MCB Recap: Saturday @ Rock on the Range

Day 1 @ ROTR is in the books, Day 2 starts soon.

The opening day of the 4^th annual Rock On The Range was a weird day weather wise, with sunshine creeping through clouds and brief drizzles. As nearly 20 bands descended on bustling Columbus Crew Stadium, the biggest names and hard rock and metal collided. 30,000+ made their way into the stadium in what was referred to as the festival’s biggest crowd to date to witness a mixed bag of good, bad and sloppy performances.

Much like the weather on Day 1, the bands that played the first day of Rock on the Range varied greatly. Some bands impressed, while others disappointed. But after checking out Day 1 at ROTR 2010, here is who takes my three stars of the day:

Star #1- Killswitch Engage. With lead singer Howard Jones playing his first show since coming back from a “personal break” that he took from the band during their winter tour, Killswitch played with a fire that showed that the band picked up right where they left off. Spanning their catalog of albums, Killswitch had the Kicker Stage going for a 45-minute set. Guitarist Adam D was his usual comedic self and the crowd ate it all up as crowd surfing and empty beer bottle throwing was the norm throughout the set. And the crowd did go crazy as the band launched into their closer, the Dio classic “Holy Diver.” In a day that varied greatly, Killswitch Engage proved that they are dependable as always.

Star #2: Helmet. The band’s mastermind, Page Hamilton, just turned 50 but compared to the boredom-inducing tone of some of the bands, Helmet had more energy during the band’s 35-minute set than I saw from guys half his age today. Playing a fan favorite set which included the grunge-era mainstays “Unsung” and “In The Meantime,” Helmet didn’t perform to the biggest crowd of the day, but they may have had some of the best mosh pits of the day and the people that did attend, saw a band re-energized and ready to go in the new year.

Star #3: Sevendust. Being the first band on the main stage was not the best scheduling strategy, but long time hard rock warriors Sevendust did a fine job in their 30-minute set. With guitarist Clint Lowery back in town, the band sounded tight and got the fans out of the weather doldrums and made the most of their set.

Other Notes:

-If you were there, I am sure you saw the trainwreck of a performance by Puddle of Mudd earlier this afternoon. It looked like lead singer Wes Scantlin was on a different page than the rest of the band, switching lyrics mid-song during the set and in a very ADD style, taking three tries to get fan favorite “She Hates Me” started. It got confusing and you could tell at least the lead singer had been partying just a little bit too early. Good cover of “TnT” by AC/DC though.

-The Deftones decided to use the first part of their set to play most of the band’s new album. But let’s be honest- even though the new album is good, the band has been gone for a while and the band’s more feverish tracks were in order. It seemed to me that the crowd seemed puzzled as to how to react to the band and the lack of enthusiasm was already zapped out of the crowd by the time the band played some older material. Love the band, but this was not one of their better performances.

-I didn’t know what to make from Rise Against’s performance. I like the band, and have seen them a bunch of times, but I don’t know if the Budweiser drinking, downhome folks of Ohio viewed a Vegan band from Chicago as one of them. The band seemed to make it out ok, but wasn’t blowing a lot of people away in the crowd.

On Day 1, I did interviews with Ryan of Puddle of Mudd and Richy Nix. Those interviews will be up within the next few days. Now, it’s time to chill out and get ready for the Limp Bizkit headlined second day at ROTR. See ya then…