On the Waterfront presents… Rock Allegiance Tour
Tonight was the official kickoff for “On the Waterfront.” This annual event in Rockford, IL has been one of the highlights for this city every year, featuring acts from all genre of music. Tonight the Rock Allegiance Tour rolled into town, on this extreme hot day, as summer decided to hit the area with a mini heat wave. With 7 bands on this tour and fair price for the tickets you can’t beat it. Tour will be ending the end of September and information can be found on http://rockallegiance.com/artists
First band up was Drive A, which provided a powerful 25 minute set and being an opener for these many bands has not given them the largest crowds, but if you want to see a killer band, I would get there early and show these guys some love.
Following Drive A was Crossfade. Now, I have seen them a few weeks ago and they seem to be having the same issue as before with the sound. Not sure if the sound guy just is not cracked up for this but it’s a shame for a band with this much talent to be dealing with this. Throughout the whole set, you could not hear the bass players’ background vocals on songs I know needed them, as well as the higher vocals would start to crackle. To their credit, they played on and are some amazing guys and they do play some killer music. As long as they get their sound issues fixed, I would see them again.
As with Crossfade, the next band up, Red was dealing with some technical issues as well which led to a 45 minute delay before they started. Once started, they sounded amazing and were on fire - one of the best bands on this tour and I am sure they are going to come away with a lot of new fans. With nonstop energy and killer vocals and harmonies, they played, Feed The Machine off their new album, “Until We Have Faces,” along with Lie to Me, Death of Me and Breathe Into Me, which had the crowd going crazy. This band, I advise you to GO check out and not miss!
Next up was P.O.D. who represented the old school rockers and opened their set with, Boom and Set it Off, which was just what happened. P.O.D. has always been one of those bands - they sound great live as they proved with Youth of the Nation, and the headbanger, Southtown which creeps up on you before bashing your head in. They ended the set with, Alive which had everyone up and singing along to this P.O.D classic.
Puddle of Mudd was next up and having seen them a few times, you can never tell which band you will be getting. When they are on 95% of the time, they rock the fuck out of a stage, but I have seen them stink up a stage as well. Tonight, Rockford got rocked as they opened with Stoned, followed up by Psycho - both great songs to hear live. Wes Scantlin has an amazing voice when he is on and interacts with the crowd to make them feel more a part of the show. You add in the rest of the band and one of my favorite guitarist Paul Phillips you have a killer show. With songs, Control still sounding fresh and still getting the crowd into it and a classic cover of Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter off their new album, “re:(disc)overed” an album of cover songs. They ended their set with one my favorites, Blurry and She fucking Hates Me, which never fails to get the crowd to sing along with Scantlin.
The next two bands are co-headlining this tour and Papa Roach was the first to take the stage. If you never seen Papa Roach live then you’re missing out on of the best rock shows out there and my personal top 5 bands to see live ever. As the chords of Getting Away with Murder started, the crowd was on its feet. Drummer Tony Palermo and Tobin Esperance on bass took stage with the on-point sound and Jerry Horton on guitar, making it all sound razor sharp. As Jacoby Shaddix walked out the crowd of over 3,000 people, they were ready to blow.
Papa Roach do not let up off the pedal from start to finish and they get the crowd into it like few other bands can do. Their production is tight, sound is crystal clear and never have I seen them take a day off when they are on stage. Horton’s guitar sound is amazing and he plays with such skills on the fretboard that few can touch him. It also helps that he has his old guitar tech back after taking a few years off.
With a 13 song setlist that was filled with one hit after another, most of the last 2 albums and still missing about another 10+ songs that could have been added if this was just their tour. Songs like, Between Angels and Insects, Forever, Burn, Kick in the Teeth, Lifeline, and One Track Mind. As with every show I have seen them play, Jacoby goes out into the crowd and at times, goes all over the venue to greet fans. Tonight, he went out into the front and sang with the fans before coming back on stage to the joy of all the fans that were just feet away from him. They wrapped up their set with Scars, Hollywood Whore and the classic song, Last Resort which left the crowd begging for more.
As the crowd tried to cool off from the intense show Papa Roach put on, Buckcherry’s crew did a quick setup. Buckcherry has one of the best Bass & Guitar techs (Ryan) working for them, so when they came on they were spot on. As the lights dimmed, Buckcherry opened with Dead, off their last album, “All Night Long.” This got the crowd right into it, with the duel guitar attack of Stevie D. & Keith Nelson. They are one of those bands you can’t help but have a fun time seeing them - with great songs, great talent on stage, and the powerhouse presence of Josh Todd on vocals.
They followed up with Rescue Me, All Night Long, Recovery, and Everything. You can’t but want to stereotype them in the Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll but they are so much more than that and have some very emotional songs and heavy theme topic songs. But let’s get back to the wild side, as they played It’s a Party - that had the crowd rocking and holding their drinks up. This was followed up with Next 2 You and everyone with a pulse favorite song, Lit Up. If you ever did some crazy things in your life, then Lit Up is one of those songs to celebrate them for the memories of getting out of them safe.
They slowed things down a bit with Sorry before they ended the night with another Buckcherry classic, Crazy Bitch. With another powerhouse performance you can see why their fans love seeing them over and over again. With that, the night ended on amazing night of rock and successful kickoff to, On the Waterfront.
All photos provided by Peter Lizano
