Janelle Rominski | The Rock Stage
Record-breaking heat, plus tons of recording artists and a sea of rock music fans made for one sizzling day at WXRX’s Rock Monkey Ruckus over the Memorial Day Weekend.
Rockford Speedway in Illinois transformed itself – there were no cars in this venue, but lots of drum kits, mics and guitars.
Danish rockers, Volbeat, headlined this all-day music festival that featured eight other amazing bands.
Volbeat is in the middle of a USA tour with occasional stops in Canada and they’re very excited for their June 24 stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey as they play Metallica’s Orion Music + More Festival.
Before Volbeat was Mississippi band, Saving Abel, who are on tour in support of their album “Bringing Down The Giant” set to release July 17. Lead singer, Jared Weeks, began the show by bringing out his daughter to the stage where they shot off a nerf blaster and threw water bottles out to the crowd of hot fans.
Massachusetts metal band, All That Remains, made their mark. Their energy never slowed down despite 95+ degree heat and constant sun. Singer Philip Labonte, covered every square inch of the stage and even jumped 5 feet down between the stage and barricades to stand and sing side by side with his hundreds of adoring fans. Pitchers of beer were flying around and ladies in bikinis were on men’s’ shoulders, it was crazy. Not to mention, ATR’s guitarist, Oli Herbert’s guitar playing skills made for a perfect performance.
Nonpoint made their first appearance together with the new lineup. Original members, Elias Soriano (vocals) and Robb Rivera (drums) still remain in the band, but the crowd at Rock Monkey Ruckus certainly welcomed their two new guitarists Dave Lizzio and Rasheed Thomas and new bassist Adam Woloszyn with a big roar of excitement.
Before Nonpoint, Ontario band Redlight King’s lead man, Kaz, took a jump off the stage to get right up to the onlookers. They recently performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno where they performed their single, “Bullet In My Hand” on the album “Something For The Pain”.
Then Taproot took to the stage and played songs new and old including tracks from their just released record “The Episodes”.
Royal Bliss, from Salt Lake City, played passionately to their northern Illinois fans. Lead vocalist, Neal Middleton, was a contestant on this season’s hit show on NBC, The Voice. Even though he sung, ”I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by CCR perfectly, the four judges on the TV show never pushed their button to choose Middleton to be on their team. He was fantastic at Rock Monkey Ruckus.
Michigan’s very own Wayland rocked second and Black Oxygen from Kansas City kicked off the Ruckus. In between sets Black Oxygen came out to visit with their fans and signed CDs.
View more photos from Rock Monkey Ruckus HERE.
Photos by Janelle Rominski | Janelle@TheRockStage.com
