheered as soon as Taylor Momsen took the stage. Momsen’s grace and beauty was exactly what Rockfest needed to remind us all that a woman could rock out just as heavy as the men could. The band opened with Follow Me Down, using the heavy guitar riffs to beat the crowd into submission. The band’s all too short set of only 5 songs was dominated by tracks off of the band’s sophomore release, Going To Hell. Since You’re Gone, the only track played off of their debut, Light Me Up, served the prefect blend of Momsen’s sultry vocals and the guy’s heavy music. The band used the spoken word piece from the children’s classic nursery rhyme Peter and the Wolf as their intro for Sweet Things. It was the perfect introduction for one of the most corrupt and innocent tracks found on Going to Hell. Heavens Knows followed and the crowd sang along to every word. The live versions of these tracks were given a heavy feel. The band proved with their 5 song set that The Pretty Reckless was formed to play their music live. Momsen picked up a tambourine for the closing song, Fucked Up World.
The Pretty Reckless’ set was the one that I heard the most people talking about during the rest of the festival. They definately deserved to be a main stage act.
I made my way back to the main stage with just enough time to catch Steel Panther. I am still amazed that this band is a real band. Honestly. For the longest time I had thought they were urban legend. In all seriousness though, the guys have honed their skills over the past decade touring dive bars in California and all over the world.
There was a perfect amount of crowd interaction inbetween each of the band’s songs. Lead guitarist Satchel described vocalist Michael Starr as “Like Brett Michaels had a baby with Meatloaf.” Starr took the crowd’s reaction to Steel Panther in stride, “This isn’t a fucking Justin Bieber concert. Get off your asses!” Steel Panther is humorous band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. At one point Starr, talking to Lexxi as though the crowd didn’t exist, said the reason they love touring the midwest is to bring rock music to the one black fan in the crowd. I wasn’t the only one to chuckle or look around to see if Starr was right. The band’s set was perfected down to their choreographed moves. Their set of original music was a great break from the reality of today’s cruel world. It was good to laugh along with the band as they shredded through tracks like Gloryhole and Gangbang at the Old Folks Home.
I could still hear people laughing at Starr’s jokes as I made my way back to the second stage for SOiL. This isn’t the first time SOiL have played at Rockfest. Vocalist and founder Ryan McCombs, having returned to the band in 2011 after a 7 year absence, has played 98.9’s Rockfest 4 times; once with Drowning Pool and this year marked his 3rd time with Soil. “Eightteen years I’ve been doing this,” McCombs told the crowd referring to his musical career, “with SOiL, with Drowning Pool. With SOiL again. This is my favorite.” McCombs raised both hands in the air and the crowd screamed their approval of SOiL’s return. McCombs continued by adding, “And Everyone I know back home in Indiana wonders why I do this.
SOiL’s setlist included one cover, if you could even call it that. McCombs told the crowd that their next song “is very a special that song is to me.” Drowning Pool’s 37 Stitches brought the crowd to their feet, arms raises and voices singing in unison.
As the day progressed it was more and more time consuming to made the trek across Liberty Memorial to get from the main stage to the second and back again. This particular time I’d only made it 3/4 through the journey before I could hear STAIND had begun their set. Mosh pits opened all over the place as soon as Staind took the stage. The crowd’s reaction to this band was unlike their reaction to any other band before them. Having been around for nearly two decades, Staind knows how to rock! Fans sang along to every word Waiting. Aaron Lewis looked great too. He’s lost weight and you could see that the years have been kind to this man. The vast majority of the crowd sung along with every song of the band’s set, which was heavy with the band’s older radio friendly material.
In the middle of the band’s performance of Something To Remind You, Lewis stopped the show to rip into a number of “fucking assholes” in the crowd for getting too handsy with a young woman who was crowd-surfing. Lewis exclaimed from the stage, “Listen up you fucking assholes, that girl over right there is like 15 fucking years old and you pieces of shit are molesting her while she’s on the fucking crowd. Your fucking mothers should be ashamed of themselves, you pieces of shit.” It didn’t end there though. Lewis had a lot more to say to the crowd, including threatening a beat down on the culprits. Lewis then gave a speech about showing titties at a concert and how the girls who show there tits are showing them because they want to and the girls who aren’t, don’t want to and shouldn’t be forced too. I totally get where Lewis is coming from, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen hims top a show to yell at the crowd. In fact, he’s done this at every Staind concert I’ve attended.
Once the scene dies down and the pit deals with the molesting assholes, the crowd erupts to life again as the band plays Outside and continues to maintain their energy level during Mudshovel. The entire venue was ablaze in a single unified voice during Its Been Awhile.
Lewis closed the band’s set by telling the tens of thousands of screaming fans “Thank you for allowing us to do this for 16 years. I wrote this last song for you.” For You was a perfect closer for Staind’s set. The track, written about a letter Lewis had received years earlier by a mother who’s son, a fan of Staind, had committed suicide. The grieving woman told Lewis her son’s story and asked him why her son chose to end his life. Lewis’ response was to write For You.
This was also the last chance for the massive crowd to show they had one final burst of energy in them for Staind, and tens of thousands of screaming fans didn’t dissappoint.
