Radio Station 95 Will Rock & FM Entertainment put on an all-day festival that lasted from 11am to 2am of nonstop rock. With 16 bands on the bill, as well as sharing the stage with Carnival of Madness tour, it gave fans 21 bands to see.
I arrived in time to see Emphatic play their 20 minute set and they gave the fans that showed up early a great warm up of what was to come, as they ended their set with Bounce of their new album, “Damaged.” The lead singer for the band is recovering from vocal strain and was replaced by another singer until healed, which is too bad because I would have liked the see the full band playing.
With two stages to play, the music never stopped for a few minutes. After Emphatic, I went to the next stage to see Soil play their set. They gave a solid performance and got the crowd into it and they kept playing, as storm clouds formed in the distance.
As I made my way back to the next stage, the skies turned black as Royal Bliss was getting ready to come on. While the fans wanted Royal Bliss to play, they held off to see what would happen. Within a few minutes, the skies opened up and hit festival grounds hard; the bands took cover in their buses and tents. Big kudos to festival organizers for looking out for the safety of the fans, as well as the bands, as they lowered the stage lighting to not cause issues with the stage collapsing, as what happened in the tragedy at the Indiana State Fair later at that same night.
After 45 minutes the rain stopped, but so much rain in a short time caused the front of the stage area to become a small pond.
With the bands resetting up and the front of the stage being pumped clear of the muddy water, this caused a delay of about 2 hours and bands, Royal Bliss, Adelita’s Way, and Local H to be canceled from the main stage. All 3 bands played on the small interview stage later on in the day but nothing was announced to let fans know they were playing.
After some technical issues, band Powerman 5000 came on stage to work the crowd back up and lead singer, Spider One had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
As most of the water on stage 1 was cleared up, fans came back up front as Dope was the next band up. Several times, Edsel Dope told the fans in GA seating to come over the fence where VIP was and not to let security stop them. Dope was the first band of the day to get the most pits started and as always put on a killer set.
Crossfade came up next and showed some signs of rust, but were able to shake it off by the end of their set to give the fans a good set. But they could not provide the energy that followed, when 10 Years took the stage and for the first time all day, had the largest crowd interaction. Singer, Jesse Hasak was a crazed man on stage with several times going into the crowd and at one point, climbed the side of the stage, hanging in the air as he was singing. As always, 10 Years provided a great show.
Nonpoint was next (see review of their set on home page) and they blew the place up.
Candlebox followed Nonpoint, which was not a good thing for them. While their set was a little out of place for this event, they did finish their set strong.
As the clouds darkened again, Halestorm came on next and as always, killed it. Lzzy Hale is one of the best singers in rock and having had a chance to see them when they first came out on tour; it’s great to see how far they have come. Their amazing setlist had everybody rocking and singing along. As the rain fell, it did not stop them from playing and they finished their set with, I Get Off.
With rain still falling, Saliva came on. I had seen Saliva in early July and I was not impressed then and today, while much better, they seem to lack a spark that used to be there. They just come on and play and say hell yeah over and over; I get it, thanks.
Hinder was next up and put on a great set that had the crowd going. Only issue I had was with this stage 2 - the lighting. As a photographer, it made it difficult to shoot and I am sure the fans were having a hard time seeing when the band members went to the sides of the stage. Even with this, the guys in Hinder got the place rocking & rolling with a set list that just featured all their hits, leaving the fans very satisfied.
The headliner for the night was Five Finger Death Punch and after watching the Theory of a Deadman set, I was so ready to get my fix of FFDP. Ivan Moody is amazing on stage; the way he interacts with the crowd and his intensity, you can’t help but want to get into it. They played for 75 minutes and used those minutes to make Rock the Ranch all theirs. They played all their hits, including the new single Under and Over It. At one point, Moody called up 4 kids on stage and told the crowd this is the future of metal - I am sure those kids will never forget that moment. They ended their set with, The Bleeding to end an amazing day and night of rock.
And if that was not enough, they had an after-party right after, with Anew Revolution, who put on a killer show, Royal Bliss who stayed all day to play the after party and local band, Losing Scarlet to wrap up close to 2am to finish a 14+ hour day.
A big thank you to John Kunz, who was very helpful in setting me up with everything and his staff who did everything to make sure everyone had a great day. Also, to 95 WILL Rock for putting on this show and allowing press to cover their event with full access.
All Photos Provided by Peter Lizano