Escape the Fate started playing on the second stage as soon as Staind had finished on the main stage. Unfortunately, this gave very little time for anyone who’d stayed for Staind’s entire set to make the trek across the park to the second stage. Thankfully the jumbotrons continued to play the live feed of the second stage for everyone planted at the main stage. Escape the Fate’s set had the crowd bouncing. The band’s unique brand of heavy metal had the entire crowd bouncing.The War Is Ours, the band’s final song, found the fans bursting off their feet.
After enduring the rain, mud and humid weather for nearly 10 hours, Rockfest wasn’t done with us. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen the guys in Five Finger Death Punch and their set was one that I was looking orward to seeing the most.
There were more than a few confused looks fromt he crowd as Jerry “Napoleon XIV” Samuels’ voice blasted over the speakers, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” For the older crowd, we knew this was the perfect introduction for FFDP.
Ivan Moody is an amazing showman, and the band has found the perfect musicians to back Moody’s on stage comedic seriousness. After beating the crowd into submission with Under and Over, Burn It Down, and Hard To See, Moody addressed the fans. “I noticed that you pissed off my good friend Aaron Lewis,” referring the Lewis’ addressing the overly brutal crowd during Staind’s set. “He’s a lot nicer than I am. I would have come down and kicked your ass myself.”
Further into the band’s 11 song set, Moody took the time to thank the crowd and the band who made their career possible. “Seven years ago there was one band who believed in Five Finger Death Punch enough to take them out on tour. That band is Korn.” Moody was referring to Family Values 2007, when FFDP played the festival’s second stage. “Are you ready for Korn,” Moody asked the crowd. The fan’s response was nearly deafening. “Well you’ve gotta get through us first.”
During FFDP’s set, huge mosh pits open continuously. Fans sung along with every song.
Moody pulled a young fan named Cooper, and Cooper’s father out of the pit and sat them on the drum kit to “watch how the adults do it”. Then Moody pulled a second young fan on stage. Before continuing their set, Moody demanded two circle pits open. One on the left side of the stage and one on the right. The fans were eager to comply. FFDP knows how to deliver a very high energy set. The band did take it down a notch for a few songs though. During an acoustic break Moody softly sang to the crowd “Dear Father…. I remember everything.” Lighters and cellphones shined across the park like a blanket of stars.
Moody wasn’t done though. He jumped into the pit, singing and giving fives to the fans close enough to him before kicking their set back into high gear.
After another short break, Moody walked back on stage as the spotlight found him. “Turn that fucking spotlight off. I’m not Axel Rose.” FFDP, with Moody leading the charge, knows what the fans want and how to deliver an authentic rock show.
The sun was slowly setting as Killswitch Engage took over the second stage. This would be the first time that many of the band’s fans would be seeing them live with original lead singer, Jesse Leach.KSE didn’t waste any time ramping into a brutal, high energy set. The fans turned the field into a gigantic mosh pit, bodies slamming into each other for as far as the eye could see. As their short set came to a close, there was a great reaction to their cover of Dio’s Holy Diver.
Closing out the festival though was the band that’s been responsible for bringing metal to the world for over two decades, and is showing no sign of slowing down.
The Molested intro heralded the return of Korn to Kansas City, and I found out what it sounds like when 60,000 fans scream in unison. Drummer Ray Luzier was the first to take the stage. Luzier, having joined the band in 2007, has more than proven himself and his musical talents over the past 8 years to the fans. The excitement and anticipation of the crowd was tangible as Luzier pinged the subtle opening notes of Falling Away From Me and Munky, and Fieldy stepped on stage. That energy level burst tenfold as Brian “Head” Welch emerged from stage right and joined the band. This would be the first time that so many fans would be seeing Head performing with the band. The moshing reached a pinacle as soon as the Jonathan Davis confidently walked on stage and stepped behind his H.R. Giger inspired microphone stand. Opening their set with material almost 15 years old, the band easily won over their hardcore fans and proved that Korn’s music stands the tests of time. The set’s focus wasn’t solely on one style of Korn’s music though. Classic tracks blended perfectly with the band’s new material. Electronic interludes bridged the gaps between the band’s classic tracks like Did My Time, and Shoots and Ladders, with new material off of the band’s latest release, The Paradigm Shift.
Davis easily matched the fierce head banging of the crowd, while Head, Munky and Fieldy bounced around the stage, spurring the crowd to release the tensions and frustrations of their “shitty work week.” If you’ve never had the chance to experience a Korn concert, it’s a spiritual, life changing event. As brutal as their live shows are, there’s still a sense of family and community with Korn fans. If someone falls down in the pit, someone else picks them up. If someone needs out of the pit, they’re body surfed to the safety of the barricade. This is what it means to be one of the Children of the Korn.
After nearly twelve hours in the heat and humidity, Korn pushed the exhausted fans past any limits they may have thought they had. One doesn’t simply walk into a Korn concert. One lives a Korn concert. The band fed off of the crowd’s energy and vice versa during their hour plus set and more than proved they can still bring together tens of thousands of people and unite them into one seething mass of fanatics who scream the lyrics to every song the band can play.
Rockfest finished the day with a brilliant firework display. The heat had subsided and fans were finally allowed the chance to catch their breath and rest their tired feet.
Overall, Rockfest 2014 was an amazing experience but one that may have outgrown itself. It was a shame that most of the second stage bands were limited to a 5 song set and the daily line-up seemed rushed. Maybe it’s time for Rockfest to be the countries largest two day festival?
